(Half-Baked) Opinions vs. Reasoned Judgments

"Facts" vs. Persuasive Interpretations

Definition of Critical Thinking:

Good critical thinking is skillful and responsible thinking in which you study the problem from all angles, and then exercise your best judgment to draw conclusions.

Good critical thinking has five important components:

1) skillful--you apply skill in the form of knowledge of your subject matter to the thinking process.

2) responsible--critical thinking is a public, not a private act. The arguments you produce contribute to a larger discourse--the discourse of American studies scholarship, or scholarship or criticism about suburbia.

3) relies on sound criteria for making judgments. A good critical thinker thinks explicitly about why she has drawn her conclusions--and lists the reasons for her conclusions.
a. Not just what your judgement is but why you have formed it

4) develops a presentation that is sensitive to context--that respects the way things are done in that particular field and presents conclusions in the manner appropriate to the field.
a. civil, reasoned debate
b. using concepts from American studies scholarship
c. writing polished analyses, using excellent argumentative technique, and using good basic html to mount projects on the web

5) self-correcting--a good critical thinker is constantly trying to improve his thinking, like the track athlete always striving to improve his best time.
a. monitor your thinking process
b. solicit and use feedback from others
c. internalize the ability to critique your own work