Siapaaku??

WUAAAAAA tertangakap lagi selebritis Indonesia,terkait dengan obat terlarang.
Sungguh ironis seharusnya mereka menjadi panutan,padahal kalau dipikir apa yang kurang dari para selebritis ini?Sudah cantik,masih muda,job yang gak pernah kurang,duit ada,website nya pun sudah ada di sini (http://sheilamarcia.com).
Tapi kok pake obat terlarang,yah sudah lah mudah-mudahan artis cantik ini cepat diberikan kemudahan dalam urusannya.

ini profile lengkap nya yang saya dapatkan dari website yang menggunakan namalengkapnya
NAME : Sheila Marcia

SURNAME : Joseph

NATIONALITY : Indonesia of European descent
(Dutch and German)

CONTACT ADDRESS :
Email :
mariaj_vdh@yahoo.com
Website :
http://www.sheilamarcia.com

DATE OF BIRTH : 3 September 1989.



PHYSICAL DATAS :
Height: 170 cm; Weight 48 Kg; Bust:77cm
Waist: 63cm; Hips: 83cm; Shoes: 38/39
Dress: Small or 36; Pants: 27; Hair: Light to Dark Brown,
Eyes: Dark Brown

EDUCATION : ‘O’ Level Cambridge Curriculum.

COURSES :
BALLET
Basic Graduate – MARLUPI Ballet School, Malang, in 1992
MODELLING
Advanced Graduate - SORAYA HAQUE Modeling School, Jakarta, in 1999.
Basic Graduate - SORAYA HAQUE Modeling School, Jakarta, in 1998.
DANCE
Balinese Dance – Private by A.A. Istri Anom Dewi, Bali, in 2004.
ACTING
Intermediate - Sakti Actor School, Coached by: Eka Dimitri Sitourus. Jakarta, in 2006

HOBBIES : Acting, Singing, Dancing, Big Bikes, Modeling & Sports.

LANGUAGES 00
Fluent spoken and written Indonesian
Fluent spoken and written English
Passive Dutch

Authors : Peter J. Goadsby, M.D., D.Sc., Richard B. Lipton, M.D., and Michel D. Ferrari, M.D., Ph.D.


Migraine is a common, chronic, incapacitating neurovascular disorder, characterized by attacks of severe headache, autonomic nervous system dysfunction, and in some patients, an aura involving neurologic symptoms.Recent advances in basic and applied clinical neuroscience have led to the development of a new class of selective serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine [5-HT]) receptor agonists that activate 5-HT1B and 5-HT1D (5-HT1B/1D) receptors and are known as the triptans; these agents have changed the lives of countless patients with migraine. Despite such progress, migraine remains underdiagnosed and the available therapies underused.In this article, we review the current understanding of the epidemiology, pathophysiology, and treatment of migraine.

Clinical Manifestations

Migraine is characterized by episodes of head pain that is often throbbing and frequently unilateral and may be severe. In migraine without aura (previously known as common migraine), attacks are usually associated with nausea, vomiting, or sensitivity to light, sound, or movement.When untreated, these attacks typically last 4 to 72 hours.A combination of features is required for the diagnosis, but not all features are present in every attack or in every patient
These symptoms distinguish migraine from tension-type headache, the most common form of primary headache, which is characterized by the lack of associated features. Any severe and recurrent headache is most likely to be a form of migraine and to be responsive to antimigraine therapy. In 15 percent of patients, migraine attacks are usually preceded or accompanied by transient focal neurologic symptoms, which are usually visual; such patients have migraine with aura (previously known as classic migraine). In a recent large, population-based study, 64 percent of patients with migraine had only migraine without aura, 18 percent had only migraine with aura, and 13 percent had both types of migraine (the remaining 5 percent had aura without headache). Thus, up to 31 percent of patients with migraine have aura on some occasions,but clinicians who rely on the presence of aura for the diagnosis of migraine will miss many cases.

We find it useful to assess the severity and effects of migraine by asking about time lost because of migraine at work or school, in performing household work or chores, or in family, social, and leisure activities. One can ask patients directly about temporary disability, have them keep a diary, or get a quick but accurate estimate with the use of the Migraine Disability Assessment Scale (MIDAS), a well-validated five-item questionnaire that is easy to use in practice.

