An Introduction to Critical Thinking & Research Writing in the Social Sciences

Part 1: Critical Thinking

CHAPTER 1 Ways of Knowing
Defining Critical Thinking

CHAPTER 2
Critical Thinking Example 1
Example 2 

CHAPTER 3 Informal Fallacies
Introduction
Straw man
Ad Hominem
Post Hoc ergo Propter Hoc
Appeal to Ignorance
Begging the Question
Complex Question
False Dilemma
Composition and Division
Exercises

CHAPTER 4 Lesser Fallacies
Introduction
Appeal to Force (ad baculum)
Appeal to Pity (ad misericordiam)
Appeal to the People (ad populum)
Appeal to Unreliable Authority
Fallacies of Meaning
Exercises

CHAPTER 5 Constructing Counterexamples
Introduction
Deductive Arguments
Inductive Arguments
The Counterexample Method
Argument Forms and Counterexamples
Universal and Particular Statements
Exercises

Part 2: Understanding Research & Writing a Literature Review

CHAPTER 6 Research Methods in the Real World
Research in the Media
The Status of Psychology as a Science
Rational vs. Empirical Approaches
Soft Science vs. Har Science: What Makes Something Science
What about Pseudosciences?
Importance of Scientific Study
the Objectives of Science
Concluding Remarks

CHAPTER 7 Spotting Bad Research
Unethical Research Behavior
Bad Research Design
Replication Cards

Chapter 8 Research Ethics
Tuskegee Syphilis Study
Willowbrook Hepatitis Experiments
The Case of Henrietta Lacks
Johnson's Monster Study
The Stanford Prison Experiment

CHAPTER 9 Scientific Writing: (Finding) the Research Article
Title Page
Title
Running Head
Exercise and Emotional Affect Valence in College Students
Abstract
Literature Review (or Introduction)
Method
Results
Discussion
Finding Research

CHAPTER 10 Reading and Writing Research
Reading Research
Writing Research
Finding Research

CHAPTER 11 Editing
The Reviewers
The Reviews