Page 125 - Keys To Community College Success

Look for themes, patterns, and categories. Note connections that form as you look
at how bits of information relate to one another. For example, you might see patterns
of Internet use that link young teens from particular cultures or areas of the country
together into categories.

Come to new information ready to hear and read new ideas, think about them, and
make informed decisions about what you believe. The process will educate you, sharpen
your thinking skills, and give you more information to work with as you encounter
life’s problems. See Key 4.4 for some questions you can ask to build and use analytical
thinking skills. Critical, Creative, and Practical Thinking
Pursuing your goals, in school and in the workplace, requires not just analyzing
information but also thinking creatively about how to use what you’ve learned from
your analysis.

KEY 4.4 Ask questions like these to analyze.

• What kinds of information do I need to meet my goal?
To gather ask • What information is available? Where and when can I get to it?
information
• Of the sources I found, which ones will best help me achieve my goal?

• What are the parts of this information?
• What is similar to this information? What is different?
To analyze ask • What are the reasons for this? Why did this happen?
• What ideas, themes, or conclusions emerge from this material?
• How would you categorize this information?

To see whether • Does the evidence make sense?
evidence or ask • How do the examples support the idea/claim?
examples
support an idea • Are there examples that might disprove the idea/claim?

• Do the words in this information signal fact or opinion?
To distinguish ask
fact from opinion • What is the source of this information? Is the source reliable?
• If this is an opinion, is it supported by facts?

• What perspectives might the author have, and what may be emphasized
To examine or deemphasized as a result?
perspectives and ask • What assumptions might lie behind this statement or material?
assumptions • How could I prove—or disprove—an assumption?
• How might my perspective affect the way I see this material?

• What information will support what I’m trying to prove or accomplish?
To evaluate ask • Is this information true or false, and why?
• How important is this information?

Source: Adapted from www-ed.fnal.gov/trc/tutorial/taxonomy.html (Richard Paul, Critical Thinking: How to Prepare Students for a Rapidly Changing World, 1993)
and from www.kcmetro.edu/longview/ctac/blooms.htm (Barbara Fowler, Longview Community College “Bloom’s Taxonomy and Critical Thinking”).

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