Although attacks of migraine may start at any age, the incidence peaks in early to mid-adolescence. In the United States and Western Europe, the one-year prevalence of migraine is 11 percent overall: 6 percent among men and 15 to 18 percent among women. The median frequency of attacks is 1.5 per month, and the median duration of an attack is 24 hours; at least 10 percent of patients have weekly attacks, and 20 percent have attacks lasting two to three days.12 Thus, 5 percent of the general population have at least 18 days of migraine per year, and at least 1 percent — that is, more than 2.5 million persons in North America — have at least 1 day of migraine per week. The lifetime prevalence of migraine is at least 18 percent,13 although among older subjects the figures are deflated by recall bias. In the United States, most patients with migraine have not seen a physician for headache during the previous year, have never received a medical diagnosis of migraine, and use over-the-counter medications to the exclusion of prescription drugs. A recent survey by the World Health Organization (WHO) rates severe migraine, along with quadriplegia, psychosis, and dementia, as one of the most disabling chronic disorders.This ranking suggests that in the judgment of the WHO, a day with severe migraine is as disabling as a day with quadriplegia.

Pathophysiology

Migraine is best understood as a primary disorder of the brain.It is a form of neurovascular headache: a disorder in which neural events result in the dilation of blood vessels, which, in turn, results in pain and further nerve activation.Migraine is not caused by a primary vascular event. Migraine attacks are episodic and vary within and among patients. We may best explain this variability by considering the basic biologic problem in migraine to be the dysfunction of an ion channel in the aminergic brain-stem nuclei that normally modulates sensory input and exerts neural influences on cranial vessels.

In patients with familial hemiplegic migraine, missense mutations in the 1 subunit of the voltage-gated P/Q-type calcium channel have been identified. It is possible that other ion-channel mutations contribute to migraine without aura, since it is primarily cases of migraine with aura that have been linked to the familial-hemiplegic-migraine locus. It thus seems possible that the aura of migraine is separate from the headache, with aura susceptibility genes as its determinant; the pain and associated features of migraine itself may be determined by another gene or genes.

Migraine and the Brain

As noted above, migraine probably results from a dysfunction of brain-stem or diencephalic nuclei that are involved in the sensory — particularly nociceptive — modulation of craniovascular afferents. Activation in the brain stem during attacks of migraine has been detected with the use of positron-emission tomography. Moreover, the aura of migraine is likely to be the human counterpart of the animal phenomenon of Leão's spreading depression.Aura is characterized by a wave of oligemia that passes across the cortex at the characteristically slow rate of 2 to 6 mm per minute. A short phase of hyperemia precedes this oligemia and is likely to be a correlate of such symptoms as flashing, jagged lights. Oligemia is a response to depressed neuronal function and is still clearly present when the headache starts.These findings, together with direct evidence that the local oxygen supply is more than adequate, make the notion that migraine is simply a vascular headache untenable

Pain Mechanisms

We do not completely understand the pathogenesis of pain in migraine, but three key factors merit consideration: the cranial blood vessels, the trigeminal innervation of the vessels, and the reflex connections of the trigeminal system with the cranial parasympathetic outflow. The substance of the brain is largely insensate; pain can be generated by large cranial vessels,35 proximal intracranial vessels,or by the dura mater.These vessels are innervated by branches of the ophthalmic division of the trigeminal nerve,whereas the structures of the posterior fossa are innervated by branches of the C2 nerve roots.

In nonhuman primates, stimulation of vascular afferents leads to the activation of neurons in the superficial layers of the trigeminal nucleus caudalis in the region of the cervicomedullary junction and the superficial layers of the dorsal horns of the C1 and C2 levels of the spinal cord — the trigeminocervical complex. Similarly, stimulation of branches of C2 activates neurons in the same regions of the brain.The involvement of the ophthalmic division of the trigeminal nerve and the overlap with structures innervated by C2 explain the common distribution of migraine pain over the frontal and temporal regions, as well as the involvement of parietal, occipital, and high cervical regions by what is, in essence, referred pain.

