5.2: Becoming a Critical Thinker

Introduction

Now that you have learned the characteristics and behaviors of critical thinkers, you can think about how you might start developing your critical thinking skills.

Successful students have the ability to ask questions that lead to deeper learning. Your mind is an obedient servant. It will deliver answers at the same level as your questions. Becoming a critical thinker means being flexible and asking a wide range of questions.

In addition, successful students can think logically. Whether presenting or hearing arguments, successful students are able to examine the arguments and determine if they are based on sound logic or flawed logic.

Finally, successful students know how to find, evaluate, and use the information they find. An important part of critical thinking is examining information and determining when it is appropriate or not appropriate to use.

In this module, you will learn about asking the right questions, thinking logically, and practicing information literacy. These skills will not only help you develop your critical thinking skills but also lead you on the path to becoming a more successful student.

Asking Lower-Level Critical Thinking Question

Thinking is a path to intellectual adventure. Although there are dozens of possible approaches to thinking well, the process boils down to asking and answering questions.

A psychologist named Benjamin Bloom named six levels of thinking. (He called them educational objectives, or goals for learning). Each level of thinking calls for asking and answering different kinds of questions.

Level 1: Remembering—recalling an idea. At this level of thinking, the key question is, Can I recall the key terms, facts, or events? To prompt level 1 thinking, an instructor might ask you to do the following:

• List the ways to become a more critical thinker.
• State the primary features of a mind map.
• Name Bloom’s six levels of thinking.

To study for a test with level 1 questions, you could create flash cards to review ideas from your readings and class notes. You could also read a book with a set of questions in mind and underline the answers to those questions in the text. Or, you could memorize a list of definitions so that you can recite them exactly. These are just a few examples.

Although remembering is important, it is a relatively low level kind of learning. No critical or creative thinking is involved. You simply recognize or recall something that you’ve observed in the past.

Level 2: Understanding—explaining an idea in your own words and giving examples from your own experience. At this level, the main question is, Can I explain this idea in my own words? Often, this means giving examples of an idea on the basis of your own experience.

Suppose that your instructor asks you to do the following:

• Explain the main point of Lesson 1.
• Summarize the steps involved in creating a concept map.
• Compare mind mapping with concept mapping, stating how they’re alike and how they’re different.

Other key words in level 2 questions are discuss, estimate, and restate. All of these are cues to

go one step beyond remembering and to show that you truly comprehend an idea.

Level 3: Applying—using an idea to produce a desired result. Learning at level 3 means asking, Can I use this idea to produce a desired result? That result might include completing a task, meeting a goal, making a decision, or solving a problem.

Some examples of level 3 thinking are as follows:

• Write an affirmation about succeeding in school on the basis of the guidelines in this course.
• Write an effective goal statement.
• Choose a mnemonic to remember the names of the Great Lakes.

Some key words in level 3 questions include apply, solve, construct, plan, predict, and produce.

Asking Higher-Level Critical Thinking Questions

Lower levels of thinking are sometimes about finding the “right” answer to a question. At levels 4, 5, and 6, you might discover several valid answers or create several workable solutions. As you review the following higher-level thinking questions, notice that the lower levels of thinking (1 to 3) give you fewer options than the higher levels (4 to 6) do.

Level 4: Analyzing—dividing an idea into parts or steps. Questions at this level boil down to this, Can I divide this idea into parts or steps?

For example, you could do the following:

• Divide the levels of thinking into two major levels.
• Take a list of key events in the Vietnam War, for example, and arrange them in chronological order.
• Organize the memory techniques from this course into different categories.

Other key words in level 4 questions are classify, separate, distinguish, and outline.

Level 5: Evaluating—rating the truth, usefulness, or quality of an idea—and giving reasons for your rating. Learning at level 5 means asking, Can I rate the truth, usefulness, or quality of this idea—and give reasons for my rating?

This is the level of thinking you would use to do the following:

• Judge the effectiveness of an intention statement.
• Recommend a method for taking lecture notes when an instructor talks fast.
• Rank your financial priorities from most important to least important to you.

Level 5 involves genuine critical thinking. At this level, you agree with an idea, disagree with it, or suspend judgment about it until you get more information. In addition, you give reasons for your opinion and offer supporting evidence.

Some key words in level 5 questions are critique, defend, and comment.
Level 6: Creating—inventing something new on the basis of an idea. To think at this level,

ask, Can I invent something new based on this idea? For instance, you might do the following:

• Invent your own format for taking lecture notes.
• Prepare a list of topics that you would cover if you were teaching a student success course.
• Imagine that you now have enough money to retire and then write goals you would like to accomplish with your extra time.
• Create a PowerPoint presentation on the basis of ideas found in this lesson. Put the material in your own words, and use visual elements to enhance your points.

