Critical thinking

Giới thiệu:

Critical thinking (tạm dịch là khả năng tư duy phê phán) là một kỹ năng rất cần thiết cho nghiên cứu khoa học, bài viết này sẽ giới thiệu làm thế nào để có thể phát huy tốt critial thinking nhằm đáp ứng cho việc nghiên cứu khoa học nói riêng và cho học tập nói chung.

Sự cần thiết của critical thinking

Tất cả các đề tài nghiên cứu khoa học đòi hỏi tác giả phải có những đóng góp mới cho khoa học (thế mới gọi là nghiên cứu!), tuy nhiên, sẽ là rất khó khăn (nếu không muốn nói là không thể) để có những ý tưởng sáng tạo và đóng góp có giá trị nếu không có được kiến thức nền tảng tốt về lĩnh vực đang nghiên cứu. Do đó, các nhà khoa học thường bắt đầu quá trình nghiên cứu với công việc hệ thống hóa lại các kiến thức có liên quan về lĩnh vực đang nghiên cứu. Những kiến thức cần thiết cho việc nghiên cứu có thể đến từ nhiều nguồn như các công trình nghiên cứu có liên quan, các bài báo khoa học, sách chuyên ngành... Đó chính là điểm bắt đầu của critical thinking trong khoa học. Dựa trên hệ thống kiến thức sẵn có, tác giả sẽ xem xét, đánh giá và phân tích để tìm ra những điểm mạnh (tính đúng đắn), những vấn đề còn tranh luận hay các yếu kém của các công trình nghiên cứu trước... Dựa trên những phân tích này, tác giả sẽ nêu ra quan điểm của mình và cung cấp bằng chứng để bảo vệ quan điểm của mình. Đó là toàn bộ quy trình vắn tắt của việc nghiên cứu. Toàn bộ quy trình này đòi hỏi một kỹ năng không thể thiếu (có thể nói là quan trọng nhất) đó là critical thinking.

Định nghĩa critical thinking

Critical thinking được định nghĩa như sau: 

Critical thinking, in general, refers to a higher-order of thinking that questions assumptions. It is a way of deciding whether a claim is true, false, or sometimes true and sometimes false, or partly true and partly false. The origins of critical thinking can be traced in Western thought to the Socratic method of Ancient Greece and in the East, to the Buddhist Abhidharma. Critical thinking is an important component of most professions. It is a part of the education process and is increasingly significant as students progress through university to graduate education, although there is debate among educators about its precise meaning and scope. (Theo Wikipedia)

Nói một cách đơn giản, critical thinking là xem xét và đánh giá một vấn đề nào đó là đúng, sai, hay vừa đúng sai, đồng thời nêu quan điểm của mình và cung cấp bằng chứng bảo vệ quan điểm của mình.

Làm thế nào để có thể nâng cao kỹ năng critical thinking

Khả năng về critical thinking phụ thuộc phần lớn vào kinh nghiệm học tập và nghiên cứu của mỗi người. Tuy nhiên, critical thinking là một kỹ năng có thể học tập và rèn luyện được, phần tiếp theo xin được giới thiệu bài viết về critical thinking của University of Sydney (Australia).

What is the difference between descriptive, analytical, persuasive and critical writing?

The simplest type of academic writing is descriptive, and its purpose is to provide facts or information. An example would be a summary of an article or a report of the results of an experiment. The kinds of assignment instructions for a purely descriptive assignment could be, e.g. identify, report, list, name, record, summarise, collect, define, etc.

However, it is rare for a university-level text to be purely descriptive. Most academic writing is also analytical. Analytical writing includes descriptive writing (i.e. facts or information), plus the added feature of re-organisation. That is, in analytical writing you not only give information, but you also re-organise it into categories, groups, parts, types or relationships. Sometimes, these are categories or relationships which are already part of the discipline (e.g. In the discipline of Law, there are 2 types of law: common law and statute law). Sometimes, these are categories or relationships which you create specifically for your text (e.g. If you are comparing two theories, you might break your comparison into 3 parts, based on 3 aspects of the theories, such as: how each theory deals with social context, how each theory deals with language learning, and how each theory can be used in practice). The kinds of instructions for an analytical assignment could be, e.g. analyse, compare, contrast, relate, examine, classify, etc.

In most academic writing, you are required to go at least one step further than analytical writing, to persuasive writing. Persuasive writing has all the features of analytical writing (i.e. information, plus re-organisation of the information) plus the added feature of your own point of view. Your point of view may be, for example, an interpretation of the findings, an argument or some recommendations. Most essays are persuasive, and there is a persuasive element in at least the discussion and conclusion of a research article. In persuasive writing, each claim that you make needs to be supported by some evidence – e.g. by a reference to an authoritative published source, by empirical findings or by original reasoning – whatever kind of evidence is appropriate for your discipline and the specific text you are writing. The kinds of instructions for a persuasive assignment could be, e.g. argue, evaluate, discuss, take a position; as well as evaluative language such as, e.g. more convincing, problem, opportunity, succeed, should.

