CRITICAL THINKING:
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ANALYSIS
Critical thinking and analysis are essential to your success at University since so much of what you do requires you to consider and analyse the work of others.
Key to this skill is analysing what you read – for example:
1. Identifying the author's:
- viewpoint(s)
- evidence and/or examples
- conclusion
i.e. What point is the author trying to make me believe and what evidence have they given to convince me?
2. Critical analysis of the author's viewpoint. For example, are the reasons/evidence/examples put forward by the author:
- relevant
- logical
- true
i.e. Does the evidence presented by the author persuade you? If not, why not!
3. Subject the evidence/examples to question. For example:
- Does the evidence/examples provided actually lead to the author's conclusion – or are there other conclusions which might be drawn from the evidence?
- Has information been omitted which might then lead to an alternative conclusion?
- Does the evidence provided come from a reliable source and is it up to date?
4. Identify the type of evidence. For example, are they:
- Statistics
- Examples drawn from real situations
- Experimental results
- The results from surveys or questionnaires
- Case studies
- Hearsay (anecdotal)
Using such 'tools', you should be able to evaluate the material presented by a writer and hence conclude, for example, that the presented evidence is based upon good research and is reliable, but the conclusions drawn are not supported by the evidence. Alternatively, in discussing a possible position you are going to adopt – rather than say 'there is evidence on both sides of the argument', you can comment on the weight and validity of any evidence to show why you favour one viewpoint.
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