Critical Thinking and Analysis for Intermediate

level and above

©The Learning Quality Support Unit, 2013

LQSU

What Is The Purpose of this Session?

• To develop your awareness of the critical thinking skills needed for under and postgraduate level academic work.

• Develop critical analytical skills.

Critical thinkingFrancis Bacon, back in 1605:

• “For myself, I found that I was fitted for nothing so well as for the study of Truth; as having a mind nimble and versatile enough to catch the resemblances of things … and at the same time steady enough to fix and distinguish their subtler differences; as being gifted by nature with desire to seek, patience to doubt, fondness to meditate, slowness to assert, readiness to consider, carefulness to dispose and set in order; and as being a man that neither affects what is new nor admires what is old, and that hates every kind of imposture”.

Moving to critical thinking

Inquisitive

Judicious

Truth seeking

Confidence in

reasoning

Open-minded

Analytical

Systematic

Adapted from the work of Facione et al (1995)

Critical analysis involves:• Reviewing the claims of theorists,

researchers, governments (law), authorities (policies, guidelines, recommendations).

• Checking the strength of supporting evidence.

• Asking:– how closely they apply to the situation?– Is the work organised so that the outcomes

appear better than opposing research?

• Writing up

Understanding formal logic

It's important to understand that an argument can be logical without necessarily being true.

Consider, for example, the following:• All women are brilliant. • I am a woman. • Therefore, I am brilliant.

Conclusion

• Improved critical thinking skills

• Improved ability to identify key issues in text

• Being analytical

References

• Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (2010). Making sense of evidence. Retrieved from http://www.casp-uk.net/

• Facione, P. A. Sánchez, C. A. Facione N. C. & Gainen, J.(1995). ‘The Disposition Toward Critical Thinking.The Journal of General Education, 44 (1) 1-25. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/27797240

• Image on first page: Chartland, J. (2008, September 29). How Good Are Your Critical Thinking Skills?[Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1120&bih=561&q=critical+thinking+images&oq=critical+thinking+&gs_l=img.1.2.0l10.714.7941.0.9677.20.13.1.6.6.0.129.1189.8j5.13.0...0.0...1ac.1.5.img.5eloYnlnV34