Critical thinking : learn the tools the best thinkers use / Richard Paul, Linda Elder.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 335-336) and index.

Introduction -- A start-up definition of critical thinking -- How skilled are you as a thinker? -- Good thinking requires hard work -- Defining critical thinking -- The concept of critical thinking -- Become a critic of your thinking -- Establish new habits of thought -- Develop confidence in your ability to reason and figure things out -- 1. How the mind can discover itself -- Recognize the mind's three basic functions -- Establish a special relationship to your mind -- Connect academic subjects to your life -- Learn both intellectually and emotionally -- 2. Discover the parts of thinking -- Thinking is everywhere in human life -- The parts of thinking -- A first look at the elements of thought -- An everyday example : Jack and Jill -- Analysis of the example -- How the parts of thinking fit together -- The relationship between the elements -- The elements of thought -- The best thinkers think to some purpose -- The best thinkers take command of concepts -- The best thinkers assess information -- The best thinkers distinguish between inferences and assumptions -- The best thinkers think through implications -- The best thinkers think across points of view -- Conclusion --

3. Discover universal standards for thinking -- Take a deeper look at intellectual standards -- Clarity -- Accuracy -- Precision -- Relevance -- Depth -- Breadth -- Logic -- Significance -- Fairness -- Bring together the elements of reasoning and the intellectual standards -- Purpose, goal, or end in view -- Question at issue or problem to be solved -- Point of view or frame of reference -- Information, data, experiences -- Concepts, theories, ideas -- Assumptions -- Implications and consequences -- Inferences -- Brief guidelines for using intellectual standards -- 4. Redefining grades as levels of thinking and learning -- Develop strategies for self-assessment -- Use student profiles to assess your performance -- Exemplary students (Grade of A) -- High performing students (Grade of B) -- Mixed-quality students (Grade of C) -- Low-performing students (Grade of D or F) -- Apply the student profiles to assess your performance within specific disciplines -- Exemplary thinking as a student of psychology (Grade of A) -- High-performing thinking as a student of psychology (Grade of B -- Mixed-quality thinking as a student of psychology (Grade of C) -- Low-performing thinking as a student of psychology (Grade of D or F) -- Conclusion --

5. Learn to ask the questions the best thinkers ask -- The importance of questions in thinking -- Questioning your questions -- Dead questions reflect inert minds -- Three categories of questions -- Questions of fact -- Questions of preference -- Questions of judgment -- Become a Socratic questioner -- Focus your thinking on the type of question being asked -- Focus your questions on universal intellectual standards for thought -- Focus your questions on the elements of thought -- Focus your questions on prior questions -- Focus your questions on domains of thinking -- Conclusion -- 6. Discover how the best thinkers learn -- 18 ideas for improving your learning -- The logic of a college as it is -- How the best students learn -- The design of a college class -- Figure out the underlying concept of your course -- Figure out the form of thinking essential to a course or subject -- Think within the logic of the subject -- A case : the logic of biochemistry -- Make the design of the course work for you -- Sample course : American history, 1600-1800 -- Reading, writing, speaking, listening, and thinking -- Figure out the logic of an article or essay -- Figure out the logic of a textbook -- Criteria for evaluating an author's reasoning --

7. The best thinkers read closely and write substantively -- The interrelationship between reading and writing -- Part I : discover close reading -- Consider the author's purpose -- Avoid impressionistic reading -- Read reflectively -- Think about reading while reading -- Engage the text while reading -- Think of books as teachers -- Reading minds -- The work of reading -- Structural reading -- How to read a sentence -- How to read a paragraph -- How to read a textbook -- How to read an editorial -- Take ownership of what you read : mark it up -- The best readers read to learn -- Part II : discover substantive writing -- Write for a purpose -- Substantive writing -- The problem of impressionistic writing -- Write reflectively -- How to write a sentence -- Write to learn -- Substantive writing in content areas -- Relate core ideas to other core ideas -- Writing within disciplines -- The work of writing -- Nonsubstantive writing -- Part III : practice close reading and substantive writing -- Paraphrasing -- Exercises in the five levels of close reading and substantive writing -- Exploring conflicting ideas -- Exploring key ideas within disciplines -- Analyzing reasoning -- Writing substantively to analyze reasoning : an example -- Evaluating reasoning --

8. Become a fair-minded thinker -- Weak versus strong critical thinking -- What does fair-mindedness require? -- Intellectual humility : the best thinkers strive to discover the extent of their ignorance -- Intellectual courage : the best thinkers have the courage to challenge popular beliefs -- Intellectual empathy : the best thinkers empathically enter opposing views -- Intellectual integrity : the best thinkers hold themselves to the same standards to which they hold others -- Intellectual perseverance : the best thinkers do not give up easily, but work their way through complexities and frustration -- Confidence in reason : the best thinkers respect evidence and reasoning and value them as tools for discovering the truth -- Intellectual autonomy : the best thinkers value their independence in thought -- The best thinkers recognize the interdependence of intellectual virtues -- Conclusion --

9. Deal with your irrational mind -- Part I : the best thinkers take charge of their egocentric nature -- Understand egocentric thinking -- Understand egocentrism as a mind within the mind -- Successful egocentric thinking -- Unsuccessful egocentric thinking -- Rational thinking -- Two egocentric functions -- Pathological tendencies of the human mind -- The best thinkers challenge the pathological tendencies of their minds -- The challenge of rationality -- Part II : the best thinkers take charge of their sociocentric tendencies -- The nature of sociocentrism -- Social stratification -- Sociocentric thinking is unconscious and potentially dangerous -- Sociocentric uses of language -- Disclose sociocentric thinking through conceptual analysis -- Reveal ideology at work through conceptual analysis -- The mass media foster sociocentric thinking -- Conclusion -- 10. The stages of critical thinking development : at what stage are you? -- Stage one : the unreflective thinker -- Stage two : the challenged thinker -- Stage three : the beginning thinker -- Stage four : the practicing thinker -- A "game plan" for improvement -- A game plan for devising a game plan -- Integrating strategies one by one -- Appendices -- A. Further exercises in close reading and substantive writing -- B. Sample analysis of the logic of ... -- C. What we mean by "the best thinkers?" -- Glossary.

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