Peripheral trigeminal activation in migraine is evidenced by the release of calcitonin-gene–related peptide, a vasodilator,but the mechanism of the generation of pain is not clear. Studies in animals suggest that the pain may be caused by a sterile neurogenic inflammatory process in the dura mater,but this mechanism has no clearly demonstrated correlate in humans.The pain may be a combination of an altered perception — as a result of peripheral or central sensitization — of craniovascular input that is not usually painful34 and the activation of a feed-forward neurovascular dilator mechanism that is functionally specific for the first (ophthalmic) division of the trigeminal nerve.

Drug Therapy

Approaches to treating migraine can be divided into nonpharmacologic therapies and pharmacologic therapies. Nonpharmacologic therapies include education of the patient about the disorder, its mechanisms, approaches to treatment, and changes in lifestyle involved in the avoidance of triggers of migraine. In patients with migraine, the brain does not seem to tolerate the peaks and troughs of life well. Thus, regular sleep, regular meals, exercise, avoidance of peaks of stress and troughs of relaxation, and avoidance of dietary triggers can be helpful. The crucial message is that the patient should aim for a certain regularity of habits, rather than adhere to a long list of prohibitions of foods and activities. What cannot be known is the sensitivity of the brain to such triggers at any given time. This uncertainty leaves many patients frustrated by the fact that the same manipulations intended to avoid triggering migraine will lead to different outcomes on different days. It can be helpful to explain the nature of this variability to patients. An evidence-based review of nonpharmacologic approaches to treatment of migraine was recently published.

Drugs for the treatment of migraine can be divided into drugs that are taken daily whether or not headache is present to reduce the frequency and severity of attacks and drugs that are taken to treat attacks as they arise. Treatments for attacks can be further divided into nonspecific and migraine-specific treatments. Nonspecific treatments, such as aspirin, acetaminophen, nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, opiates, and combination analgesics, are used to treat a wide range of pain disorders. Specific treatments,7 including ergotamine, dihydroergotamine, and the triptans, are effective for treating neurovascular headaches, such as migraine and cluster headache, but not for treating other types of pain, such as pure tension-type headache or atypical facial pain.Given that there are responses to placebo in patients with migraine,that there is a significant rate of nonresponse to oral drugs, and that triptans have not been studied systematically in patients with such problems as subarachnoid hemorrhage or meningitis, triptans should not be used as diagnostic testing agents in patients with headache.

Preventive Therapy

The decision to start a preventive therapy in a patient with migraine is best made collaboratively. On the basis of a combination of the frequency, duration, severity, and tractability of acute attacks, as well as the preference of the patient, a sensible selection can be made. Patients who have attacks that are unresponsive to acute-attack medications and that cause substantial disability are candidates for preventive therapy. If attacks occur at least twice a month, if the patient may be at risk for rebound headache, or if the migraine diary kept by the patient reveals a clear trend toward an increasing frequency of attacks, it is probably better to consider prevention than to wait for the problem to become more troublesome. It is not clear how preventive therapy works, although it seems likely that it modifies the sensitivity of the brain that underlies migraine.

In general, if headaches occur one to two days per month, there is usually no need for preventive therapy; if they occur three to four days per month, preventive therapy should be considered; if the patient has five or more attacks per month, preventive therapy should be considered seriously.And the evidence regarding their use has been extensively reviewed.Often, the doses required to reduce the frequency of headache cause marked and intolerable side effects. Each drug should be started at a low dose, and the dose should be gradually increased to a reasonable maximum; patients should be reminded that this approach often entails some delay in achieving efficacy.

Naga Bonar adalah film komedi situasi yang mengambil latar peristiwa perjuangan rakyat Indonesia ketika sedang melawan penjajahan Belanda di daerah Sumatera Utara pada era kemerdekaan.

Sinopsis : Tokoh Naga Bonar (Deddy Mizwar), adalah seorang pencopet yang mendapatkan kesempatan menyebut dirinya seorang Jenderal di pasukan kemerdekaan Indonesia pada saat pasukan pendudukan Jepang mundur pada tahun 1945 dan Belanda berusaha kembali menguasai daerah yang ditinggalkan tersebut.

Pada awalnya Naga Bonar melakukan ini hanya sekedar untuk mendapatkan kemewahan hidup sebagai seorang Jenderal, akan tetapi pada akhirnya dia menjadi tentara yang sesungguhnya, dan memimpin kemenangan Indonesia dalam peperangan.




