Academic Strategies Unit 4 Seminar Critical Thinking & Internet Research Professor J. Kelly

AGENDA Website Evaluation Video Assignment Overview Critical Thinking Case Study Questions

Website Evaluation Tutorial http://lib.colostate.edu/tutorials/webeval.html Listen to this brief (and somewhat funny tutorial) and then respond to the following question in the chat area: Why should we evaluate online sources?

To-Do Complete the Four Reading Items: Reading Challenge Activity Powerful Words for a Powerful Vocabulary Successories Respond to the Discussion Complete the Web Exploration/Learning Activity Complete the Assignment Attend the weekly Seminar or Complete the Alternative Assignment Take the Quiz Check out Extra! Extra!

Unit 4 Research & Evaluation Assignment This unit’s project focuses on using your critical thinking skills to evaluate an online article or a website for academic worthiness. Explain why you feel that this online source would be suitable to use as a reference for a research paper and why it will be worthwhile for you to take the time to carefully consider online sources in the future (in a minimum of 5 complete sentences). Tip: Choose an article about business or other pertinent topic.

Criteria for Assignment Explain how each required item indicates that the selected source is reliable and accurate. Demonstrate the reliability of an online source by applying the required criteria. Recognize the importance of using the evaluation criteria to determine the reliability of online sources.

Unit 4 Website Evaluation TIP: Make sure to carefully review the 5 W’s of Web Site Evaluation information, which is located at the end of the Unit 4 Reading. The 5 W’s information will help you to determine the suitability of online resources by asking you to look closely at 5 items.

5 W’s of Website Evaluation Authority (who): Who is the author or sponsor and what are his/her credentials? Did the author/sponsor provide contact information? Accuracy (where): Where did the information come from? Are there citations and links to other web sites?   Objectivity (what): What is the purpose of the site (inform, entertain, persuade, advertise, etc)? Is the discussion fact-based or opinion-based? Currency (when): When was the site originally created? Has it been recently updated? Are the links working? Coverage (why): Why is this site worthwhile? Is the site easy to navigate and does the information seem logical?

5 W’s of Web Site Evaluation 1. Authority (who):       2. Accuracy (where):       3. Objectivity (what): 4. Currency (when):       5. Coverage (why):

Assignment Overview For the Unit 4 Assignment, you will be locating and evaluating online sources to determine whether or not they provide reliable, accurate information, the kind of information you might use if you were writing a research paper. You will not actually be writing a research paper in this course; however, this assignment is designed to give you some practice locating and evaluating online sources—two skills that will be very important in future Kaplan courses. After completing the Unit 4 reading, conduct some online research of your own in order to locate one online source that would be suitable to use as a reference for a research paper, a source you consider reliable and accurate after applying the 5 Ws of Web Site Evaluation. Remember: Blogs, Wikis, and message boards are not acceptable for research since they are opinion and/or editable by anyone. Note: Database sites such as Google, Bing and Yahoo hold many possible sources that can be chosen and may be used as search engines, but these types of sites are not to be evaluated for this assignment.

Where to Search! Google - https://www.google.com/ You may use any search engine you are familiar with to begin your search. Google is probably one of the most popular search engines around, but there are others you might want to use as well: Google - https://www.google.com/ Google Scholar - http://scholar.google.com/ Bing - http://www.bing.com/ Yahoo Search - http://www.search.yahoo.com/ Ask - http://www.ask.com/ AOL Search - http://search.aol.com/aol/webhome MyWebSearch - http://home.mywebsearch.com/ Lycos - http://www.lycos.com/ Dogpile - http://www.dogpile.com/  TIP: You will also find excellent online sources by using the Kaplan Online Library located on your KU Campus page in the My Studies area!

Insight “The World Wide Web can be a great place to accomplish research on many topics. But putting documents or pages on the web is easy, cheap or free, unregulated, and unmonitored (at least in the USA). There is a famous Steiner cartoon published in the New Yorker (July 5, 1993) with two dogs sitting before a terminal looking at a computer screen; one says to the other "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog." The great wealth that the Internet has brought to so much of society is the ability for people to express themselves, find one another, exchange ideas, discover possible peers worldwide they never would have otherwise met, and, through hypertext links in web pages, suggest so many other people's ideas and personalities to anyone who comes and clicks. There are some real "dogs" out there, but there's also great treasure. Therein lies the rationale for evaluating carefully whatever you find on the Web. The burden is on you - the reader - to establish the validity, authorship, timeliness, and integrity of what you find.

Insight Documents can easily be copied and falsified or copied with omissions and errors -- intentional or accidental. In the general World Wide Web there are no editors (unlike most print publications) to proofread and "send it back" or "reject it" until it meets the standards of a publishing house's reputation. Most pages found in general search engines for the web are self-published or published by businesses small and large with motives to get you to buy something or believe a point of view. Even within university and library web sites, there can be many pages that the institution does not try to oversee. The web needs to be free like that!! And you, if you want to use it for serious research, need to cultivate the habit of healthy skepticism, of questioning everything you find with critical thinking.” Source: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html

Critical Thinking What is it? Why should it matter to me? How can I apply it in my own life? Will it help me in my Kaplan courses? How can I improve my critical thinking?

