Category: Writing

Reflect on your own deliberations in the Mary Barnett case
and describe the reasoning process you used to reach a verdict. Did you find
that you were composing a continuing story to explain the testimony you were
reading? If so, was this story changed or modified as you learned more
information or discussed the case with your classmates?

Describe a belief about which you feel very strongly. Then,
explain the reasons or experiences that led you to this belief. Next, describe
a point of view that conflicts with your belief. Identify some of the reasons
why someone might hold this belief.

Think about people you know whom you admire as expert
thinkers, and list some of the qualities these people exhibit that you believe
qualify them as “critical thinkers.” For each critical-thinking quality, write
down a brief example involving the person. Identifying such people will help
you visualize the kind of people you’d like to emulate. As you think your way
through this book, you will be creating a portrait of the kind of critical
thinker you are striving to become, a blueprint you can use to direct your
development and chart your progress.

Watch some commercials, with several other class members if
possible, and discuss the techniques each advertiser is using to shape your
thinking. Analyze with the other viewers how each of the elements in a
commercial—images, language, music—affects an audience. Pay particular
attention to the symbolic associations of various images and words, and
identify the powerful emotions that these associations elicit. Why are the
commercials effective? What influential roles do commercials play in our
culture as a whole? New DVR technologies, such as TiVo, Netflix, and Hulu,
enable us to watch favorite shows without commercials. If we never had to watch
commercials, would we lose a valuable part of the cultural experience—for
example, those commercials that everyone talks about?

1. Identify some of the influences in your life that have
inhibited your creative development, including the “myths” about creativity
that are described in the article
2. Select a commercial website and do an in-depth analysis
of it. Explain how each of the site’s elements—design, content, use of music or
video, and links— works to influence our thinking