Vcr Approach the Art and Skill of Evaluating and Challenging

Critical thinking is a desire to seek, patience to doubt, fondness to meditate, slowness to affirm, readiness to consider, carefulness to dispose and ready in order; and hatred for every kind of imposture. —Francis Bacon, philosopher

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Past the end of this section, you will exist able to:

• Define critical thinking
• Describe the role that logic plays in disquisitional thinking
• Describe how both critical and creative thinking skills can exist used to problem-solve
• Describe how critical thinking skills tin be used to evaluate information
• Apply the CRAAP test to evaluate sources of information
• Identify strategies for developing yourself as a disquisitional thinker

Critical Thinking

As a higher pupil, you are tasked with engaging and expanding your thinking skills. One of the nearly important of these skills is critical thinking considering information technology relates to nearly all tasks, situations, topics, careers, environments, challenges, and opportunities. It is a "domain-general" thinking skill, not one that is specific to a item subject field expanse.

What Is Critical Thinking?

Critical thinking is clear, reasonable, reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do. Information technology means asking probing questions like "How exercise we know?" or "Is this true in every instance or just in this case?" It involves being skeptical and challenging assumptions rather than simply memorizing facts or blindly accepting what you hear or read.

Imagine, for example, that y'all're reading a history textbook. You wonder who wrote it and why, considering you lot notice certain biases in the writing. Yous discover that the writer has a express telescopic of research focused simply on a detail group inside a population. In this instance, your critical thinking reveals that at that place are "other sides to the story."

Who are critical thinkers, and what characteristics exercise they have in common? Critical thinkers are usually curious and reflective people. They similar to explore and probe new areas and seek knowledge, clarification, and new solutions. They enquire pertinent questions, evaluate statements and arguments, and they distinguish between facts and stance. They are as well willing to examine their own beliefs, possessing a way of humility that allows them to admit lack of knowledge or agreement when needed. They are open up to changing their mind. Perhaps most of all, they actively enjoy learning, and seeking new knowledge is a lifelong pursuit. This may well be you!

No affair where you are on the route to being a critical thinker, yous tin can always more fully develop and finely tune your skills. Doing and then volition assistance you develop more balanced arguments, express yourself conspicuously, read critically, and glean important data efficiently. Critical thinking skills will assistance you in any profession or any circumstance of life, from science to art to business to teaching. With critical thinking, you become a clearer thinker and problem solver.

Critical Thinking IS	Critical Thinking is NOT
Skepticism	Memorizing
Examining assumptions	Group thinking
Challenging reasoning	Blind acceptance of authority
Uncovering biases

The following video, from Lawrence Bland, presents the major concepts and benefits of critical thinking.

Critical Thinking and Logic

Critical thinking is fundamentally a process of questioning information and information. You may question the information you read in a textbook, or y'all may question what a politico or a professor or a classmate says. Y'all tin can also question a commonly-held conventionalities or a new idea. With critical thinking, annihilation and everything is subject to question and examination for the purpose of logically constructing reasoned perspectives.

What Is Logic?

The give-and-take logic comes from the Ancient Greek logike, referring to the scientific discipline or art of reasoning. Using logic, a person evaluates arguments and reasoning and strives to distinguish between good and bad reasoning, or betwixt truth and falsehood. Using logic, you tin can evaluate the ideas and claims of others, brand skillful decisions, and form sound beliefs about the world.^[one]

Questions of Logic in Critical Thinking

Let's use a simple instance of applying logic to a critical-thinking state of affairs. In this hypothetical scenario, a man has a PhD in political scientific discipline, and he works every bit a professor at a local college. His wife works at the college, too. They have three young children in the local schoolhouse organization, and their family is well known in the community. The man is at present running for political office. Are his credentials and feel sufficient for entering public office? Will he be effective in the political office? Some voters might believe that his personal life and current job, on the surface, suggest he will practice well in the position, and they will vote for him. In truth, the characteristics described don't guarantee that the man volition practise a skilful job. The information is somewhat irrelevant. What else might yous want to know? How virtually whether the human being had already held a political role and washed a skilful chore? In this example, we desire to call back critically well-nigh how much information is adequate in social club to make a determination based on logic instead ofassumptions.

The post-obit questions, presented in Effigy i, below, are ones you may utilize to formulating a logical, reasoned perspective in the above scenario or whatever other situation:

1. What'due south happening? Gather the basic information and brainstorm to recall of questions.
2. Why is it important? Ask yourself why it'southward pregnant and whether or non yous concord.
3. What don't I run across? Is at that place annihilation important missing?
4. How do I know? Ask yourself where the information came from and how it was synthetic.
5. Who is saying it? What's the position of the speaker and what is influencing them?
6. What else? What if? What other ideas exist and are at that place other possibilities?

