Over the past five weeks you have learned about different elements related to critical thinking. You related the concepts to your personal experiences, and evaluated your critical thinking skills. You've identified fallacies, evaluated arguments, and learned the role of these concepts in your daily life. Now it's time to apply the concepts together. In this assignment, you will review a real-world scenario and apply the critical thinking skills you have developed.
Review the Critical Thinking Scenario.
Write a 350- to 700-word reflection on the scenario, using the Reflection Template. Follow the instructions within the template to complete your reflection. You will need to include an introduction paragraph to introduce your reader to the topics you will be discussing; 3 body paragraphs, each with specific questions that need to be addressed within; and a conclusion paragraph to bring your paper to a close.
Note: The Reflection Template is already formatted appropriately, and you do not need to make any changes to the format. Be sure to demonstrate your critical thinking abilities in your responses to the questions, and ensure your paper flows well from topic to topic.
Critical Thinking Scenario
Sally is a 34-year-old woman who works in the customer service department for a small company that sells printers. Her job involves speaking with customers and addressing their concerns for 8 hours a day. Unfortunately for Sally, customers only reach out to her department when there is an issue with their printers.
After a long day of listening to customer complaints, she felt drained and agitated. She wanted to relax, so she went to dinner with some colleagues. The colleagues began discussing an issue at work that was causing friction between departments. Sally did not agree with her colleagues' viewpoint on the causes of that friction, but she did not want to say anything because she felt that she did not know enough about the topic. She decided that after this dinner, she would not spend time with these colleagues outside of work anymore. For the remaining part of the discussion, Sally nodded her head and appeared to agree with her colleagues in order to avoid confrontation.
The next day at work, Sally spoke with a customer who disagreed with the warranty policy of the company. The customer explained to Sally that he understood the terms of the warranty, but he described how vital his printer was to his business. He went on to share how the ability to print materials equated to his ability to put food on the table for his family. He asked if there was anything that Sally could do to help. Sally imagined herself in the customer's position, and decided to look into additional options for the customer. In the end, Sally was able to de-escalate the situation and assist the customer.
This interaction with the customer led her to question their warranty, and she decided to speak with her manager to see if it could be changed. She stated that the current warranty policy was inadequate because it did not provide customers with enough time to determine if the product would function appropriately. She provided supporting evidence to show that many printers failed only 1 month after the 1-year warranty expired. She also calculated the number of those customers with failed printers that did buy a replacement printer from the company Sally worked for. Sally proposed that the warranty be extended to 18 months. Unfortunately her manager did not agree with her argument, and replied to her by asking: "How can you be arguing for change in policy when you are late to work most of the time?" However, the manager did not provide an argument against extending the warranty, so Sally decided she would continue to argue for changing the warranty with the company's leadership. After several meetings with the company's owner, Sally was able to get her proposal approved and the warranties extended.
Title of Paper
Triple click your mouse anywhere in this paragraph to replace this text with your introduction. Often the most important paragraph in the entire essay, the introduction grabs the reader's attention—sometimes a difficult task for academic writing. When writing an introduction, some approaches are best avoided. Avoid starting sentences with "The purpose of this essay is . . ." or "In this essay I will . . ." or any similar flat announcement of your intention or topic.
Elements of Critical Thinking
Triple click your mouse anywhere in this paragraph to replace this text with your 1st body paragraph. In this section, you will focus on the elements of critical thinking apparent in the case. Replace the text with a well-developed paragraph (including a topic sentence and transitions) that considers the following questions: What barriers to critical thinking were apparent? How were they presented? Do you believe that Sally possesses characteristics of a good critical thinker? Why or why not?
Reason, Emotion, and Communication
Triple click your mouse anywhere in this paragraph to replace this text with your 2nd body paragraph. In this section, you will focus on the role that reason, emotion, and communication play in the case. Replace the text with a well-developed paragraph (including a topic sentence and transitions) that considers following questions: How is the concept of reason presented? How did emotion affect Sally's critical thinking? What type of communication style does Sally use while at dinner with her colleagues? Why do you believe this?
Fallacies and Argument
Triple click your mouse anywhere in this paragraph to replace this text with your 3rd body paragraph. In this section, you will explain the fallacies and arguments presented in the case. Replace the text with a well-developed paragraph (including a topic sentence and transitions) that considers the following questions: What fallacies, if any, are present in the scenario? What is the main argument presented? Do you believe the argument is valid? Why or why not?
Conclusion
Triple click your mouse anywhere in this paragraph to replace this text with your conclusion. The closing paragraph is designed to bring the reader to your way of thinking if you are writing a persuasive essay, to understand relationships if you are writing a comparison/contrast essay, or simply to value the information you provide in an informational essay. The closing paragraph summarizes the key points from the supporting paragraphs without introducing any new information.
