On critical thinking and essay writing with Rationale:
– A s an introduction: a short video shows how you can make a well structured paper by using Rationale.
– Maftoon, P., Birjandi, P., Pahlavami, P., The Impact of Using Computer-aided Argument Mapping (CAAM) on the Improvement of Writing Achievement of Iranian Learners of English. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Vol. 4, No. 5, pp. 982-988, May 2014.
– Geoff Hyde (National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore) develops an online course Scientific Writing in which Rationale is fully integrated.
From the Introduction:
‘Rationale is mainly focussed on teaching people how to think clearly about contentious issues, and has very successfully popularized a diagrammatic method of argument development.
My experiences in the classroom have taught me that this diagrammatic approach is also a great starting point for writing all types of scientific text. It is the most practical way to outline that I have come across. Outlining is often promoted as a writing tool because it forces the writer to focus first on organisingideas, before moving onto packaging them.’
– Some results of a controlled experiment at Princeton Philosophy Department you can find here.