Figure one

Problem-Solving with Disquisitional Thinking

For most people, a typical twenty-four hour period is filled with disquisitional thinking and problem-solving challenges. In fact, critical thinking and trouble-solving get manus-in-hand. They both refer to using knowledge, facts, and data to solve problems effectively. Only with problem-solving, you are specifically identifying, selecting, and defending your solution. Below are some examples of using critical thinking to problem-solve:

• Your roommate was upset and said some unkind words to you lot, which put a crimp in the relationship. Y'all attempt to come across through the angry behaviors to determine how you lot might best back up the roommate and assist bring the relationship back to a comfortable spot.

• Your campus gild has been languishing due to lack of participation and funds. The new lodge president, though, is a marketing major and has identified some strategies to interest students in joining and supporting the club. Implementation is forthcoming.

• Your final art class project challenges you to anticipate form in new ways. On the last day of grade when students present their projects, yous describe the techniques you used to fulfill the assignment. You explain why and how you selected that approach.

• Your math teacher sees that the class is not quite grasping a concept. She uses clever questioning to dispel feet and guide yous to new understanding of the concept.

• You lot have a job interview for a position that you feel you are only partially qualified for, although you actually desire the job and you lot are excited almost the prospects. You analyze how y'all will explain your skills and experiences in a style to bear witness that yous are a good friction match for the prospective employer.
• You are doing well in college, and nigh of your higher and living expenses are covered. But there are some gaps between what y'all want and what you feel y'all can afford. Y'all analyze your income, savings, and upkeep to ameliorate calculate what you lot will need to stay in higher and maintain your desired level of spending.

Problem-Solving Action Checklist

Problem-solving tin exist an efficient and rewarding process, peculiarly if y'all are organized and mindful of disquisitional steps and strategies. Remember to assume the attributes of a proficient critical thinker: if you are curious, reflective, cognition-seeking, open to change, probing, organized, and ethical, your challenge or problem volition be less of a hurdle, and y'all'll exist in a good position to find intelligent solutions. The steps outlined in this checklist volition help yous adhere to these qualities in your approach to any trouble:

	STRATEGIES	Activity CHECKLIST[two]
1	Define the trouble	Identify the trouble Provide as many supporting details equally possible Provide examples Organize the information logically
2	Identify bachelor solutions	Use logic to identify your most important goals Identify implications and consequences Identify facts Compare and dissimilarity possible solutions
three	Select your solution	Apply gathered facts and relevant evidence Back up and defend solutions considered valid Defend your solution

Critical and Artistic Thinking

Critical and creative thinking (described in more detail in Affiliate six: Theories of Learning) complement each other when information technology comes to problem-solving. The following words, past Dr. Andrew Robert Baker, are excerpted from his "Thinking Critically and Creatively" essay. Dr. Baker illuminates some of the many means that college students will exist exposed to critical and creative thinking and how it tin enrich their learning experiences.

THINKING CRITICALLY AND CREATIVELY

Critical thinking skills are perhaps the near key skills involved in making judgments and solving problems. You lot apply them every twenty-four hour period, and y'all can go along improving them.

The ability to think critically about a thing—to analyze a question, state of affairs, or problem downwards to its nigh basic parts—is what helps us evaluate the accuracy and truthfulness of statements, claims, and information we read and hear. Information technology is the precipitous knife that, when honed, separates fact from fiction, honesty from lies, and the accurate from the misleading. We all apply this skill to one degree or another well-nigh every day. For instance, we utilise disquisitional thinking every 24-hour interval as we consider the latest consumer products and why one particular product is the best among its peers. Is it a quality product considering a celebrity endorses it? Because a lot of other people may have used information technology? Because it is made past one visitor versus some other? Or perhaps because it is made in i country or another? These are questions representative of critical thinking.

The bookish setting demands more than of us in terms of disquisitional thinking than everyday life. It demands that we evaluate data and clarify myriad bug. Information technology is the surroundings where our critical thinking skills can be the difference between success and failure. In this environment we must consider data in an analytical, critical mode. Nosotros must ask questions—What is the source of this information? Is this source an expert one and what makes it so? Are there multiple perspectives to consider on an issue? Exercise multiple sources concur or disagree on an effect? Does quality research substantiate information or opinion? Do I accept any personal biases that may affect my consideration of this data?