What is critical thinking? Critical thinking is the ongoing process of understanding, questioning, observing, analyzing, and making judgments. “Critical thinking is the discipline of rigorously and skillfully using information, experience, observation and reasoning to guide your decisions, actions and beliefs.” Source: “Critical Thinking: Developing Skills for Successful Thinking” http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_95.htm

A well cultivated critical thinker: raises vital questions and problems, formulating them clearly and precisely; gathers and assesses relevant information, using abstract ideas to interpret it effectively comes to well-reasoned conclusions and solutions, testing them against relevant criteria and standards; thinks open-mindedly within alternative systems of thought, recognizing and assessing, as need be, their assumptions, implications, and practical consequences; and communicates effectively with others in figuring out solutions to complex problems. Source: http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/defining-critical-thinking/766

Attributes of a Critical Thinker Source: Strategies for Success: Critical Thinking Ferrett, S. Peak Performance (1997). http://www.accd.edu/sac/history/keller/ACCDitg/SSCT.htm asks pertinent questions assesses statements and arguments is able to admit a lack of understanding or information has a sense of curiosity is interested in finding new solutions is able to clearly define a set of criteria for analyzing ideas is willing to examine beliefs, assumptions, and opinions and weigh them against facts listens carefully to others and is able to give feedback sees that critical thinking is a lifelong process of self-assessment suspends judgment until all facts have been gathered and considered looks for evidence to support assumption and beliefs is able to adjust opinions when new facts are found looks for proof examines problems closely is able to reject information that is incorrect or irrelevant

 Why do YOU think critical thinking skills, such as some of the “attributes” listed on the previous slide, will be important for you here at Kaplan and in other areas of your life as well?

Four Steps to Improve Your Thinking Step 1:     Clarify your points   Step 2:     Stick to the point Step 3:     Question Questions Step 4:     Be Reasonable

Think… Think… Think… Think of critical thinking as a way to expand your thinking--actively thinking, rather than passively going through the motions; being open-minded, rather than closed-minded; ready to question, rather than simply allowing information to stand on its own merit; exploring and testing, rather than accepting and digesting.

The ART of taking charge… "We could define it [critical thinking] as the art of taking charge of your own mind. Its value is also at root simple: if we can take charge of our own minds, we can take charge of our lives; we can improve them, bringing them under our self-command and direction. Of course, this requires that we learn self-discipline and the art of self-examination…“ Source: “Our Concept of Critical Thinking”

Benefits of Critical Thinking It's like building a house. If you build a firm foundation and do the framing right (test it out and double-check it), you know the structure will stand for a long, long time. The same goes for your thinking. If you think things through logically and carefully, maybe test and double-check your thinking, your decisions will be sound and you will gain greater confidence in yourself.

Important Terms INFERENCE: Arriving at a conclusion based loosely on facts that are known or assumed to be true.   Example: Upon seeing a woman carrying a briefcase at 8 am, we could infer that she is going to work. This may or may not be true.   CONJECTURE: Guessing or making predictions based on incomplete information; it has not been proven. Example: There is life on other planets.  This may or may not be true. FACT: A statement that can be proven true.  Example:  Many research studies have proven that “women live longer than men.”   This statement can be proven true. OPINION: A personal judgment or shared belief; an attitude or viewpoint that may or may not be true. Example:  Some people believe that Macs are better than PCs. While some will agree and others disagree, a final agreeable truth will not be possible.

Sources: www.dictionary.com; www.thefreedictionary.com Assumption A thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen, without proof: "they made certain assumptions about the market.“ Something taken for granted or accepted as true without proof; a supposition. A thing assumed to be true in the absence of positive proof. Sources: www.dictionary.com; www.thefreedictionary.com

BLOOM’S 6 LEVEL’S OF COGNITION

Bloom’s taxonomy (Bloom, B. S. 1984. Taxonomy of educational objectives. Allyn and Bacon, Boston, MA)

Critical Thinking Quiz How many birthdays does the average man have? -78 -65.5 -one per year How many outs are there in an inning? -There are 3 outs. -There are 6 outs. -There are 4 outs. A forester has 17 trees, and all but 9 die. How many are left? -8 trees -9 trees -the first 8 Divide 30 by 1/2 and add 10. What is the answer? -25 -65 -70

Wisdom about Critical Thinking "Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts.” - Daniel Patrick Moynihan, American sociologist and US Senator (1927-2003) "Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.” - Confucius, Chinese philosopher (551-479 BCE) "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." - Aristotle, Greek philosopher (384-322 BCE)

Wisdom about Critical Thinking "Information is the currency of democracy." -Thomas Jefferson, Third US President (1743-1826) "Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought." - Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, Winner of 1937 Nobel Prize in Psychology or Medicine The Scientist Speculates: An Anthology of Partly-baked Ideas, 1965 "It is critical vision alone which can mitigate the unimpeded operation of the automatic." Marshall McLuhan, Canadian Professor of English Literature The Mechanical Bride, 1951

The Case of Mark Mark has always wanted a career in marketing, and after being out of school for a few years, is happy to be back learning great things.   Now in his second term, he really likes his coursework and is getting good grades.   He thinks, though, that his next term might be too hard for him because friends said the next set of courses will be “more advanced.” Mark guesses that he might need a tutor but doesn’t feel he knows any marketing professionals to turn to for help. Generally, Mark doesn’t panic, but he is getting worried and as this fear overwhelms him, his current quarter grades are starting to slip.

What assumptions does Mark make and on what does Mark base his assumptions?   Why do you think it might not be such a good idea to base decisions on assumptions? How might Mark use some of these critical thinking skills (understanding, questioning, observing, analyzing, and making judgments) to make a better decision for himself in this case? In other words, instead of panicking, what could he do?

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