Touchstone 2: Thinking Critically about History
SCENARIO: Imagine you represent your company at a service organization dealing with one of these two issues:
Facing Economic Change
Engaging Civil Rights
Your supervisor has asked you to research information related to the history of one of these issues for your organization to help new employees and volunteers understand it better. Eventually, you will make an oral presentation with slides that include your findings and recommendations. Your predecessor already started a list of sample primary and secondary sources and collections of sources.
ASSIGNMENT: You’ll use the critical thinking process to investigate an issue and craft the argument you’ll be presenting in Touchstone 3.
The touchstone templates below will guide you through this process in five steps:
Knowledge: What are the focused questions that will help you investigate your research question?
Comprehension: What have you learned about your issue?
Application: How do your sources connect?
Analysis: How will you use your evidence?
Synthesis: What are the main points you will communicate?
For this touchstone, you will take the first step in creating your presentation to help new employees and volunteers understand how historical events can be applied to one of the issues currently affecting your organization. To do the research necessary for your presentation, you will need to choose four sources that are credible and relevant to the issue facing your organization.
You will first select the specific issue and research question you want to address. Then, from a collection of sources, you will choose two primary and two secondary sources that have relevant information for the historical events you want to include in your presentation. Finally, you will evaluate the credibility of your chosen sources by answering a set of questions.
To begin, download the touchstone template below and fill out the sections as you complete each step. When you have finished, you will submit this template to move onto the next unit.
A. Directions
Facing Economic Change SourcesWomen’s History Sources
African American History Sources
Immigrant History Sources
LGBTQ+ Sources
As you review each of the sources in the collection, keep in mind your research question and the key words you brainstormed in the previous steps. This will help you skim through the sources and locate the four sources you need.
2b. Evaluate Primary and Secondary Sources Once you have selected the four sources that you want to use to investigate your research question, you are ready to begin evaluating for credibility. The touchstone template will guide you through each of the elements that are required to evaluate your sources.
Step 3. Application
Now it’s time to think about how your sources connect to one another. This will help you apply the information you’ve collected to answer your research question.
Look for connections among your sources by comparing, contrasting, and corroborating information. Make sure to consider their historical context and how they are related to the time period they are from. Then answer the following questions in your touchstone template:
What links or similarities do you see among your sources of information?
What discrepancies or differences do you see among your sources of information?
Step 4. Analysis
The Analysis step of the critical thinking process is about taking a closer look at your evidence. Think about which pieces of evidence will provide the strongest support for your argument and what details from your sources you will use to illustrate your main points. Think also about what evidence may be less useful, or may even oppose your argument. Being honest with yourself at this stage about which pieces of evidence support your argument, and which do not, will help you to improve your final presentation.
Examine your evidence and think about how it can help you make a convincing argument. Then answer the following questions in your touchstone template:
What evidence provides the strongest support for your argument?
What evidence provides the weakest support for your argument, or even opposes your argument?
How will you use this evidence to make an argument about your issue?
Step 5. Synthesis
You’re almost done! For the fifth step, it’s time to write down your argument. This is a summary of your final answer to your research question. Remember to include your position on the issue, describe the evidence you’ll use, and explain how this evidence supports your argument.
Summarize your argument in the touchstone template and be sure to include the main ideas that need to be communicated to your service organization. Make sure you’re answering the research question you identified in Step
