Observe Your Subject Closely
The first step in critical thinking is carefully examining your subject. Avoid making immediate judgments, but accurately and objectively record facts. You might review Samuel Scudder's essay Take This Fish and Look at It in your textbook. Scudder emphasizes the importance of close observation. Too often we "look" at things but never truly "see" them.
Record Notes In Objective Language
In taking notes, be aware of connotations. Avoid making stereotypical judgments. Are the people you observe gathering or loitering in a park? Are they bums, drifters, or the homeless? Are they victims or derelicts? Ask yourself how other people might view your subject. In dealing with controversial issues, you might consider recording observations in dual notation system, pairing positive and negative connotations. You might describe politicians as being bold/reckless orcautious/cowardly or traditional/old-fashioned.
Avoid Making Immediate Assumptions
In studying your subject, avoid making assumptions until you have collected and examined sufficient evidence. The fact that a store is crowded with shoppers does not prove that the business is profitable. The past performance of a mutual fund does not guarantee that its value will increase in the future. A successful teacher cannot be assumed to be an effective principal.
Look At the Big Picture
Following the dramatic mass shooting at Columbine High School, television news programs featured numerous commentators lamenting about the lack of values among American young people -- ignoring evidence that the mass of teenagers in the 1990s were less likely to drink, take drugs, drop out of school, commit crimes, or engage in premarital sex than their parents. Because airplane crashes often kill hundreds in a single dramatic incident, many people are afraid to fly. Those same people, however, rarely show the same fear about driving -- which is far more dangerous. Don't allow a single situation or chain of events -- no matter how shocking or dramatic -- to shape your perception of an issue or topic. Examine other forms of evidence.
Ask Questions about Your Topic
Posing questions can help you avoid making assumptions by suggesting alternative ways of looking at your subject and indicating needed research. Asking questions can help sharpen your observations. If you enter a crowded store, you might ask yourself some questions before assuming the business is a gold mine. How many of the shoppers are looking and how many are actually buying? What are they purchasing -- low profit sale items or full-priced merchandise? Does the store have more employees or more expensive features than its competitors? Does the store's success depend on massive advertising or costly promotions? Is the store located in expensive location that would inflate its overhead?
Discuss Your Ideas with Others
In order to detect blind spots in your thinking, talk to friends or other students. Ask their opinions of your topic. Pose a question on a computer bulletin board or use a chat room to solicit the views of other people. Even a humorous or sarcastic comment by a stranger may lead you to look at your topic in new way.
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