It is only through purposeful, frequent, intentional questioning such as this that we can sharpen our critical thinking skills and improve as students, learners and researchers.

While critical thinking analyzes information and roots out the truthful nature and facets of problems, it is artistic thinking that drives progress forward when it comes to solving these problems. Infrequent artistic thinkers are people that invent new solutions to existing problems that practice not rely on past or current solutions. They are the ones who invent solution C when everyone else is still arguing between A and B. Creative thinking skills involve using strategies to clear the mind then that our thoughts and ideas tin can transcend the electric current limitations of a trouble and let united states of america to see across barriers that prevent new solutions from being plant.

Brainstorming is the simplest example of intentional creative thinking that most people accept tried at least once. With the quick generation of many ideas at once, we can cake-out our brain'due south natural tendency to limit our solution-generating abilities then we tin can access and combine many possible solutions/thoughts and invent new ones. It is sort of like sprinting through a race's end line only to find there is new track on the other side and we can keep going, if nosotros choose. Every bit with critical thinking, higher pedagogy both demands creative thinking from united states and is the perfect place to practice and develop the skill. Everything from word problems in a math class, to opinion or persuasive speeches and papers, telephone call upon our artistic thinking skills to generate new solutions and perspectives in response to our professor's demands. Artistic thinking skills enquire questions such as—What if? Why non? What else is out there? Can I combine perspectives/solutions? What is something no one else has brought-upwards? What is being forgotten/ignored? What well-nigh ______? It is the opening of doors and options that follows problem-identification.

Consider an consignment that required yous to compare two different authors on the topic of education and select and defend one as meliorate. At present add to this scenario that your professor clearly prefers one author over the other. While critical thinking can become yous equally far as identifying the similarities and differences between these authors and evaluating their claim, it is creative thinking that you must use if you wish to claiming your professor's opinion and invent new perspectives on the authors that take not previously been considered.

So, what can we do to develop our critical and artistic thinking skills? Although many students may dislike it, grouping work is an excellent way to develop our thinking skills. Many times I take heard from students their disdain for working in groups based on scheduling, varied levels of delivery to the grouping or projection, and personality conflicts too, of course. True—information technology's not always easy, but that is why it is so effective. When we work collaboratively on a projection or problem we bring many brains to comport on a subject. These different brains will naturally develop varied means of solving or explaining problems and examining information. To the observant individual nosotros run across that this places us in a constant state of back and along disquisitional/artistic thinking modes.

For example, in group work we are simultaneously analyzing information and generating solutions on our own, while challenging other's analyses/ideas and responding to challenges to our own analyses/ideas. This is office of why students tend to avoid group work—it challenges united states of america as thinkers and forces usa to analyze others while defending ourselves, which is not something we are used to or comfortable with every bit most of our educational experiences involve solo work. Your professors know this—that's why we assign it—to help yous grow every bit students, learners, and thinkers!

—Dr. Andrew Robert Bakery, Foundations of Academic Success: Words of Wisdom

Evaluating Information with Disquisitional Thinking

Evaluating data can be one of the most complex tasks you volition be faced with in college. Only if you apply the following four strategies, you will be well on your mode to success:

1. Read for understanding
2. Examine arguments
3. Clarify thinking
4. Cultivate "habits of mind"

Read for Understanding

When you lot read, accept notes or mark the text to track your thinking well-nigh what you are reading. Every bit you lot brand connections and ask questions in response to what you read,  you monitor your comprehension and enhance your long-term agreement of the material. Yous will desire to mark important arguments and central facts. Indicate where y'all agree and disagree or accept further questions. You don't necessarily need to read every word, but brand sure you understand the concepts or the intentions backside what is written. Run across the chapter on Active Reading Strategies for additional tips.

Examine Arguments

When you lot examine arguments or claims that an author, speaker, or other source is making, your goal is to place and examine the hard facts. You tin can use the spectrum of potency strategy for this purpose. The spectrum of authority strategy assists you in identifying the "hot" stop of an argument—feelings, beliefs, cultural influences, and societal influences—and the "common cold" end of an argument—scientific influences. The most compelling arguments balance elements from both ends of the spectrum. The following video explains this strategy in further detail:

Clarify Thinking

When you utilize disquisitional thinking to evaluate data, you lot demand to clarify your thinking to yourself and likely to others. Doing this well is mainly a procedure of asking and answering probing questions, such as the logic questions discussed earlier. Blueprint your questions to fit your needs, but be sure to cover adequate footing. What is the purpose? What question are nosotros trying to answer? What betoken of view is being expressed? What assumptions are we or others making? What are the facts and data we know, and how practice we know them? What are the concepts we're working with? What are the conclusions, and do they make sense? What are the implications?