Questions for creative thinking often start with words such as adapt, change, collaborate, compose, construct, create, design, and develop. You might also notice phrases such as the following:

• What changes would you make...?
• How could you improve...?
• Can you think of another way to...?
• What would happen if...?

Notice that the six levels in Bloom’s taxonomy build on each other. Before you agree or disagree with an idea, make sure that you remember it accurately and truly understand it. Your understanding will go deeper if you can apply and analyze the idea as well. Successful students stay aware of their current level of thinking. They can also move to other levels with a clear intention.

Thinking Logically, Part 1

In addition to asking the right questions, to become a more successful student, you want to develop your logical thinking skills. Logic is a branch of philosophy that seeks to distinguish between effective and ineffective reasoning. This is not just an idle pastime for unemployed philosophers. Learning to think logically offers many benefits (Seligman 2002):

• You take your reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills to a higher level.
• You avoid costly mistakes in decision making.
• You can join discussions and debates with more confidence, cast your election votes with a clear head, and become a better-informed citizen.
• You can improve your mental health by learning to dispute illogical beliefs.

Over the last 2,500 years, specialists have listed some classic land mines in the field of logic— common mistakes in thinking that are called fallacies. The study of fallacies could fill a yearlong course.

Following are some examples to get you started. Knowing about them before you string together a bunch of assertions can help you avoid getting fooled.

Jumping to conclusions. Jumping to conclusions is the only exercise that some lazy thinkers get. This fallacy involves drawing conclusions without sufficient evidence. Take the bank officer who hears about one student failing to pay back a student loan. After that, the officer turns down all loan applications from all students. This person has formed a rigid opinion on the basis of hearsay. Jumping to conclusions—also called hasty generalization—is at work here.

Attacking the person. The mistake of attacking the person is common at election time. An example is the candidate who claims that her opponent has failed to attend church regularly during the campaign. People who indulge in personal attacks are attempting an intellectual sleight of hand to divert attention away from the truly relevant issues.

Pointing to a false cause. The fact that one event follows another does not necessarily mean that the two events have a cause-and-effect relationship. All we can actually say is that the events might be correlated. For example, as children’s vocabularies improve, they can get more cavities. This does not mean that cavities are the result of an improved vocabulary. Instead, the increase in cavities is due to other factors, such as physical maturation and changes in diet or personal care.

Thinking Logically, Part 2

The following are additional fallacies to avoid as you are working to improve your logical thinking skills.

Thinking in all-or-nothing terms. Consider these statements: Doctors are greedy. You can’t trust politicians. Students these days are in school just to get high-paying jobs; they lack idealism. Homeless people don’t want to work.

These opinions imply the word all. They gloss over individual differences, claiming that all members of a group are exactly alike. They also ignore key facts—for instance, that some doctors volunteer their time at free medical clinics and that many homeless people are children who are too young to work.

All-or-nothing thinking is one of the most common errors in logic. To avoid this fallacy, watch out for words such as all, everyone, no one, none, always, and never. Statements that include these words often make sweeping claims that require a lot of evidence. See whether words such
as usually, some, many, few, and sometimes lead to more accurate statements. Sometimes, the words are implied. For example, the implication in the claim “Doctors are greedy” is

that all doctors are greedy.

Basing arguments on emotion. The politician who ends every campaign speech with flag waving and slides of his mother eating apple pie is staking his future on appeals to emotion. So is the candidate who paints a grim scenario of the disaster and ruination that will transpire unless she is elected. Get past the fluff to see whether you can uncover any worthwhile ideas.

The bottom line—finding fallacies before they bite you. Consider this statement: “My mother and father have a happy marriage. After all, they’re still together after 35 years.” Behind this statement is this big assumption: Happy marriages are those that last a long time. And there’s a possible fallacy here: You might know of married couples who’ve stayed together for decades even though they confess to be unhappy in the relationship.

Uncovering assumptions and looking for exceptions can help you detect many errors in logic. This is a tool you can pull out any time you want to experience the benefits of critical thinking.

Thinking Critically About Information on the Internet, Part 1

Sources of information on the Internet range from the reputable (such as the Library of Congress) to the flamboyant (such as the National Enquirer). People are free to post anything on the Internet, including outdated facts as well as intentional misinformation.

Newspaper, magazine, and book publishers often employ fact-checkers, editors, and lawyers to screen out errors and scrutinize questionable material before publication. Creators of independent, user-generated, or low-traffic websites might not have these resources or choose to use them.

Taking a few simple precautions when you surf the Internet can keep you from crashing onto the rocky shore of misinformation.

