REASONING AND WRITING
FROM CRITICAL THINKING
TO COMPOSITION

DONALD L. HATCHER
L. ANNE SPENCER
3rd ed., 2006, 422 pgs, $39.95
ISBN 978-0-89641-422-8

Reasoning and Writing is a college-level textbook designed for Critical Thinking classes. It is appropriate for English Composition classes as well as Communication classes.

• Chapter 1: WHY CRITICAL THINKING?
  Introduction
  Ten Arguments for the value of critical thinking
  Critical thinking and writing complement each other
  The limits of critical thinking and rationality
  Summary and conclusion
  Exercises

• Chapter 2: WHAT IS CRITICAL THINKING?
  The nature of critical thinking
  Understanding the definition of critical thinking
  What critical thinking is not
  Building an environment to nurture critical thinking
  The skills and dispositions of critical thinking
  Some hindrances to critical thinking
  Summary and conclusion
  Exercises

• Chapter 3: UNDERSTANDING THE ISSUE
  Introduction
  Some helpful tools for understanding an issue
  Summarizing what is said
  Summary and conclusion
  Exercises

• Chapter 4: EVALUATING ARGUMENTS: VALIDITY AND DEDUCTIVE REASONING
  Introduction
  Opinions and arguments
  Formal arguments understood as conditional statements
  Formal arguments have major and minor premises
  Premises and conclusions must be identified
  Enthymemes are arguments with missing premises
  The concept of a valid deductive argument
  Symbolizing an argument shows its logical form
  Implications for critical thinkers
  Summary and conclusion
  Exercises

• CHAPTER 5: INDUCTIVE LOGIC
  On deduction and induction
  Inductive generalizations based on personal experience
  Inductive inferences based on controlled experimentation
  The logic of correlation studies
  Analogical reasoning
  Summary and conclusion
  Exercises

• CHAPTER 6: INFORMAL FALLACIES
  The genetic fallacy
  The fallacy of appealing to a questionable authority
  The fallacy of appealing to ignorance
  The fallacy of appealing to numbers
  The fallacies of division and composition
  The fallacy of equivocation
  The false-cause fallacy
  The slippery slope fallacy
  The false-dilemma fallcy
  The straw person fallacy
  Exercises

• CHAPTER 7: REASONING TO WRITING
  Preparing to write a critical paper
  Understanding and claifying the issue
  Using the Modus Ponen argument strategy
  Using the Modus Tollens argument strategy
  Using the Disjunctive Syllogism argument strategy
  Choosing the most reasonable position
  Constructing a thesis
  Expanding the thesis into a sentence outline
  Summary and conclusion
  Review and planning sheets
  Exercises

• CHAPTER 8: WRITING FROM REASONING
  The critical paper
  Writing and introduction
  Clarifying a claim
  Developing individual arguments
  Presenting alternatives and objections
  Writing a conclusion
  The importance of editing and revision
  Exercises

• CHAPTER 9: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

• GLOSSARY

• APPENDIX A: A METHOD OF SHOWING VALIDITY

• APPENDIX B: CRITICAL THINKING AND ETHICS

• APPENDIX C: READINGS

• APPENDIX D: SAMPLE CRITICAL PAPERS

• INDEX

ABOUT THE AUTHORS . . .

Donald L. Hatcher is a professor of Philosophy and Religion at Baker University in Baldwin City, KS. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Kansas.

L. Anne Spencer is a professor of Foreign Languages and Computer Science at Baker University in Baldwin City, KS. She also received her Ph.D. from the University of Kansas.