Making a Claim and Supporting It
Undergraduate education focuses on reading, memorizing, and developing a basic knowledge base. At the doctoral level, you are expected to read critically and analytically. This requires understanding basic tenets of logical reasoning, being familiar with common errors in reasoning (i.e., logical fallacies), and keeping your mind open to ideas and findings that may not fit with your assumptions and beliefs.
Becoming a Rational Thinker:
An important step toward learning to think critically is assessing your level of development as a rational thinker. The Critical Thinking Community has collected resources, tutorials, and articles to help you follow a path toward being a rational/critical thinker.
You are strongly encouraged to keep a journal similar to the one discussed in Stage Four of this week’s resource on this subject. You will not need to share any personal information with your Faculty; however, keeping a journal in which you evaluate your current level of thinking, outline steps to improve your critical thinking, and keep tabs on your progress can be a powerful tool in your maturation as a thinker and scholar.
Take the first step here, and examine your own level of rational thinking by reading this article in Books and Resources for this Week: Developing as Rational Persons:
Viewing Our Development in Stages.