Week 7
Topic Summary Project Instructions and Worksheet
In this assignment, you will work toward achieving the following course learning outcome:
Evaluate claims using relevant evidence that supports a conclusion.
Throughout the course, you have addressed a topic of interest that you chose, and you applied
many critical thinking concepts that you have studied. In Week 1, you learned that there are a
variety of ways to define critical thinking. Ultimately, they all relate to considering a claim,
evaluating evidence, and coming to a well-reasoned conclusion.
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”he claim relates to what you believe or what you are asked to believe.
The evidence comes in many forms (research, expert opinion, experience, etc.) and is
necessary to support the claim. Evaluating evidence is a necessary part of critical
thinking, and assumptions and biases arise when making claims and seeking evidence.
Ultimately, you reach a conclusion which allows you to confidently argue a claim and
take action as appropriate.
Below is a quick summary of your work on your topic throughout the course. You may find it
helpful to paste in notes about the work you did in each week below each bullet point. You
may opt to do this as you complete your work each week or when you begin to work on this
project early in Week 7. This is Step 1.
‰n Week 1, you selected a topic and located an article or clip.
‰n Week 2, you identified thinking errors thinking error related to the issue and
considered how to apply inductive and deductive reasoning to it.
‰n Week 3, you identified possible research questions related to your topic: one that
inferred causation and one that inferred correlation. You also selected a type of
scientific research to use to explore the topic.
‰n Week 5, you located an additional resource to help you with the topic and
determined if it met CARE evaluation standards.
‰n Week 6, you considered how to persuade people to take action along the lines of
your belief as it relates to the topic, and you consider related judgment errors.
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‰n Week 4 and this week (Week 7), you were not required to tie your work to your topic,
and you had the option to relate your topic to cognitive errors, thinking errors, and/or
superstition.
With this quick review in mind, in this assignment, you will write a short paper following the
next steps. Include headings in your paper so the reader (your instructor) is clear that you are
following each step.
Step 2 – Summary: Use your best organizational and writing skills to summarize all of your work
related to the topic beginning with your choice of a potentially controversial topic in Week 1.
Step 3 laim: Explain the claim (conclusion or argument) you would like to make regarding
this topic. Moving forward, what action would you like to take and/or encourage others to
take?
Step 4 – Evidence: Describe the additional evidence you need in order to support your claim.
Step 5 athering Evidence: Explain how you will gather the evidence needed to support your
claim.
Step 6 upporting your Claim: Describe challenges you may face in supporting your claim and
persuading others to do so. Hint: some of the challenges may be thinking errors.
Step 7 – Formatting: Following the formatting requirements:
he length should be 2-3 pages minimum.
his is an academic paper written in your own words.
lease double-space with 1 inch margins on all sides, and use a 12 point clear font
(Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri are good choices. These instructions are Calibri.
f you would like additional support with your writing, please visit BrandmanàOnline
Writing Community by clicking on òiting Help)n the red navigation buttons on the
left.
Step 8: Begin your paper below on page 3 so you can easily refer to the instructions.
Step 9: Upload your paper.
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Begin your paper here )nclude your name and the paper title of your choice (remember to
organize with headings)
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