h33t - Smart Thinking: Skills for Critical Understanding and Writing (2nd ed)

Smart Thinking: Skills for Critical Understanding and Writing (second edition)

Publisher: OUP Australia and New Zealand; 2Rev Ed edition (24 Aug 2004)
Author: Matthew Allen
Size: 3.57 MB
Pages: 207
Format: Adobe Reader
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0195517334
ISBN-13: 978-0195517330
Homepage: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Smart-Thinking-Critical-Understanding-Writing/dp/0195517334

Book Description

Smart Thinking: Skills for Critical Understanding and Writing (2ed) is a practical step-by-step guide to improving skills in analysis, critical thinking, and the effective communication of arguments and explanations. The book combines an accessible and straightforward style, with a strong foundation of knowledge. The text treats reasoning as an aspect of communication, not an abstract exercise in logic. The book not only provides detailed advice on how to practise analytical skills, but also demonstrates how these skills can be used in research and writing. In particular, it emphasises how to develop arguments that are coherent and that take account of their audience and context.

This second edition is a practical step-by-step guide to improving skills in analysis, critical thinking, and the effective communication of arguments and explanations. The text treats reasoning as an aspect of communication and emphasises how to develop arguments that are coherent and that take account of their audience and context.

Table of Contents

Preface to First Edition
Preface to Second Edition
How to Use this Book
1 Smart Thinking
What is smart thinking?
How do we study smart thinking?
Why do we need to think smart?
2 Claims: The Key Elements of Reasoning
Understanding language
More about claims
Claims and reasoning
Review
3 Linking: The Key Process in Reasoning
Links between claims
The analytical structure of reasoning
Learning more about the analytical structure
Review
4 Understanding the Links between Claims
Dependent premises
Special functions of premises
The link from premises to conclusion
Review
5 More Effective Reasoning I: Better Claims
Well-formed claims
Well-founded claims
Review
6 More Effective Reasoning II: Better Links
Effective use of dependent premises
Relevance
Strength of support
Review
7 What Kinds of Reasoning are There?
Deductive and inductive reasoning
Categorical and propositional logic
Five types of reasoning
Review
8 Research, Reasoning, and Analysis
Reasoning and analysis
Information understood by where we find it
Information as it relates to other information
Information classified by the topic under investigation
Information as it relates to how we are using it
Direct and indirect sources
Review
9 Planning and Creating Your Reasoning
The key analytical questions
Using the analytical structure for planning
Review
10 Bringing It All Together: Narrative and Structure
Example text
Casting and notes on each paragraph
Capturing the essence of the text
Overall narrative flow of the text
Summary
Answers, Discussion, and Further Advice
Glossary of Key Terms and Concepts
Further Reading
Guide to Important Skills