Vassar offers two types of computer courses: (1) the introductory courses in Computer Science Studies convey the intrinsic features of computer systems and stress their capacities to support established numeric and symbolic modes of inquiry and (2) the Freshmen Seminars which reveal the facility of computers for aiding man's critical process by displaying information so that patterns can emerge more readily from textual as well as numeric materials. The critical thinking process is said to involve: (1) the decoding of source material through observation and interpretation and (2) the encoding of original insights as a result of the interpretation. This act of translation--critical thinking--is essentially the processing of input information and the creation of output. Though much of the analysis is subjective, an honest attempt must be made to locate reliable patterns in what is observed and to restrict the tendency to guess or bias a study. This is where the computer is most useful. The subjects of the Freshmen Seminar for 1974-75 were an analysis of: (1) the literary language of John Milton's "Paradise Lost" and (2) the live communications of the Watergate Testimony. (SBM)