UndergradSkiller: Skill Set Map for Undergraduates and Their Educators

CRITICAL THINKING AND PROBLEM-SOLVING

Critical Reading and Analysis

Definition:

Critical reading goes beyond comprehension. It involves evaluating an author’s argument, identifying strengths and weaknesses in the evidence, and recognizing the rhetorical strategies used to persuade the reader.

Useful Resources on Critical Reading and Analysis:

The Open University. (2019, March 25). How to be a critical reader. https://www.open.edu/openlearn/languages/english-language/how-be-critical-reader

Annotation: Free self-paced course from The Open University covering what critical reading means at university, including distinguishing facts from opinions, recognizing hedging in academic writing, evaluating evidence, and comparing texts. Includes interactive activities and a glossary.

The University of Manchester. (n.d.). Being critical. Academic Phrasebank. https://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/being-critical

Annotation: This phrasebook from the University of Manchester provides template phrases and sentence structures for expressing critical analysis in academic writing. Covers language for highlighting inadequacies of previous studies, identifying weaknesses, offering constructive suggestions, and introducing criticism of theories, methods, or arguments.

Peer Review: None

Table of contents:

3.1. Critical Thinking
3.1.1. Introductions to Critical Thinking
3.1.2. Developing Thinking Skills

3.3. Analysis and Argumentation

3.4. Critical Reasoning

3.5. Synthesis

3.6. Problem-Solving and Design Thinking
3.6.1. Problem-Solving
3.6.2. Design Thinking

3.7. Research Methods
3.7.1. Research Design
3.7.2. Research Ethics

3.8. Data Literacy
3.8.1. Understanding Data
3.8.2. Computational Thinking
3.8.3. Statistical and Numerical Analysis

3.9. Curiosity and Creative Thinking
3.9.1. Creative Exercises
3.9.2. Understanding Curiosity

 

Author: Leeanne Irwin

Peer Reviewer(s): None