KEYS TO ACADEMIC SUCCESS

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KEYS TO ACADEMIC SUCCESS

• LESSONS
• IN
• CRITICAL
• THINKING

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KEYS TO ACADEMIC SUCCESS

• Critical thinking skills are vital to
  well-educated individuals and acquiring this
  ability should be one of your most important
  goals inside and outside the class room.

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KEYS TO ACADEMIC SUCCESS

• A broad framework of intellectual rigor is called
  critical thinking.

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KEYS TO ACADEMIC SUCCESS

• Critical thinking skills enable people to
  evaluate, compare, analyze, critique, and
  synthesize information.

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KEYS TO ACADEMIC SUCCESS

• Knowledge is not a collection of facts, but
  rather an ongoing process of examining
  information, evaluating that information, and
  adding it to your understanding of the world.

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KEYS TO ACADEMIC SUCCESS

• Critical thinkers know to keep an open mind- and
  frequently end by changing their views based on
  new knowledge.

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KEYS TO ACADEMIC SUCCESS

• You should attempt to consider alternate
  positions and theories, to participate in class
  discussions and debates, to interpret what you
  read and learn, and learn to form your own
  logical, informed views, even if they are counter
  to the prevailing views of the moment.

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• EXAMPLES OF NON-CRITICAL THINKING
• I never heard of that before so it must not be
  true.
• I dont believe it, therefore it isnt true.
• Thats not my opinion, so it cant be right.

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KEYS TO ACADEMIC SUCCESS

• The most important goal of most professors for
  their students is to impart the ability to think
  critically.

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KEYS TO ACADEMIC SUCCESS

• We know you will probably not become an
  anthropologist or a biologist, but we want you to
  be able to critically apply knowledge in your
  professional and personal life.
• Yes, really, its true!

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KEYS TO ACADEMIC SUCCESS

• In science, statements can be tested and
  falsified but they are never proved "true."
  Rather they can be substantiated by further
  research and retesting of the data in equal or
  similar ways. In time, the original relationship
  of an innovative hypothesis with further testing
  can lead to an established theory, such as
  Charles Darwin's theory of descent with
  modification or Gregor Mendel's law of
  independent assortment.

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KEYS TO ACADEMIC SUCCESS

• Usually, advances in other areas of inquiry will
  also aid to substantiate the value of a new
  hypothesis or larger theory. Inadequate
  hypotheses that do not pass the test of
  replication, or which are replaced by a more
  explanatory hypothesis, end by being rejected,
  such as Jean Baptiste Lamarck's theory of
  acquired characteristics.

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KEYS TO ACADEMIC SUCCESS

• QUESTIONS TO ASK IN MAKING CRITICAL EVALUATIONS
  ABOUT ISSUES OR ANY ACADEMIC TOPIC

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KEYS TO ACADEMIC SUCCESS

• 1. What data are presented?
• 2. What conclusions are presented, and how are
  they organized (as tentative hypotheses or as
  more dogmatic assertions)?

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KEYS TO ACADEMIC SUCCESS

• 3. Are these views the individual opinions of
  the authors, or are they supported by a larger
  body of research?
• 4. What are the research findings? Are they
  adequately documented?

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KEYS TO ACADEMIC SUCCESS

• 5. Is the information consistent with information
  that you already possess? If not, can the
  inconsistencies be explained?

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KEYS TO ACADEMIC SUCCESS

• 6. Are the conclusions (hypotheses) testable? How
  might one go about testing the various hypotheses
  that are presented?

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KEYS TO ACADEMIC SUCCESS

• 7. If presentation of new research findings is at
  odds with previous hypotheses (or theories), must
  these hypotheses now be modified (or completely
  rejected)?

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KEYS TO ACADEMIC SUCCESS

• 8. What were/are the biases of the time when the
  research was conducted?
• 9. Are these likely to affect what was/is
  studied and how it was/is interpreted?

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KEYS TO ACADEMIC SUCCESS

• 10. How do your own personal views bias you in
  interpreting the results?
• 11. Once you have identified your own biases, are
  you able to set them aside so as to evaluate the
  information objectively?

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KEYS TO ACADEMIC SUCCESS

• 12. Are you able to discuss both the pros and
  cons of a scientific topic in an evenhanded
  manner?

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KEYS TO ACADEMIC SUCCESS

• What if you are a poet and not interested in
  science?
• Critical thinking skills are used in every life
  endeavor, work and leisure.

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KEYS TO ACADEMIC SUCCESS

• Oh no! There is no escape!

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KEYS TO ACADEMIC SUCCESS

• Those who know
• how to research
• the truth and
• substantiate their
• ideas will succeed
• over those who
• lack these skills.

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KEYS TO ACADEMIC SUCCESS

• For those of you taking Writing Intensive
  classes or those interested in anthropology, you
  may want to visit the Learning Links on my web
  page
• www.people.vcu.edu/cturner

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KEYS TO ACADEMIC SUCCESS

• A final word of wisdom for critical thinkers-
• What people think about things depends on where
  they are sitting.

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KEYS TO ACADEMIC SUCCESS

• Questions condensed from
• Robert Jurmain, Harry Nelson, Lynn Kilgore,
  Wenda Trevathan
• 1997, Introduction to Physical Anthropology,
  pp. 18-20. New York Wadsworth Publishing Co.