This text is intended primarily for students taking a student success course at the university level. Also appropriate for courses outside of the student success area such as critical thinking, educational studies, and study skills.

Foundations: Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing is a broad� based post-secondary survival guide, which includes material on how to function effectively in a university setting and how to develop a critical frame of mind. Emphasis is placed on critical thinking skills, tips and procedures for essay writing, grammar, preparing for an exam, logic in argument and writing, different levels of reading, different strategic paths for undertaking research, and basic computer skills as they relate to academic activities. Its practical approach will help students succeed at their studies as well as develop more advanced skills that can be carried into a lifetime of learning.

Features

• NEW - Extensive revision and clarification of the essential chapter on survival skills, with additional practical advice on time management, control of your study environment, and taking notes in lectures and seminars.
• NEW - Addition of a new separate chapter on changing expectations in university life and academic work, with additional sections on learning styles and new classroom formats.
• Comprehensive treatment of advanced reading strategies to cover literal, formal, expository, comparative, and analytical levels of reading, with examples of each.
• NEW - Improved organization of chapters on critical thinking and writing, especially on implementing a critical attitude and arguing a position, with simplified sections on formal logic.
• Revision of chapters on research using the internet and print resources to take into account the increasingly computerized collections of e-resources in university libraries.
• Extended treatment of planning and writing an essay, with enlarged sections on a thesis statement, opening and concluding paragraphs, major problems to watch out for, and how to write with clarity. Samples of student writing and corrected essays have been included.
• Expanded treatment of the chapter on documenting sources, including conformity with the most recent MLA (6th edition, 2003) and APA (5th edition, 2001) revisions. The presentation of examples has been thoroughly revised, and fuller treatment is given to citations from and references to multimedia and electronic (web) resources.
• NEW - Visual elements added. Difficult concepts and relationships are explained using graphs and charts.
• Includes practical "Tip" boxes, which give hints on topics such as active listening and researching on the web.
• NEW - learning objectives and learning outcomes to indicate what each chapter covers, the kinds of questions answered, and what a student should expect to achieve at the end of each chapter.

Preface.
Acknowledgments.

I. SHIFTING GEARS: WAYS OF ADAPTING TO UNIVERSITY.

1. Survival Skills.

Changing Schools: Fundamental Academic Skills.
Study Habits.
Time Scheduling.
Reading and Comprehending Assigned Texts.
Critical Listening in Lectures.
Different Note-Taking Methods.

2. Changing Expectations.

Improving Your Memory and Learning Abilities.
Expectations about University Customs and Policy.
Inclusive and Appropriate Language.
The Dangers of Plagiarism.
Computers and Critical Thinking.
Learning Styles.
Different Classroom Formats, the E-wired Classroom, and Distance Learning.

II. CRITICAL THINKING AND READING.

3. Implementing a Critical Attitude.

Critical Attitude: From Negative Complaint to Academic Frame of Mind.
From Fact and Opinion to Arguments Based on a Critical Attitude.
Analyzing the Objectives of Your Assignment.
Considering Your Audience.
Critical Attitudes in Electronic Learning Environments.

4. Developing Critical Reading Strategies.

What is Critical Reading?
How Did You Learn to Read? The Controversy about Teaching Reading Skills.
Practical Reading Strategies.
Power Reading.
Reading Problems, Disabilities, and Remedies.
Levels of Reading: More Advanced Reading Strategies.
Specialized Strategies for Critical Reading in Particular Disciplines: Reading Multi�media.

5. Building a Critical Vocabulary.

Extending Your Vocabulary.
Denotation and Connotation.
Dictionaries and What They Tell You.
Kinds of Dictionaries.
Etymology or the Origins of Words.

6. Arguing and Assessing a Position.

The Groundwork for Establishing a Logical Position.
Two Fundamental Methods of Arguing a Position.
The Role of Logic.
Inductive Reasoning.
Deductive Reasoning.
Fallacies or Errors in the Logic of Arguments.

III. RESEARCHING ON THE NET AND IN THE LIBRARY.

7. Researching Electronic Sources.

The Research Stage.
New Resources and New Methods.
Researching on the Web.
Information on the Internet.
Web Browsers.
Search Engines.
Evaluating What You Read: Critical Thinking and the Internet.
Downloading Information from the Internet.
Decoding and Unscrambling Files You Download.
Internet Access to Libraries.
Online Reference Tools and Books.

8. Researching Print Sources.

Research Methods and Library Classification Systems.
Book Classification Systems.
Your Library and Its General Reference Materials.
Searching the Library Catalogues.
Two Sample Catalogue Searches in Hard-to-Find Areas.
Searching for Research Materials in Newspapers, Periodicals, and Journals.
Hints and Further Refinements.
Recording Your Sources.

9. References and Documentation: Acknowledging Your Sources.

Plagiarism.
Documentation Styles: Acknowledging Your Sources.
Humanities Format: MLA Style.
Social Sciences Format: APA Style.
Footnotes and Endnotes.
An Annotated Bibliography.

IV. THE ESSAY FROM FIRST DRAFT TO FINAL COPY TO GETTING IT BACK.

10. The Planning and Pre-writing Stage.

Different Expectations and Different Essays.
From the Readings and Research Data to the Organization of the Essay.
Organizing Your Reading Notes on Your Word Processor.
Methods of Organizing an Essay.
Thesis Statement.
Outline or Essay Plan.
Submitting Drafts or Outlines for Comment.

11. The Writing Stage.

Writing the Essay.
Building Paragraphs and Argument.
Using Quotations.
Revising: Content and Argument.
Persuasion.
Avoiding Commonly Misused Words and Phrases.
Using the Spell Checker, Thesaurus, and Grammar Checker.
Self-Evaluating Your Essay.

12. Recognizing How Grammar and Punctuation Work.

Grammar and Standard Written English.
Words, Phrases, Clauses, and Sentences.
Punctuation.
Common Errors and What to do about Them.

13. Preparing the Final Copy and Learning from Marked Assignments.

Steps to the Submission of the Final Copy.
Getting the Essay Back.

V. EXAMINATIONS.

14. Preparing for and Writing Tests and Examinations.

Recognizing the Opportunity to Perform.
Organizing Your Time, Resources, and Methods.
Making Summaries of the Course: From the Syllabus to the Test or Exam.
Strategies for Dealing with Problems.
Studying Alone, with a Friend, or in a Study Group.
Cramming to Good Effect.
Learning from the Mid-Term Test.
Studying for Different Kinds of Exams.
Writing Tests and Exams.
If You Miss the Exam.

Works Cited.
Index.