Distinguish between ideas and information. To think more powerfully about what you find on the Internet, remember the difference between information and ideas.

For example, consider the following sentence: Nelson Mandela became president of South Africa in 1994. That statement provides information about South Africa. In contrast, the following sentence states an idea: Nelson Mandela’s presidency means that Apartheid has no future in South Africa.

Information refers to facts that can be verified by independent observers. Ideas are interpretations or opinions based on facts. These include statements of opinion and value judgments. Several people with the same information might adopt different ideas on the basis of that information.

Don’t assume that an idea is more current, reasonable, or accurate just because you find it on the Internet. Apply your critical thinking skills to all published material—print and online.

Look for overall quality. Examine the features of a website in general. Notice the effectiveness of the text, layout, and visuals as a whole. Also note how well the site is organized and whether you can navigate its features with ease. Look for the date that crucial information was posted, and determine how often the site is updated.

Next, get an overview of the site’s content. Examine several of its webpages for consistency of facts, quality of information, and grammar and spelling errors.

Are the links easy to find? Do they take you to the intended pages or sites? Click on a few links to the sites of reputable organizations. If the links lead you to dead-ends, it might indicate that the site is not updated often—a clue that it’s not a reliable source for late-breaking information.

Thinking Critically About Information on the Internet, Part 2

In addition to distinguishing between ideas and information and looking for overall quality, to think more critically about information on the Internet, you should also consider the following:

Look at the source. Find a clear description of the person or organization responsible for the website. Many sites include this information in the About webpage.

The domain in the uniform resource locator (URL or the web address) for a site gives you clues about sources of information and possible bias. For example, distinguish among information from a for-profit commercial enterprise (URL ending in .com); a nonprofit organization (.org); a government agency (.gov); and a school, college, or university (.edu).

If the site asks you to subscribe or become a member, then find out what it does with the personal information that you provide. Look for a way to contact the site’s publisher with questions and comments.

Look for documentation. When you encounter an assertion on a website, note the types and quality of the evidence offered. Look for credible examples, quotations from authorities in the field, documented statistics, or summaries of scientific studies.

Remember that wikis (peer-edited or user-generated sites) such as Wikipedia do not employ editors to screen out errors or scrutinize questionable material before publication. Do not rely on these sites when researching a paper or presentation. Also, be cautious about citing blogs, which often are not reviewed for accuracy. Such sources may, however, provide you with key words and concepts that help lead you to scholarly research on your topic.

Set an example. In the midst of the Internet’s chaotic growth, you can light a path of rationality. Whether you’re sending a short e-mail message or building a massive website, bring your own critical thinking skills into play. Every word and image that you send down the wires and on to the Internet can display the hallmarks of critical thinking—sound logic, credible evidence, and respect for your audience.

Developing Information Literacy: Gathering Your Thoughts

An important quality of successful students is curiosity. And to satisfy their curiosity, successful students ask questions. To answer questions, these students find information from appropriate sources, evaluate the information, organize it, and use it to achieve a purpose.

The ability to do this in a world where data are literally at your fingertips is called information literacy.

You should begin by discovering the questions you want to answer. Start with a main question. This is the thing that sparked your curiosity in the first place. Answering it is your purpose for doing research.

Your main question will raise a number of smaller, related questions. These are supporting questions. They also call for answers.

Suppose that your main question is this: “During the mortgage credit crisis of 2007 to 2010, what led banks to lend money to people with poor credit history?” Your list of supporting questions might include the following:

• What banks were involved in the mortgage credit crisis?
• How do banks discover a person’s credit history?
• What are the signs of a poor credit history?

Once you have a solid set of main questions and supporting questions, you can now think about gathering your information.

Developing Information Literacy: Gathering Information—Primary and Secondary Sources

Consider the variety of information sources available to you: billions of websites, books, magazines, newspapers, and audio and video recordings. You can reduce this vast range of materials to a few manageable categories. Start with the distinction between primary and secondary sources.

Primary sources. These can lead to information treasures. Primary sources are firsthand materials—personal journals, letters, speeches, government documents, scientific experiments, field observations, interviews with recognized experts, archeological digs, artifacts, and original works of art.

Making direct contact with people can offer a welcome relief from hours of solitary research time and give you valuable hands-on involvement. Your initial research will uncover the names of experts on your chosen topic. Consider doing an interview with one of these people—in person, over the phone, or via e-mail.

Primary sources can also include scholarly publications such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Contemporary Literary Criticism, and similar publications. One clue that you’re dealing with a primary source is the title. If it includes the word journal, then you’re probably reading a primary source.

