What is a Critical Thinker? Are You a Critical Thinker?

What is a Critical Thinker? Are you a Critical Thinker?

In reviewing the books, “Thinking for Yourself” and “Critical Reading for College and Beyond,” which were used for this class, I would say that critical thinking has a longer, more complicated meaning than most think. There are many different parts to the meaning of a critical thinker. In the book, “Thinking for Yourself,” critical thinking is defined as bringing conscious awareness, skills, and standards to the process of observing, analyzing, reasoning, evaluating, reading, and communicating. There are a few standards of critical thinking outlined in this book as well. Those standards are clarity, completeness, precision, soundness, accuracy, reliability, relevance and fairness.
In this class, I would say that one part to critical thinking that stood out for me is to have an open mind and to allow your mind to think for yourself. Critical thinking to me is about analyzing what you read or hear. It is about asking questions and not just taking what you read or hear at face value. Critical thinking is the ability to combine your current knowledge to some new knowledge that was learned and make something new from it; like a new conclusion or your own conclusion. When you are an active critical thinker, you must be able to tell the difference between opinions and facts. You need to understand when inferences are being made as opposed to facts being told. I believe as a critical thinker, you should be able to listen to many different viewpoints and have an open mind and respect for those viewpoints, especially those different from your own. I think part of being a critical thinker is realizing that there are many different viewpoints in the world and having insight to those is powerful. Knowledge is power I believe.
When you are thinking critically, you should be able analyzing, synthesize, and evaluate information that you read or hear. When making arguments, you need to be able to think critically. A good argument is clear and truthful. It does not include fallacies and the voice of your argument should be soothing and smooth. When arguing a position you should be fair and address your opposition. In critical thinking you should use inductive or deductive reasoning. When providing information to others, you should make sure that you also provide enough supporting details/ supporting evidence.
Being a critical thinker is about having an open mind, understanding other viewpoints, asking questions, checking information for accuracy and completeness. You should make sure your sources are reliable and sound. Being a critical thinker is about being fair to others and fair to the information you read or hear or provide. Critical thinking is about being honest. It is not about being fallacious, although you must be able to detect fallacies. Fallacies are one aspect of critical thinking that was intriguing to me. I never knew there were so many fallacies out there. And the tricky part of a lot of fallacies is they are so easy to use without even realizing it. That is why part of critical thinking is having an open and conscious mind. You need to be aware of what is going on around you and in what you are reading.
I believe that after taking this course, I am well on my way to being a better critical thinker. I think that in taking this course, it helped to me be more aware of my inner critical thinker. And that is part of what critical thinking is about, in my opinion, is being more aware. I think some aspects of critical thinking may require more focus from me than others; for example, the ability to recognize inferences and assumptions as just that and not as facts. I think that is a tricky thing to do. I think that it is so easy to hear or read something, and because of previous knowledge, making an inference or assumption and taking that as fact. I think from here on out, I will try to be a better critical thinker. I will try to strengthen my critical thinking skills. I thought this class was very useful for each individual’s lives, if you take the information learned and apply it to your daily lives. And that is what I intend to do.

Journal Entry

I am done with reading both books, Thinking For Yourself and Critical Reading for College and Beyond, which are the two books for this semester of English 75 - Critical Thinking. I am now going to take some time to reflect on this semester and all the reading I have done. I want to reflect on everything before I write about what I have learned this semester. Stay tuned....

CRCB - Chapter 11 - Reading, Understanding and Creating Visual Aids Exercise

CRCB - Chapter 11: Reading, Understanding, and Creating Visual Aids Exercise

Exercise 11J - Outlines - Page 368:
Use this textbook’s table of contents to answer the following questions.

1. What information is being presented in this outline?

This outline is the table of contents for this book. There is a note to the instructor, to the student and then for each chapter, this outline shows the title of the chapter and then subtitles for sections throughout each chapter, including post tests and chapter summaries.

2. Using the table of contents, list two topics covered in Chapter 4, “Managing Your Reading Time.”

Two topics covered in Chapter 4 of this book are: Speed-Reading and Critical Reading.

CRCB - Chapter 11 - Reading, Understanding and Creating Visual Aids Mindmap

CRCB - Chapter 11 - Reading, Understanding and Creating Visual Aids Summary

CRCB - Chapter 11: Reading, Understanding, and Creating Visual Aids Summary

This chapter was all about the different types of visual aids used or that can be used to help you learn and understand material. There are several different types of visual aids listed throughout this chapter. These different types of visual aids are: charts and tables, diagrams, illustrations, graphs - including, bar graphs, lines graphs, pie graphs, pictographs, photographs, time lines, outlines, mind maps, and free-form drawing. Charts and tables condense large amounts of information in order to show relationships, show hierarchy, show cause & effect or comparison & contrast. Diagrams illustrate connections between items using simple to complex drawings. Diagrams are useful in all sciences. Illustrations are drawing that shows the parts or sections of something like a plant for example. Graphs are used to take large amounts of information and make it more accessible. Bar graphs use parallel rectangular bars, line graphs use grids with vertical and horizontal axes, and pie graphs show data in a circle. Pictographs show data through pictures, photographs help you to make associations with the information in the text, and time lines are a straight line labeled to show time sequence or chronological order of events. Outlines provide a summary; mind maps use shapes and lines to show relationships between information, and free-form drawings are done by hand to help you understand something better. Throughout all my school years, I have had experience dealing with all these types of visual aids, but this semester I would have to say is the most I have ever spent on mind maps. I have really learned how to make use of mind maps. They can be useful in so many ways and I am sure I will continue to use them where and when I see fit with other subjects besides English.

CRCB - Chapter 1 - Reading in College Exercise

CRCB: Chapter 1 - Reading in College Exercise


Exercise 1a - Concentration Survey - Page 9:
Read each of the following statements and respond to them based on your current reading habits. In the space provided, write yes if the statement correctly describes you, or no if it does not.

1. I know that concentration is a skill that can be learned. YES

2. I have a study area, complete with study supplies, and this area is used only for studying. NO

3. I try to concentrate as I read, but my mind usually drifts to other things, such as bills I have to pay or people I have to call. YES

4. If I get angry, I am unable to concentrate on my reading. YES

5. I know how to minimize all distractions. NO

6. I cannot read unless my house, or study environment, is immaculate. NO

7. I have a system to let others know when I am reading and that I do not want to be disturbed. NO

8. I lose concentration easily when I am bored with what I’m reading. YES

CRCB - Chapter 1 - Reading in College Mindmap