Cultivate "Habits of Mind"

"Habits of mind" are the personal commitments, values, and standards yous have about the principle of practiced thinking. Consider your intellectual commitments, values, and standards. Do you approach problems with an open listen, a respect for truth, and an inquiring attitude? Some good habits to take when thinking critically are being receptive to having your opinions inverse, having respect for others, existence independent and not accepting something is true until you've had the time to examine the bachelor show, beingness fair-minded, having respect for a reason, having an inquiring heed, not making assumptions, and always, especially, questioning your own conclusions—in other words, developing an intellectual work ethic. Attempt to work these qualities into your daily life.

CRAAP Test

In 2010, a textbook being used in quaternary class classrooms in Virginia became large news for all the wrong reasons. The book, Our Virginia by Joy Masoff, had caught the attending of a parent who was helping her child do her homework, co-ordinate to an article in The Washington Post. Ballad Sheriff was a historian for the Higher of William and Mary and as she worked with her daughter, she began to find some glaring historical errors, not the least of which was a passage which described how thousands of African Americans fought for the South during the Civil State of war.

Further investigation into the book revealed that, although the author had written textbooks on a diversity of subjects, she was not a trained historian. The research she had done to write Our Virginia, and in particular the information she included virtually Black Confederate soldiers, was washed through the Cyberspace and included sources created by groups similar the Sons of Confederate Veterans, an arrangement which promotes views of history that de-emphasize the role of slavery in the Civil War.

How did a book with errors similar these come to be used equally part of the curriculum and who was at fault? Was it Masoff for using untrustworthy sources for her research? Was it the editors who allowed the book to be published with these errors intact? Was information technology the schoolhouse lath for approving the book without more closely reviewing its accuracy?

There are a number of issues at play in the case of Our Virginia, merely there's no question that evaluating sources is an important function of the research process and doesn't only apply to Internet sources. Using inaccurate, irrelevant, or poorly researched sources tin can affect the quality of your own work. Being able to understand and apply the concepts that follow is crucial to becoming a more savvy user and creator of information.

When you begin evaluating sources, what should you consider? The CRAAP test is a series of common evaluative elements you can utilize to evaluate the Currency,Relevance,Authority,Accuracy, andPurpose of your sources. The CRAAP test was developed by librarians at California State Academy at Chico and it gives you a expert, overall prepare of elements to look for when evaluating a resource. Allow'due south consider what each of these evaluative elements ways.

Currency

One of the well-nigh important and interesting steps to take as you begin researching a subject is selecting the resource that will help you build your thesis and back up your assertions. Certain topics require you to pay special attention to how current your resource is—because they are time sensitive, considering they accept evolved so much over the years, or because new research comes out on the topic so frequently. When evaluating the currency of an article, consider the following:

• When was the item written, and how frequently does the publication it is in come out?
• Is in that location bear witness of newly added or updated information in the detail?
• If the information is dated, is it still suitable for your topic?
• How oft does information modify most your topic?

Relevance

Understanding what resource are most applicable to your subject and why they are applicative tin assist you focus and refine your thesis. Many topics are broad and searching for information on them produces a wide range of resources. Narrowing your topic and focusing on resources specific to your needs can help reduce the piles of information and assist y'all focus in on what is truly important to read and reference. When determining relevance consider the following:

• Does the item incorporate information relevant to your statement or thesis?
• Read the commodity's introduction, thesis, and decision.
• Browse main headings and identify article keywords.
• For book resources, offset with the index or table of contents—how broad a telescopic does the item take? Will you utilise office or all of this resource?
• Does the information presented support or refute your ideas?
• If the information refutes your ideas, how will this change your statement?
• Does the textile provide you with current information?
• What is the material'due south intended audition?

Authority

Agreement more about your information's source helps you make up one's mind when, how, and where to use that data. Is your author an expert on the subject? Practise they have some personal stake in the argument they are making? What is the author or data producer's background? When determining the authority of your source, consider the post-obit:

• What are the author's credentials?
• What is the writer's level of teaching, experience, and/or occupation?
• What qualifies the author to write virtually this topic?
• What affiliations does the writer have? Could these affiliations affect their position?
• What organization or body published the data? Is it authoritative? Does it take an explicit position or bias?

