Brad Gatlin and Ryan Ladner

Using Argumentative Essays to Improve Critical Thinking Skills of Undergraduate Business Students

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Standard 4: Measurement and Analysis of Student Learning & Performance

“Business schools and programs must have an outcomes assessment program with documentation of the results and evidence that the results are being used for the development and improvement of the institution’s academic programs. Each business program is responsible for developing its own outcomes assessment program.”

• Critical thinking skills are in decline (Arum & Roksa, 2011)

• Causes

• Decline in Rigor?

• Methods Unchanged

• Faculty want students who think critically and write effectively (Arum & Roksa, 2011).

Need for critical thinking skills

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• Employers want students who can think critically (Cole, 2014; Davidson, 2016; Korn, 2014)

• Critical thinking & society

• Ability to generate & critique arguments are crucial elements in decision making (Klaczynski, 2004)

• Argumentation promotes long term understanding and retention of course content (Adriessen, 2006; Nussbaum, 2008).

• Being able to evaluate information is important for our society.

Need for critical thinking skills

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• Most ACBSP accredited programs have at least one outcome related to student critical thinking skills

• Standard #4 calls for business programs to have outcomes assessments that document evidence of the results of each individual student.

• Argumentative essays help to provide a tangible way to measure critical thinking on a business program’s learning outcomes assessment.

Need for critical thinking skills

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Primary focus of critical thinking skills is determining whether arguments are sound. This requires three types of critical thinking skills:

1. Interpretive skills are needed to interpret statements and arguments in a way that makes their meaning as clear as possible.

2. Verification skills are needed for determining truth and falsity of different types of statements.

3. Reasoning skills are needed to recognize different types of inferences and assess them correctly.

Critical thinking skills defined

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• Argument– set of statements that claims that one or more of the statements (premises) support another of the statements (conclusion). Every argument claims that its premises support its conclusion. 1

• Argumentative Essay– a written attempt to present a coherent discussion of a subject with a view to defending a specific thesis. (Basically an extended argument.)

Arguments and Argumentative Essays

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1 Hughes, W., Lavery, J., & Doran, K. (2015). Critical thinking: An introduction to the basic skills- 7th ed. Broadview Press.

For each week of the course you will be assigned a hypothesis paper to complete. These hypothesis papers will be at least 2 full pages (double-spaced, APA formatted) in which you discuss a hypothesis that will be provided by the professor. You will use your textbook, any assigned articles, plus at least three other academic sources to explain why the assigned hypothesis should be accepted or rejected. You will work on these papers without the assistance of classmates. You should adopt a concise and succinct writing style for these assignments. The first paragraph should be a topic paragraph saying whether the hypothesis should be accepted or rejected. The rest of the two pages should be justification. These papers will have no room for “fluff” or personal opinion unsupported by academic literature. See rubric for how these assignments will be graded. Late submissions will not be accepted.

Sample Assignment Prompt

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• Members of virtual teams are usually as satisfied with their work as members of face-to-face work teams.

• Leaders should work to create a culture that minimizes political behavior.

• Strategic management concepts are so universal that they can be applied across virtually all organizations, regardless of size.

• The sports drink market is an attractive market for entry by Sparkling Ice (maker of enhanced and sparkling water).

Sample Assignment Hypotheses

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P1: People who value benevolence participate in OCBs.

P2: Our organization values OCBs.

C: We should hire people who value benevolence.

P1 P2

C

• T ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

• Two or more premises

• Each premise, considered by itself, offers little or no support for the conclusion.

• If either premise were false, the remaining premise would not be sufficient to support the conclusion

Argument Structure and Assessment

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It is recommended that you introduce students to the following argument structures:

P1: Flexible work schedules lead to less absenteeism.

P2: Flexible work schedules lead to increased job satisfaction.

C: We should adopt flexible work schedules.

P1 P2

C

• V ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

• Two or more premises

• Each premise offers support for the conclusion.

• If either premise were false, the remaining premise would still provide support the conclusion

Argument Structure and Assessment

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It is recommended that you introduce students to the following argument structures:

• Arguments are evaluated according to three main criteria:

• Acceptability

• Premises are acceptable when they can reasonably be accepted as true.

• Relevance

• Premises are relevant when they provide support for the conclusion.

• Adequacy

• The support the premises give is strong enough for the purposes of the argument.

Argument Structure and Assessment

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Rubric

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• What is the conclusion?

• What are the premises?

• Are the premises:

• Acceptable?

• Relevant?

• Adequate?

Sample Response (handout)

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Critical thinking can be measured by the acceptability, relevance, and adequacy criteria on the assignment rubric. This measure would be considered:

• Direct- Assessing student performance by examining samples of student work

• Formative – An assessment conducted during the student’s education.

• Internal – An assessment instrument that was developed within the business unit.

ACBSP Standard 4

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Contact Information:

Dr. Ryan LadnerDepartment Head, Undergraduate BusinessAssociate Professor of Marketingrladner@jbu.edu

Dr. Brad GatlinAssociate Professor of Managementbgatlin@jbu.edu

Q&A

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