CRITICAL ANALYTICAL THINKING (Moderated cynicism) Research Methods

Critical analytical thinking … is not believing everything you read or disbelieving everything you read … but, by trying to be objective, … striking a balance between the two

Information sources Journal papers Conference papers Books Media (TV, radio, newspapers, etc.) Internet (WWW) How would you rank these in terms of being reliable/trustworthy or up-to-date?

The critical analytical thinker … doesnt believe everything they read doesnt disbelieve everything they read

The critical analytical thinker … questions everything that doesnt make sense to them questions some things even though they do make sense to them rereads material when they think they may have missed something

The critical analytical thinker … considers the type of material they are reading before evaluating it considers the context of material when they interpret what they read considers the audience for whom the writing was intended

The critical analytical thinker … tries to determine the authors purpose in writing decides whether they think the author has accomplished their purpose

The critical analytical thinker … recognises that the authors attitude will influence what they write recognises that the effect on them of what the author writes may be caused more by the authors style of writing than the facts presented

The critical analytical thinker … analyses arguments

The critical analytical thinker … recognises, in the case of an argument, whether or not the opponents viewpoint has been refuted recognises unsupported opinions or allegations recognises conflicting information and inconsistencies discounts arguments based on poor reasoning

The critical analytical thinker … recognises and understands metaphors, figures of speech, idioms, colloquialisms and slang recognises the connotations (implicit meaning) as well as the denotations (actual meaning) of words

The critical analytical thinker … distinguishes between what the author really says and what they might seem to say distinguishes among humour, sarcasm, irony, satire and straightforward writing

The critical analytical thinker … distinguishes between necessary inferences and probable (or possible) inferences recognises actual or intended implications of statements made recognises assumptions which are implicit in the authors statements

The critical analytical thinker … distinguishes fact from opinion and objective writing from subjective writing doesnt misinterpret given data

When do I do this? All of the time? When I feel like it? Try to practice it at first so that eventually it comes naturally Start with a couple of (silly) exercises …

Exercise 1 Little Jack Horner sat in a corner Eating a Christmas pie He put in his thumb and pulled out a plum And said, What a good boy am I! Discuss the following statements …

Exercise 1 Jack Horner was little True is OK but cant tell is better (little can be used as an absolute or comparative term)

Exercise 1 Jack was sitting in the corner while he was eating True is correct. There is no other interpretation to the words (and tenses)

Exercise 1 Jack was eating a plum pie Cant tell is correct. It may have been but it may have been an apple pie, which unexpectedly contained a plum. Otherwise, why is he making such a fuss about it?

Exercise 1 Jack was standing in the corner False

Exercise 1 Jack was sitting on a chair Cant tell

Exercise 1 Jack was a good boy Cant tell He said he was a good boy but maybe hes mistaken or hes a liar

Exercise 2 There was an old woman who lived in a shoe. She had so many children she didnt know what to do. Discuss the following statements …

Exercise 2 The woman was old The woman was small The womans children lived in the shoe with her The woman didnt really live in a shoe but her house was so small that she called it a shoe The woman had a pet cat

Homework … Read an academic paper Read a government white paper Watch TV Read The Times/The Sun Listen to Radio 1/Radio 4 Watch How to Get Ahead in Advertising – – (not essential but good for a laugh) Read the last thing you wrote!