Accuracy

Determining where information comes from, if evidence supports the information, and if the information has been reviewed or refereed can help yous make up one's mind how and whether to use a source. When determining the accuracy of a source, consider the following:

• Is the source well-documented? Does it include footnotes, citations, or a bibliography?
• Is information in the source presented as fact, opinion, or propaganda? Are biases clear?
• Tin can you verify information from the references cited in the source?
• Is the information written clearly and complimentary of typographical and grammatical mistakes? Does the source look to exist edited before publication? A clean, well-presented paper does non e'er point accuracy, but usually at least means more than eyes have been on the information.

Purpose

Knowing why data was created is a cardinal to evaluation. Understanding the reason or purpose of the information, if the information has clear intentions, or if the information is fact, stance, or propaganda will assistance you determine how and why to apply information:

• Is the author's purpose to inform, sell, persuade, or entertain?
• Does the source take an obvious bias or prejudice?
• Is the article presented from multiple points of view?
• Does the author omit important facts or data that might disprove their argument?
• Is the author's language breezy, joking, emotional, or impassioned?
• Is the data conspicuously supported by evidence?

When you feel overwhelmed past the information you are finding, the CRAAP test tin can assistance yous determine which information is the virtually useful to your research topic. How y'all respond to what yous observe out using the CRAAP examination will depend on your topic. Maybe you lot want to use two overtly biased resource to inform an overview of typical arguments in a particular field. Perchance your topic is historical and currency means the by hundred years rather than the by i or two years. Use the CRAAP examination, be knowledgeable about your topic, and you will be on your manner to evaluating data efficiently and well!

Watch this cursory video for a summary of using the CRAPP test when evaluating your sources.

Developing Yourself As a Critical Thinker

Disquisitional thinking is a cardinal skill for higher students, just it should also be a lifelong pursuit. Beneath are additional strategies to develop yourself as a disquisitional thinker in college and in everyday life:

• Reflect and practice: Always reflect on what you've learned. Is it true all the time? How did you go far at your conclusions?
• Utilize wasted time: It'due south certainly important to make time for relaxing, but if you find you lot are indulging in too much of a good thing, retrieve about using your time more constructively. Make up one's mind when you practice your best thinking and attempt to larn something new during that part of the day.
• Redefine the way you see things: Information technology tin be very uninteresting to always think the same style. Claiming yourself to see familiar things in new ways. Put yourself in someone else's shoes and consider things from a different angle or perspective.  If you're trying to solve a trouble, listing all your concerns: what you demand in order to solve it, who tin help, what some possible barriers might be, etc. It's oftentimes possible to reframe a problem as an opportunity. Try to find a solution where in that location seems to be none.
• Clarify the influences on your thinking and in your life: Why do you lot call back or experience the way you do? Clarify your influences. Think virtually who in your life influences you. Do you lot feel or react a certain way because of social convention, or because you believe information technology is what is expected of you? Try to break out of any molds that may be constricting you.
• Express yourself: Disquisitional thinking also involves being able to express yourself clearly. Most important in expressing yourself clearly is stating one point at a fourth dimension. Y'all might be inclined to argue every thought, just y'all might have greater impact if yous focus simply on your main arguments. This will help others to follow your thinking clearly. For more abstruse ideas, assume that your audience may not understand. Provide examples, analogies, or metaphors where you can.
• Enhance your wellness: Information technology'southward easier to remember critically when y'all take care of your mental and physical health. Endeavour taking activeness breaks throughout the day to reach xxx to lx minutes of physical activity each twenty-four hour period. Scheduling concrete activity into your twenty-four hour period can help lower stress and increase mental alertness. Also, practise your most difficult work when y'all have the about energy. Recall about the time of day you are virtually constructive and take the well-nigh energy. Programme to do your almost hard work during these times. And exist certain to reach out for help if you lot feel you need assistance with your mental or concrete wellness (see Maintaining Your Mental and Physical Health for more information).

ACTIVITY: REFLECT ON CRITICAL THINKING

Objective

• Apply disquisitional thinking strategies to your life

Directions:

• Think about someone yous consider to be a disquisitional thinker (friend, professor, historical figure, etc). What qualities does he/she have?
• Review some of the critical thinking strategies discussed on this page. Selection one strategy that makes sense to you. How can yous apply this critical thinking technique to your academic work?
• Habits of mind are attitudes and behavior that influence how you approach the world (i.eastward., inquiring attitude, open mind, respect for truth, etc). What is one habit of heed yous would like to actively develop over the next yr? How will y'all develop a daily practice to cultivate this addiction?
• Write your responses in journal form, and submit according to your instructor's guidelines.

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Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/austincc-learningframeworks/chapter/chapter-7-critical-thinking-and-evaluating-information/

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