Critical writing is common for research, postgraduate and advanced undergraduate writing. Critical writing has all the features of persuasive writing (i.e. facts + re-organised + your point of view), plus the added feature of at least one other point of view. That is, while persuasive writing requires you to have your own point of view on an issue or topic, critical writing requires you to consider at least two points of view, including your own. For example, you may explain a researcher's interpretation or argument, and then evaluate the merits of her argument, or give your own alternative interpretation. Examples of critical writing assignments include a critique of a journal article, or a literature review which finds the strengths and weaknesses of existing research. The kinds of instructions which can show that you are required to write critically could be, e.g. critique, debate, disagree, evaluate, etc. Usually these are accompanied by either the name of someone whose work you should critique (e.g. Chomsky (1975)) or else more general words for people’s opinions in the discipline, e.g. 'adherents of M-Theory', 'some may assume that…', 'qualitative versus quantitative approaches', 'those in working in the constructivist tradition', etc.

Many academic texts that you write will have some parts which are more analytical or descriptive, and other parts which are persuasive or critical. For example, an empirical thesis needs critical writing in the literature review, to show where there is a gap or opportunity in the existing research. However, the methods section will have many paragraphs which are mostly descriptive, in order to summarise the methods used to collect and analyse information. In the results section of an empirical thesis or a research report, there will be mostly descriptive and analytical writing, while the discussion section is more analytical, as you relate your findings back to your research questions, and generally also more persuasive, as you propose your interpretations of the findings.

Each of the types of writing above has specific language features. By developing your skill in these language features, e.g. by attending a workshop on critical writing (see links on the right), you can control how analytical, persuasive or critical your writing is.

How can I think, read or write more critically?

A simple definition of critical thinking, reading and writing is that it considers more than one point of view or interpretation.

Here is one step-by-step process you can follow for critical thinking or reading (e.g. of a theory, research article or recommendation):

1. Identify the important choices which have been made. (For example, what is the author’s point of view? What methodology did the researcher choose? What type of action has been recommended? What evidence do they offer?)
2. Think of some alternatives to those choices. (For example, what other points of view are possible? What other methodologies, actions or evidence could have been used?)
3. Reach your own position on the alternatives. (For example, which point of view do you agree with? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the different methodologies or recommended actions?)
4. Find some convincing evidence for your point of view. (For example, to what books or articles could you refer, to support your view? What examples or data can you draw on, to show that your view is convincing?)

There are other techniques for critical thinking and reading. (See Learning Centre workshops, or search the library catalogue for books on critical thinking: see links on the right.)

Critical writing requires strong writing skills. This is because you not only need to thoroughly understand the topic and the issues, but also to develop an essay structure and paragraph structure which will clearly analyse the different interpretations, develop an argument which considers more than one viewpoint, and provide convincing evidence for your view.

To build your skills in critical writing, there are several workshops which you can do (see the links on the right of this page). It can also be very helpful to look at some examples of critical writing by students within your discipline. Ask your tutor, lecturer or the office of your school or department whether there are any samples of good critical writing by previous students that you can look at. Also, you can look at professional critical writing in your discipline: Find some recent copies of a few top academic journals in your subject area, and look for some book reviews. A book review is one type of critical writing, and it will show you examples of the style and structure which is acceptable in your discipline.

How can I think, read or write more analytically?

Simply defined, analysis means re-organising facts or ideas. That is, analysis is the process of looking at facts or ideas and sorting them into categories, groups, parts, types or relationships.

• Analytical thinking means seeing similarities and differences between facts and ideas, looking for patterns and trends, identifying real examples of an abstract principle, or breaking something into its different parts.
• Analytical reading means doing the same things in relation to what you are reading; for example, considering how this article is related to what you have read before, looking at how the main ideas in the article can be broken into parts, thinking of real-life examples, etc.
• Analytical writing means doing the same things mentioned above, and then naming the analytical categories you have thought about, and using them to organise the structure of your own text. For example, if you are writing a comparison of public and private education, you could name some categories of comparison, such as cost effectiveness, equity and political implications, and use these to structure your paragraphs.

Sometimes, you need to use analytical categories or relationships which are already part of the discipline. For example, in the discipline of Linguistics, there are grammatical categories, such as imperative, declarative and interrogative, which can be used to categorise real examples of spoken language. In the discipline of Law, there are two types of law: common law and statute law.

