Discussion forums are commonly used in online courses as a medium for students to develop critical thinking, communication, and information literacy skills. An effective way to meet these objectives is to use an explicit critical thinking framework, in which students are given specific instructions on how to structure their posts. This assignment is structured around the model of critical thinking developed by the Critical Thinking Community. Students are required to submit an initial post, two replies to their classmates’ initial posts, two responses to replies received from classmates, and a final post, by specific deadlines over a seven-day period. Postings must follow specific requirements (i.e., quoting statements, using critical thinking terms, etc.) for full credit to be earned.