CRITICAL THINKING

How to think and write critically

Learning Outcomes
By the end of this session you should be able to:
◆ Understand what is meant by critical analysis

◆ Practice critically reviewing evidence

◆ Learn how to critically review literature

◆ Identify your learning technique

◆ Understand the art of learning

Common forms of University writing for Assignments

In progressive order of challenge:

◆ Description Writing
◆ Summary Writing (what does the writer say? What is this idea
about?)
◆ Compare/Contrast Writing
◆ Cause-Effect Writing (why & what issues)
◆ Critical Analysis
What is ‘Critical Analysis’

◆ To ‘analyse’: break information into elements or

component parts

◆ To be ‘critical’ (in an academic sense) is to make careful

judgement about information and to evaluate its quality

◆ So, it is about your ability to be critical (evaluate) of information

and to make your own judgements about it.
What is ‘Critical Analysis’

◆ Critical Analysis type questions often suggested by words

in Assignment topics such as:
◆ Discuss

◆ Analyse

◆ Justify

◆ Evaluate

◆ Criticize
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Opinion

◆ Go into any pub, club or bar to hear lots of opinions!

◆ An opinion is an idea or assertion for which there is no
evidence
◆ Always ask “what evidence do they present to
support their assertions”?

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The structure of Persuasion

◆ Presenting an argument
◆ (with reference to credible sources)
◆ … through a line of reasoning
◆ … to arrive at a conclusion
An example of a confident statement
Argument:
We spend too much time on issues of concern and not on factors
we can influence.

Reasons:
1. Concern circles are big, influence circles are small.
2. Concern is ‘lovely place to be’ – can complain but don’t need to
solve. So spend more (and more) time there.
3. And so, circle of influence diminishes

Conclusion:
Need to make better choices by focusing on circles of influence.
Do it yourself

◆ Argument:
◆ Reasons:

1.

2.

3.

◆ Conclusion:
Evidence
Assertions should always be supported by evidence.
Four key questions – is the evidence presented:

➢ reliable, e.g. supported by other research or

commentators
➢ sufficient, i.e. presents enough evidence to sufficiently ‘prove’
something
➢ relevant, e.g. relevant to current situation or
circumstances
➢ credible, is it ‘believable’?
Your judgement on the evidence
◆ Assignment questions are often presented in forms that present
you with a particular premise (a proposition within a statement)

◆ Your task in such an assignment is to identify and

evaluate the premise, which will lead you to:
- agree (fully or partially) with it
- disagree (fully or partially) with it
- remain undecided (a risky strategy!)
Barriers to critical thinking
‘Student’s natural resistance to learning to think critically.’

Student: ‘I want you (the expert) to give me answers to questions; I

want to know the right answer.’

Teacher: ‘I want you to become critical thinkers, which means I

want you to challenge experts’ answers and pursue you own
answers through active questioning.

This means lots of hard work.’

Cowell, B., Keeley, S., Shemberg, M. and Zinnbauer, M. (1995) Coping with Student
Resistance to Critical Thinking; What the Psychotherapy Literature Can Tell Us.
Critical Thinking

• Critical Thinking –
• The ability to analyse a problem and present a solution
• The word critical implies that your intelligence is applied to a
specific issue or problem
• That a weighing-up of options is an integral part of the process
Critical Thinking

It is –
• Incisive, seeing through complexity and obscurity
• Logical, developing evidence towards a clear position
• Deep, involving higher level skills of analysis, synthesis and
judgment

It is not –
• Disorganised, being a haphazard collection of ideas
• Prejudiced, ignoring evidence on one side of an issue
• Unsubstantiated, failing to take account of evidence
Critical thought and criticism

• The difference?
• The Verb to criticise – Negative connotations, as in to find the
fault.
• In the academic sphere this is not the same, here to criticise
something is to see and explain both sides, the positives and
negatives to an issue.

• An Ending
• Finally there is always an action or an outcome, in business
and academia. Without this conclusion the thinking effort
would be wasted.
Critically analyzing literature

◆ Don’t take one single author’s definition of something as the

ultimate truth
◆ Always have a balanced view
◆ Seek justification of one piece of work with evidence from other
pieces
◆ Be holistic in your thinking and avoid being emotionally attached
to content – everything is questionable
◆ If you are taking a stand, make sure you have theoretically
underpinned evidence to justify
An example
◆ Let’s analyze Hofstede’s cultural dimensions critically.

The six dimensions that currently make up Hofstede’s framework are power distance,
uncertainty avoidance, individualism, masculinity, long-term orientation, and
indulgence (Arasaratnam, 2011; Hofstede, 2011).

This framework is used in a variety of fields including cross-cultural management,

international business, and cross-cultural psychology (Beugelsdijk et al, 2017), and
has recently sparked the interest of economists too (Klasing, 2013).