Sumber : wikipedia and youtube

Ini foto Rahma Azhari yang menurut saya keren seh,sexy tapi tetep keren...
mudah-mudahan tidak dianggap pornografi dan porno aksi yah..






gimana menurut pendapat kamu keren bukan,foto ini saya dapatkan dari forum bukan milik saya pribadi lho (takut diancam dengan undang-undang pornografi soalnya hehehe...)
ada disini
but i think this is a nice pic and no pornography

In the previous two columns we introduced the idea of close reading, emphasizing the importance of the following:
• understanding your purpose in reading

• understanding the author’s purpose in writing

• seeing ideas in a text as being interconnected

• looking for and understanding systems of meaning

• engaging a text while reading

• getting beyond impressionist reading

• formulating questions and seeking answers to those questions while reading


To read well , in addition to having the above understandings, students must be able to identify the big picture within a text, to determine the key ideas within the text early on, and to see the scaffolding that connects all the ideas within the text. In other words, they need to develop structural reading abilities. Moreover, students need to see that there are generalizable skills one must develop to read sentences and paragraphs well. In addition, students must develop reading skills specific to reading certain kinds of texts – like textbooks, newspaper articles and editorials.

In this column we will focus on the theory of close reading. We will discuss “structural reading” first. We will then make some basic points about the art of reading sentence and paragraphs. We will conclude with some domain specific theory: how to read a textbook, how to read a newspaper, and how to read an editorial. For examples of the theory we outline here, see The Thinkers Guide to How to Read a Paragraph: The Art of Close Reading. The following guideline is written directly to the student:

Structural Reading

Structural reading is a form of close reading applied to the overall structure of an extended text (usually a book). In it, we focus on what we can learn about the book from its title, preface, introduction, and table of contents. Structural reading has two main uses. First, it enables us to evaluate a book to determine whether we want to spend the time to read it carefully. Second, it provides an overview to use as scaffolding in reading the text. If we can get a basic idea of what a book is driving at before we read it in detail, we are much better able to make sense of the parts of it as we read them paragraph by paragraph. Knowledge of a whole helps us understand all of its parts. Knowledge of a part helps us better understand the whole (which contains the parts).

To read structurally, ask these questions:

* What does the title tell me about this book?

* What is the main idea in the book? (You should be able to figure this out from skimming the introduction, preface, and first chapter.)

* What are the parts of the whole, and how does the book deal with those parts? (Again, this may be found in an overview in the introduction, preface, first chapter, and/or table of contents.)

* In the light of my structural reading, what questions would I pursue during close reading?

How to Read a Sentence

Reading a sentence consists, first of all, in finding a way to state what the sentence says so we can think the thought the sentence expresses. Further ways to make the meaning of a sentence clear are: elaborating the sentence, finding an example, and illustrating its meaning.

Finding key sentences means finding the sentences that are the driving force within a book. Structural reading is one way by which we locate key paragraphs and boil them down to key sentences, and thence to key ideas and key questions.

An important part of reading with discipline is to connect sentences to the broader context within which they are located, to see how they fit within the written piece. For every sentence you read, you might ask:

* How does this sentence connect with the other sentences in the text?

* How does this sentence relate to the organizing idea of this text
as a whole?

Good readers read sentences in relationship to other sentences, connecting each sentence with the purpose of the written piece. Taking a sentence out of context can pose problems because sentences read in isolation from the sentences that precede or follow them often overstate a point. The sentences that precede or follow usually clarify the author’s true meaning, or bring it in line with supporting facts. Good readers read a text charitably and generously. They look for qualifications of points that otherwise might seem false or overstated.

How to Read a Paragraph

Carefully reading a paragraph involves finding the idea or question that is the driving force within the paragraph. Finding key paragraphs consists of finding the ideas or questions that are the driving force within the book. Structural reading, you will remember, is an important means by which we locate key paragraphs.

All paragraphs within a written piece should connect to every other paragraph so that we can see logical connections between ideas. All ideas should form a system of meanings. As you move from paragraph to paragraph, ask:

* What is the most important idea in this paragraph?

* How do the ideas in this paragraph relate to the ideas in
previous paragraphs?

* How are the important ideas in the text connected?

