Critical Investigation
Use Paul and Elders (2012) intellectual standards to find a topic or problem that is clear, relevant, significant, and precise. Select an issue that you wish to investigate critically (social, professional, or personal).
IMPORTANT: The Final Portfolio is not a traditional term paper.
Your final portfolio submission should include the following sections:
– Title page
– Introduction
– Engagement with issue or problem using scholarly sources and the intellectual standards proposed by Paul and Elder (2012):
– What is the issue?
– Why is it significant?
– Why is this issue relevant to you (and/or your community)?
– What have you learned about the depth and breadth of the issue
or problem from scholarly sources?
– Engagement with your own assumptions or thinking about the issue.
– What assumptions do you bring to this subject?
– What concepts are “at work” in your mind as you investigate this issue?
– Why is this subject of interest to you and how might this skew
your investigations?
– These questions constitute some of the issues covered by Paul
and Elder (2012) in their “elements of reason.
– Engagement with scholarly sources:
– How do the scholarly sources aid you as you think about the
issue fair-mindedly and with depth?
– What have you learned from the scholarly sources that have
helped you analyze the issue?
– Conclusion: Reflect on your issue or problem and how the sources informed your thinking.
– What have you learned?
– How can you apply the intellectual standards and elements of
reason to this issue or problem to come to creative solutions?
– What critical questions remain?
