Critical Thinking

You will have the opportunity to apply the critical thinking process to design a strategy to solve a problem you are facing. This will allow the concepts of the course to have a real-world application and allow you to build guidance and motivation in pursuit of this change.

You may check the Unit 9 Assignment template or the objective list to help you generate ideas.

Part I: Define the scope of the problem and have an objective.

What would you like to change? What can you realistically put into practice over the course of the next year? Ensure that the problem to be solved is narrow in scope and actionable. Instead of write a novel, get organized, eat better, or stop procrastinating, define the problem in one clear, reasonable conclusion: I want to write 200 words a day on my novel. I want to organize the garage before the summer. I want to practice discipline in eating sweets. I want to stop procrastinating on my work projects.

In at least one paragraph, identify the problem and reason your way to a specific, actionable objective. State the objective as the last line of Part I.

Part II: Research and reasons.

To create a change, people need a reason to act, or a why behind what they want to change. You will learn more about how you may best go about achieving your objective. You will want to gather information from at least two sources, using and citing the sources in APA style. Cite the sources with in-text parenthetical citations where you use them in the work, and include full end references as well.

This section should be at least three paragraphs. In the first two paragraphs, introduce what you have learned from the research that will help you make this change. What did you learn that helped you make this change a priority? For example, do people with organized homes have less stress? What is the impact of stress on the human body?

In your research, did you come across information that used logical fallacies or was not as persuasive? How will you use the research to help motivate your reason or support your progress toward the goal? Share these ideas in the second paragraph.

In the third paragraph, give your personal reason for action on the objective. What will motivate you to build discipline or insight in this area? Aim to find and express a reason why the change would be important to you. If the change is not important at this time, you may need a stronger why or a different objective.

Part III: Design a plan.

In at least two paragraphs, you will introduce at least two specific daily or weekly actions that will be required for you to take action to solve this problem and meet your objective.

What are the processes you must put in place? How will you implement the plan? What do you foresee to be obstacles that you may need to overcome? What can you use to help keep yourself on track and accountable?