Often, however, you create new analytical categories or relationships, specifically for your text. For example, if you need to compare two theories, you might break your comparison into 3 parts, based on categories for comparing the theories, such as: how each theory deals with social context, how each theory deals with grammar, and how each theory can be used in practice.

To make your writing more analytical, here are some tips:

• Spend plenty of time planning. Brainstorm the facts and ideas, and try different ways of grouping them, according to patterns, parts, similarities and differences, using colour-coding, flow-charts, tree-diagrams or tables.
• Create a name for the relationships and categories you find: e.g. advantages, disadvantages.
• Build each paragraph around one of the analytical categories.
• Make the paragraph structure of your paper clear to your reader, by using topic sentences and a clear introduction.

I want help organising and analysing information.

There are two main approaches to organising and analysing information for academic writing, and most people prefer one of these:

• The planning approach - Spend a lot of time on different types of planning before you begin writing. Only start writing when you know exactly what you will write in each paragraph.
• The drafting approach - Start writing early, while you are still developing your ideas. Write many drafts and gradually re-organise your text until your ideas are clear and your paragraphs are well-structured.

Both of these approaches can be successful. However, if your tutor, lecturer or supervisor asks you to write more analytically, or more clearly, or to improve the structure of your writing, it may help to try some more planning stages.

1. Early planning - Capture as many ideas as possible, without worrying about structure, e.g.:

• carefully read and think about the assignment or task, and what its purpose is
• write brainstorm lists of key words
• draw mind-maps, diagrams and flow-charts
• discuss your ideas with someone else
• list all the readings you could use
• read the abstracts for the relevant sources and make notes on how each article could be useful
• for a large task like a thesis or dissertation, use Endnote, or similar software, to save your references and notes

2. Middle planning strategies - Create some ways to structure the ideas and facts into groups, e.g.:

• look for similarities, differences, patterns, themes or other ways of grouping and dividing the ideas under headings - e.g. advantages, disadvantages, causes, effects, problems, solutions, types of theory
• use coloured highlighters or symbols to tag themes in your readings or notes
• physically group your readings or notes into piles

3. Later planning strategies - Choose some of the themes or groups, to create a structure for your written text, e.g.:

• draw some tree diagrams, showing which ideas, facts and references would be included under each heading
• discard ideas which don't fit into your over-all purpose, and facts or references which are not useful for what you want to discuss
• if you have a lot of information - e.g. for a thesis or dissertation, create some tables to show how each theory or reading relates to each heading (this is often called a 'synthesis grid')
• plan the number of paragraphs you need, the topic heading for each one, and dot points for each piece of information and reference needed
• try a few different possible structures until you find the one which works best

I want help developing my own point of view or argument.

Many writing tasks at university require persuasive writing, in which you present your own point of view. Common types of point of view in academic writing include an argument, a recommendation, interpretation of findings or evaluation of the work of others. All such positions need to be supported by evidence, such as research findings or reference to published sources.

Here are some strategies to help you reach your own point of view on the facts or ideas:

• read some other researchers' points of view which have been published on this topic: who do you feel is the most convincing?
• look for patterns in the data or references: where is the evidence strongest?
• list several different interpretations: what are the real-life implications of each one? which ones are likely to be most useful or beneficial? which ones have some problems?
• discuss the facts and ideas with someone else: do you agree with their point of view?

If you are writing an essay or a similar type of text, you will need some skills to develop an argument. This involves breaking your main point of view into parts, for example:

• list the different reasons for your point of view
• think about the different types and sources of evidence which you can use to support your point of view
• consider different ways that your point of view is similar to, and different from, the points of view of other researchers
• look for other ways to break your point of view into parts: e.g. cost effectiveness, environmental sustainability, precision of measurement, scope of real-world application, theoretical clarity, etc.

To present your point of view in writing at university, you need some skills for writing in an objective academic style. This means that you should:

• use evaluative language which is moderate, not too strong - e.g. use very beneficial instead of wonderful, or use problematic instead of a failure.
• use evaluative language which is technical, not emotional - e.g. use innovative, sustainable or comprehensive, instead of excellent or great.
• use language (such as modality), to make your point of view more cautious - e.g. use more exercise could increase life expectancy, instead of more exercise always increases life expectancy.

Different disciplines have different styles for persuasive writing. For example, in some fields it is fine to write 'my view is that...' , while in some fields this is not acceptable. It is wise to look at the style used by experts to express interpretations, opinions and recommendations: check the Discussion and Conclusion section of published articles, and look for book reviews in scholarly journals in your discipline area.

Source: http://sydney.edu.au/stuserv/learning_centre/help/analysing/analysing.shtml

Chúc các bạn thành công trên con đường học tập và nghiên cứu khoc học bắt đầu với CRITICAL THINKING!

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