Although highly influential, Hofstede’s works have been heavily criticized (McSweeney,
2002, 2009; Minkov, 2018; Nakata, 2009). His framework has been questioned for
overestimating the number of dimensions, misinterpreting their meaning, and using
data of questionable quality (Ailon, 2008). Hofstede’s data collection procedure and
sample has been questioned on grounds of representativeness (Baskerville, 2003)
while authors such as Javidan et al (2006) point to the possibly U.S. centric and
specifically IBM-centric nature of Hofstede’s data.
Language
• Avoid words that imply that there are no exceptions – for example:
‘always’, ‘never’, ‘all’ and ‘every’.
• Instead try using hedging language –
• Seems that, looks as if, suggests that, appears that
• Can/cannot, could/could not, may/may not, might/might not
Pitfalls to avoid

• Rushing to conclusions
• Generalising
• Oversimplifying
• Personalising
• Thinking in terms of stereotypes
• Believing propaganda
Critically’ Analyse this

Bitter-Sweet

Today, chocolate is lauded for its tremendous antioxidant potential.

The higher the cocoa content, the more health benefits there are
and the less sugar content, which is better for overall health.
So I can eat as much as I like, right?
How to study

◆ Very much a personal thing

◆ Are you a ‘morning person’, or a ‘night owl’ ?
◆ Allocate times to do your studying, when your brain is most likely
to be in a receptive mode

Your Mood & Energy Meter

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How to study

◆ Organise and be specific about what you want to study, when you
want to do it, and so on

◆ Why not give yourself a ‘bonus’ when you have done a certain
amount of study, in accordance with your plan ?

◆ BEWARE of cutting short the study time, in order to enjoy the

bonus !

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Range of study activities

◆ Reading books, magazines, articles

◆ Web searching
◆ Look in the Library
◆ Listen to the news
◆ Find Youtube clips

◆ Need to spend several hours each week on each module of your

course, to gain real understanding and depth of knowledge

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Accessing knowledge

◆ The range of information that you can get hold of now is vast, so
much so that it is impossible to read everything !

◆ Google quickly puts you in touch with facts, but seeing it on the
screen is not the same as ‘knowing’ it – if you don’t know that
you would need to look next time …

◆ BEWARE of websites (like Wikipedia) that can be edited by the

general public – sometimes people choose to set up misleading
/ inaccurate information, for some reason or another

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Techniques for remembering

◆ Read
◆ Read aloud
◆ Read and make notes
◆ Write it down – cover it up – try to write it down again from seeing
it in your mind’s eye – then compare results
◆ Take a break and come back
◆ Use the information
◆ Develop a nemonic, like S.M.A.R.T.….

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We all learn in different ways

Think about someone (you?) who gets a new piece of equipment …

◆ Some people love ‘fiddling around’ till they get it to work

◆ Some people read the instruction manual before they ‘switch on’
◆ Some people don’t do anything until they need to use the new
equipment – then they open the box !

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How would you respond if I said :

Let’s go swimming !

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Stereotypical responses

ACTIVISTS
Get changed
Leap into the water
PRAGMATISTS REFLECTORS
Have I got time ? Is it a good idea ?
THEORISTS
What’s the purpose ?
What will I gain from this
?

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‘Learning Styles’ – Kolb, Lewin, Honey & Mumford

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What is your preferred style ?

◆ What are your preferences, how strong are they ?

◆ Let’s see …

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Challenges

◆ The challenge for Thinkers is to create plans to DO

◆ The challenge for Doers is to make time to THINK

◆ Pragmatists and Activists are likely to ‘Go for it!’

◆ Reflectors and Theorists are likely to ‘send someone
else for it’ !

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Activist – having an experience

◆ You like to learn by doing things. You are happier with project
work and all kinds of active learning. You are less happy reading
long papers, analysing data and sitting in lectures.

“I’ll try anything once”

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Reflector – review what it means

◆ You are more cautious and like to weigh up all issues before
acting. When you make a decision, it is thought through. You
are probably happy to work on a project if you are given time to
observe all the facts before making a decision. You dislike
having work dumped on you and get worried by tight deadlines.

“I like to sit and think”

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Theorist – What can I conclude ?

◆ You like to understand what is behind certain actions and enjoy

working through issues theoretically and in a well-structured way.
Whether you apply it or not doesn’t interest you so much. You
may be the one to ask questions as to how and why something
occurs. You dislike unstructured sessions and dislike it if you
are asked to reflect on some activity or say what you felt about it.

“How does this fit with that?”

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Pragmatist – plan next steps

◆ You like taking theories and putting them into practice and you
need to see the benefit and relevance of what you are doing. If
you are learning something you feel has no practical value, you
quickly lose interest. You may want to ask your tutor “Why are
we learning this?” If you are a student who says “I don’t like this
course as it is all theory”, then your learning preference is
probably ‘pragmatist’ or ‘activist’.

“How can I apply this in practice?”

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Presentations – top tips

◆ Stand Up ! Speak Up ! Shut Up !

◆ To Fail to Prepare is to Prepare to Fail

◆ Your stream of conscious thought starts as soon as you are born

and continues throughout your life, until you stand up for the first
time in front of a group of people – then it suddenly come to a
full stop !

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Presentation - key areas

◆ Planning what to say

◆ Planning how to say it
◆ Planning support materials (but not ones that take over)
◆ Being in control of your voice – being loud enough for people to
hear
◆ Giving a ‘memorable’ performance …

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