Critical Reading and Argumentation (OCRA1) Course Tips

Are you considering whether to take Critical Reading and Argumentation (OCRA1, aka CRA)? Are you currently taking it and looking for advice on how to succeed? We interviewed an instructor for this course, and here’s her advice about success in OCRA1, as well as general information about the course.

Course Overview

            Critical Reading and Argumentation, often referred to simply as CRA, is the senior-level Core course. This highly interdisciplinary course pushes students to develop their skills with making and defending arguments. Prior to CRA, most students have a familiarity with the idea of argumentation, but this course places the focus on developing argumentation skills at a deeper level. By the time students leave CRA, the goal is that they will be comfortable making claims, considering counterarguments, and doing justice to those counterarguments while still advancing their own claims.

Course Topics

Toward the end of the year in CRA, topics differ by teacher. However, below is a list of the topics that students in all sections cover.

In the fall semester, there are three major unit and a min-unit:

• What is philosophy – mini-unit

  • There is no paper to write at the end of this mini-unit

• Philosophy of religion (primarily, the Christian religion, though some readings are from other religions)

• Ethical theory

• Free will and moral responsibility

Units – spring:

• Personal identity – all sections do this unit, though the sections start to diverge slightly here

  • Sometimes, different sections may have the readings for this unit on different days

• Philosophy of mind

At this point, course material differs by instructor. Some examples of what past classes have covered include: epistemology (i.e., what do we know and how do we know it), existentialism, metaethics, philosophy and disability, philosophy and transformative experience, environmental ethics, and the philosophy of the good life.

Assignments

Fall assignments

            In the fall, there are three major assignments: two papers and one paper/project. First, there is a paper about the philosophy of religion, followed by a paper about free will and moral responsibility. Finally, there is a paper/project about ethical theory. In this project, students attempt to live according to the tenets of an ethical theory they’ve learned about. Then, students write a reflection on the experience: what they learned about that ethical theory, how the experience changed the way they see the world, etc. It’s still a thesis-driven process, but it’s different from other papers in that students have to experience and try out the theory first-hand.

There are also occasional small homework assignments, where students are asked to write about a page in response to some prompt. Finally, the very first assignment of the year asks students to write a draft of their Common App essay, as most students are seniors and applying to colleges.

Spring semester

            In the spring semester, all students have a unit paper track available to them—additionally, some sections have a research paper track available. The research paper track, if it’s available to you, means that you have only one major assignment in the spring semester, and that is a research paper of roughly 15 pages. You will research a topic that interests you related to the course material (it must be “related,” but there is a good deal of freedom with that) and write a paper about it.

The unit paper track (available to all) consists of two small papers and a paper/project. First are two papers, one on personal identity, one on the mind or epistemology. For the third assignment of this track, there is an option to do either another paper or to do a creative project. The creative project must engage in some way with course material (typically second semester material) but can come in many, many different creative forms. For example, a student might choose to write a song.

Which track is the right one, if your section has both options? That’s a very individual choice. If you’re a really creative person who wants the chance to take a more artistic approach to the course material, then pick the unit papers + project track. If you really enjoy research and writing, then pick the research paper track. For students who are both very creative and ready to write a 15-page paper, it’s going to be a more challenging choice, but you can’t go wrong. As long as you engage in the course material in a way that interests you, that’s what matters.

As with the fall semester, there are occasional small homework assignments as well, where students are asked to write perhaps a page in response to a prompt.

Available Supports

• CRA does not have peer tutors for the 2024-2025 school year.

• Your instructor is your main resource

  • Instructors hold office hours once or twice a week, where students can come to speak with their instructor.

    • Note that you do not need to have a particular question to attend office hours—you can come to discuss a general topic, explore an idea you have, ask a specific question about homework, and much more! If you feel completely lost in a course and don’t know where to begin with a specific question, office hours are a great place to turn. Additionally, if you want to explore something beyond the required course material, teachers are very happy to share what they know. Exploring beyond assigned material is highly encouraged.

    • You are never inconveniencing your teacher by attending office hours—they want to talk to you.

    • If you find it hard or embarrassing to ask questions in class, office hours can be a great place to ask questions, when you can just talk to your instructor 1-on-1. It is very normal to feel hesitant about asking questions—you are not alone! However, since all the material builds on previous material, finding a comfortable way to ask questions is very important.

  • Instructors can also be reached by email. You might decide to email your teacher, for example, if you have a (relatively quick) question that needs to be answered before their next office hours.

Other Advice for Success

• Students taking CRA are seniors, and time management becomes a challenge for nearly all students (even for students who haven’t struggled with it in the past).

  • As best as you can, plan ahead – but most importantly, take care of yourself. If you need an extension due to college applications or other things going on in your life, ask for it, and prioritize your own wellbeing.

• Students generally come into CRA as good writers, but not always as comfortable arguers. Students have to be able to make a claim that a reasonable person could disagree with, and then argue why they’re correct while also doing justice to the counterargument.

  • Don’t be afraid of opposing views! It’s considering these views – and saying why you think yours is correct despite the opposition – that is what gives a philosophy paper strength.

Why take this course

            Critical Reading and Argumentation focuses a great deal on… well, arguments! If you’ve taken previous Core courses, or even courses in other subjects like English, you will likely be somewhat familiar with making arguments. CRA builds on that foundation and goes deeper, exploring argumentation at another level.

            It is also perhaps the most interdisciplinary of the Core courses. Although many of the readings are classic philosophy readings, there are also many that you might expect to find in an English, literature, social studies, or other humanities course.

            Finally, there is a really nice community that’s formed in CRA. Almost all students took Democracy, Freedom, Justice, and the Law (ODFRL) the year before, and almost all students take CRA as seniors. Additionally, students taking CRA have often been at OHS for a long time and, by the time you reach CRA, you are likely to know most or all of your classmates. There’s a nice intellectual community that’s formed in this course which makes it unique among Core courses and OHS courses in general.