The Elements of Clear Thinking

Educators Publishing Service

The Elements of Clear Thinking is actually a series of three workbooks designed for high school level.

The individual titles are: Sound Reasoning ($11.75)—how to distinguish between good and bad arguments, characteristics of deductive and inductive reasoning, pitfalls and fallacies, and identifying arguments; Accurate Communication ($9.20)—the use and misuse of language (slanted language, connotations, ambiguity, jargon, etc.); and Critical Reading ($13.25)—prereading, choosing reading rate to fit subject matter, organizational patterns. Here students also write a précis, a paraphrase, and evaluations. Choose one or all three titles. Teacher’s keys are available for all three ($2.55 each). 

One thing that I noticed, particularly in the first book, sets these apart from some of the other “logic” courses—the author introduces each formal logic principle or thinking skill, but always moves to practical application in typical situations such as conversations, advertising, or politics.