Goals and Objectives

The general purpose of the Foundations of Inquiry course is to provide freshmen students with an introduction to the university and its academic life.

Critical thinking

In this class, considerable emphasis will be placed on developing "critical reasoning" skills involving the ability to analyze, critique and defend analytic arguments and propositions. 

Contextual thinking

It is virtually impossible to critically analyze every conclusion and argument that is presented to you.  In my own field of political science this would be like trying to fully evaluate the voting record, platform, intelligence and character of every candidate who you might vote for.  Instead, we take shortcuts: we examine some of the things the candidates tell us, we classify the candidates by political party, whether they seem liberal or conservative, whether they favor change or reform and the like.  We try to assess how the candidates fits into these classifications.  Then we base our decision on our own views of democrats, republicans, liberalism, conservatism, reform.  Ideally our own views on these matters are based on some critical thinking and experience.

For better or worse, Academics take similar shortcuts when analyzing each others' scholarship.  Most academic research is cumulative in that it depends on previous research, insights, innovations and methodologies developed by other scholars.  Although the cumulative nature of academic research is essential to the progressive accumulation of knowledge, sometimes this dependence on previous work blinds scholars to new discoveries. The "Paradigm Paradigm" component of the course concerns theories about intellectual and scientific revolutions -- significant shifts in the ways in which scholars and society view the world around them. Here we will examine the role empirical evidence, individual perspective and cultural values play in the process of deciding which ideas and interpretations or theories are right and which are wrong.

Skills

The course also seeks to develop a set of practical skills to assist students in their future academic coursework.  Students will learn how to use an academic library,  how to access scholarly information on the Internet, and how to research and write a term paper. Each student will make a short formal class presentation on a defined research topic. 

Understanding the University

A final goal of the course to provide students with a better understanding of what a university is and how it works.

Objectives:  Student who complete this course should be able to:  

1. identify the primary conclusions and reasons in an academic text.
2. identify the argument structure of an academic text.
3. identify weaknesses in argumentation in a variety academic and non-academic texts.
4. Understand the primary characteristics of a paradigm and a paradigm shift.
5. Understand the conflict between the "paradigm" view of academic knowledge and the rational-scientific view.
6. Understand how the paradigm view of academic knowledge is itself a paradigm.
7. Identify paradigm conflicts in academic discourse.
8. Conduct academic research on a defined scholarly topic.
9. Understand how to use a variety of Library and Internet search tools and databases.
10. Write an original and coherent analysis of a scholarly issue.
11. Make an effective oral presentation on a scholarly topic.