As Nosich tells us (p. 29), "We think in terms of concepts, and these inevitably shape our life to a considerable degree. Very often the concepts we think in terms of are ones we accept uncritically." So this first paper is intended to make you look at a concept that is the subject of considerable public debate, and try to dissect how your thinking about that concept has been shaped by the various filters, barriers, and impediments (FBIs) that have shaped you as a thinker so far. I've deliberately picked a topic that's likely to be controversial because these often bring our FBIs to the surface in more obvious ways than other topics.

Your first paper assignment is to write a 5-8 pp. (typed, double-spaced) essay analyzing your own thinking on the question: How did you come to hold your opinion (whatever it is) on same-sex marriage? 

In the introduction, in NO MORE THAN A PARAGRAPH, state what your position is on same-sex marriage. I'm not expecting all of us to agree, so don't worry about whether your position is the same as your classmates' or my position on this issue.  Students have reported that they often began writing this paper not really knowing what their position was--that's okay, too. All the introduction does is to launch you into the main part, the body of your paper.  You don't have to convince me that you're right--that's not the point here.

For the body of the essay, and the real topic, analyze why you hold this view on same-sex marriage and speculate on some possible filters, barriers, and impediments that have shaped your critical thinking on it.  (If you ambivalent about the issue, you can analyze why that's the case). You will want to base your analysis on the categories and criteria listed as the "Impediments to Critical Thinking" from Nosich (18-28) that you think apply and the "Counterproductive Habits of Mind" in Writing Analytically, ch. 2; these include (but are certainly not limited to)

Using your Thinking Notebook, you may want to probe areas such as your family background, your community, your experiences, your philosophical and religious viewpoint, the ideas accepted by your peers, viewpoints you have absorbed from the media, etc.--a different combination of these will be involved for each of you since each thinker is individual. The challenge here is for you to figure out HOW you came to think this way--that is, to ANALYZE (break down, dissect, scrutinize) your thinking. This means that your paper will not be argumentative or thesis-driven but reflective and analytic. Remember the SEE-IT strategy--use your stories and narratives to SUPPORT your analysis. For instance, you may want to tell a story about something that happened in your church. Use that as EXEMPLIFICATION to support a STATEMENT about one of your FBIs. Don't just tell the story and conclude, 'So you can see religion is an important FBI for me.' That's not good analysis.

Finally, as a conclusion, step back and speculate on what your analysis of your FBIs in this case tell you about you about your critical thinking in general and what you might need to do to recognize FBIs that will have an effect on your critical thinking in other matters. This means broadening out from your thinking on the definition of marriage specifically to your thinking in general. For instance, if your analysis tells you that your views been shaped by adopting the thinking patterns of your parents, what does that mean for you as a thinker in other situations where "authorities" try to tell you what to think?

You must use AT LEAST two direct quotations from Nosich and/or WA, worked into your analysis and documented correctly in MLA style.  Any idea or concept from Nosich or WA must also be properly documented.

Consider your audience for this paper to be your teacher and classmates. Remember that good writers don’t just string together a list of answers to questions, but shape and re-organize their ideas until they flow effectively. Put some time into the shaping of this response for most effective results. And you may have to fight your enculturated habit of writing a thesis-driven 5-paragraph theme for this essay, so be mindful of that as you develop the paper.

This paper is not just an exercise, but a very important tool for you to develop as a critical thinker.  Before you write, I would suggest applying the elements of reasoning from Ch. 2 to this assignment—that circle on p. 51 of Nosich is a very powerful tool to analyze any assignment you have!

I'm always happy to have you bring drafts and outlines to my office and discuss them with me!