Critical Thinking, Thoughtful Writing: A Rhetoric with Readings

Critical Thinking, Thoughtful Writing: A Rhetoric with Readings by John Chaffee, Christine McMahon, and Barbara Stout. Boston: Houghton, 1999. 570 pp.

Critical Thinking, Thoughtful Writing: A Rhetoric with Readings is a first-year text that I have now recommended to my own department because I was so favorably impressed with the careful and extensive integration of critical thinking and writing instruction and assignments. I was especially impressed with the method by which the text emphasizes the necessity for proper thinking before writing and submitting assignments.

After the initial introductory chapter, each chapter of the text is organized around four components: a critical thinking focus, a writing focus, a reading theme, and a writing project. This organizational pattern strengthens the text by helping students recognize consistency of approach. The topics covered in this book, while not in themselves new, become new by the way they have been integrated into critical thinking.

A focus on just one of the chapters suggests the flavor of Critical Thinking, Thoughtful Writing. Chapter Seven is titled "Exploring Comparative RelationshipsWriting about Perspectives." The critical thinking focus for...