Following are some signs of scholarly articles:

• Names of authors with their credentials and academic affiliations
• A brief abstract (summary) of the article, along with a section on research methods (how the authors tested their ideas and reached their conclusions)
• Lengthy articles with detailed treatment of the main topic and definitions of key terms
• Conclusions based on an extensive review of relevant publications, survey research, data collected in a laboratory experiment, or a combination of these
• Extensive bibliographies and references to the work of other scholars in the form of footnotes (at the bottom of each page) or endnotes (at the end of the article)

If you pick up a magazine with pages of full-color advertisements and photos of celebrities, you’re not reading a scholarly journal. Some scholarly articles run just a few pages, but many run to 10, 20, or even more pages. Although that’s a lot to read, you get more information to use for your assignment or to answer your questions.

Secondary sources. These sources summarize, explain, and comment on primary sources:

• Popular magazines such as Time and Newsweek
• Magazines—such as The Atlantic and Scientific American—with wide circulation and long articles
• Nationally circulated newspapers such as the Washington Post, New York Times, and Los Angeles Times
• General reference works such as the Encyclopaedia Britannica and the Oxford Companion to English Literature

Secondary sources are useful places to start your research. Use them to get an overview of your topic. Depending on the assignment, these may be all you need for informal research.

Developing Information Literacy: Gathering Information—The Library and Search Engines

Remember that many published materials are available in print as well as online. For a full range of sources, head to your campus or local community library.

One reason for a trip to the library is to find a reference librarian. Tell this person about the questions you want answered, and ask for good sources of information. Remember that a librarian can help you apply the suggestions in this lesson, including those that relate to using technology.

One crucial skill for information literacy is using key words. Key words are the main terms in your main and supporting questions. These are the words that you enter into a search box. Your choice of key words determines the quality of results that you get from Internet search engines, such as Google or Bing, and from library catalogs. For better search results, you may do the following:

• Use specific key words. Entering Firefox or Safari will give you more focused results than entering web browser. Reading strategies or note-taking strategies will get more specific results than just study strategies. Do not type in your whole research question as a sentence. The search engine will look for each word and give you a lot of useless results.
• Use unique key words. Whenever possible, use proper names. Enter Beatles or Radiohead rather than British rock bands. If you’re looking for nearby restaurants, enter restaurant and your zip code rather than the name of your city.
• Use quotation marks if you’re looking for specific words in a certain order. “Audacity of hope” will return a list of pages with that exact phrase.
• Search within a site. If you’re looking only for articles about college tuition from the New York Times, then add New York Times to the search box.
• Think of synonyms. For example, hypertension is often called high blood pressure.
• Add a wild card character when you’re not sure of a key word. In most search engines, that character is the asterisk (*). If you’re looking for the title of a film directed by Clint Eastwood and just can’t remember the name, enter Clint Eastwood directed*.
• Look for more search options. Many search engines also offer advanced search features and explain how to use them. Click on the word advanced or more on the site’s home page.

Developing Information Literacy: Evaluating Information

Once you have finished gathering your information, you want to evaluate it. Some students assume that anything that’s published in print or online is true.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Some sources of information are more reliable than others, and some published information is misleading or mistaken.

Before evaluating any source of information, make sure that you understand what it says. Think critically about the information. Here are some essential things to look for:

• Currency. Notice the published date of your source material. If your topic is time sensitive, then set some guidelines about how current you want your sources to be—for example, published during the past five years.
• Credibility. Scan the source for biographical information about the author. Look for educational degrees, training, and work experience that qualify this person to publish on the topic of your research.
• Bias. Determine what the website or other source is “selling”—the product, service, or point of view it promotes. Political affiliations or funding sources might color the author’s point of view. For instance, you can predict that a pamphlet on gun-control policies that’s printed through funding from the National Rifle Association will promote certain points of view. Round out your research with other sources on the topic.

Developing Information Literacy: Using Information

Once you have gathered and evaluated your information, you are ready to figure out how to use it. Many students use information to write a paper or create a presentation. Remember to keep a list of all your sources of information, and avoid plagiarism. Be prepared to cite your sources in footnotes or endnotes and include a bibliography.

Make time to digest all of the information you gather. Return to the important step of asking questions:

• Do I have answers to my main question?
• Do I have answers to my supporting questions?
• What are the main ideas from my sources?
• Do I have personal experiences that can help me answer these questions?
• If a TV talk show host asked me these questions, how would I answer?
• On what points do my sources agree?
• On what points do my sources disagree?
• Do I have statistics and other facts that I can use to support my ideas?
• What new questions do I have?

The beauty of these questions is that they stimulate your thinking. Discover the pleasures of emerging insights and sudden inspiration. You just might get hooked on the adventure of information literacy.