Look for paragraphs that focus on significant ideas or questions. Connect those ideas, when possible, to situations and experiences that are meaningful in your life. To actively connect ideas to life situations, ask:

* How can I relate this idea to something I already understand?

* Is there an important idea here that I can use in my thinking?

* Have I ever experienced a situation that sheds light on this idea?

How to Read a Textbook

The first and most important insight necessary for successfully reading a textbook is that all textbooks focus on “systems” which, when internalized, can help us reason through a specific set of problems. They focus on a special way of thinking about a special set of things. To elaborate, history textbooks teach a special way of thinking about events in the past. Biology textbooks teach a special way of thinking about living things. Mathematics textbooks teach a special way of thinking about the numbers, shapes, and figures. Physics textbooks teach a special way of thinking about mass and energy and their interrelations. The same is true for all other textbooks.

Thus, there is no way to learn mathematics from a math textbook without learning how to figure out correct answers to mathematical questions and problems. There is no way to learn history from a history textbook without learning how to figure out correct or reasonable answers to historical questions and problems. There is no way to learn biology from a biology textbook without learning how to figure out answers to biological questions and problems. Any subject can therefore be understood as a system of figuring out correct or reasonable answers to a certain set of questions. We study chemistry to understand chemicals and how they interact (to answer questions about chemicals). We study psychology to figure out human behavior (to answer questions about certain human problems). All subjects can be understood in this way. All textbooks can be read in this way.

Most textbooks begin with an introductory chapter or preface that introduces us to the field of study: What is biology? What is physics? What is history? It is important for us to do a close reading of this opening chapter in order to acquire from the very beginning an insight into the most basic and fundamental concepts in the field.

Once we have a basic idea of the whole of a subject from the introductory chapter, we should be able to do some thinking within the system. Thus, with a basic idea of biology, we should be able to do some simple biological thinking. We should be able to ask some basic biological questions and identify some relevant biological information. This is crucial to success in reading the remainder of the textbook because if we do not have a clear concept of the whole, we will not be able to relate the parts (covered by the other chapters) to that whole.

Our reading strategy should not be whole, part, part, part, part, part…but, rather, whole, part, whole, part, whole, part. We first ground ourselves in a basic (though introductory) idea of the whole. We then relate each part (each subsequent chapter) to that whole. We understand the whole through integrating the parts into it. We use the whole as our tool of synthesis. We use our knowledge of the parts as a tool of analysis.

How to Read a Newspaper for
National and International News

To become adept at reading the news, you first must understand that every society and culture has a unique worldview. This colors what they see and how they see it. News media in the cultures of the world reflect the worldview of the culture they write for. Suppose you have two persons reporting on the events of your life — your best friend and your worst enemy. Your best friend would highlight the positive things about you; your worst enemy would highlight the negative things about you. Both would think they were simply telling the truth.

If you understand this, you can apply that understanding to how the news is constructed by every country in the world. Within any country, the news media highlight what is positive about the country; its enemies’ news media highlight what is negative about it. As a critical reader of the news, you must make adjustments for both of these biases. So if you are a Frenchman in France reading French newspapers, you must read the fine print to find out the negative things about France that are being suppressed or buried. If you are reading a newspaper from a country that considers France its enemy, you must, in a parallel way, read to correct for its one-sidedness (its predictable negativity about France).

At present, the overwhelming majority of people in the world, untrained in critical reading, are at the mercy of the news media in their own country. To learn how to read the news critically, you can begin with our guide entitled How to Detect Media Bias & Propaganda. It focuses on how to:

* interpret events from the perspective of multiple views

* find multiple sources of thought and information, not simply those of the mass media

* identify the viewpoints embedded in news stories

* mentally re-write (reconstruct) news stories through awareness of how stories are told from multiple perspectives

* assess news stories for their clarity, accuracy, relevance, depth, breadth, and significance

* identify contradictions and inconsistencies in the news (often in the same story)

* identify the agenda and interests served by a story

* identify the facts covered and the facts ignored in a news story

* identify the points of view systematically presented in a favorable light and those presented in an unfavorable light

These are some of the skills that critical readers of the news develop. To take command of the way the mass media influence your thinking about the world, you must learn how to see through their biases and appreciate dissenting as well as mainstream points of view. Only then can you come to well-reasoned conclusions using a balanced approach. At present, few people have developed the skills to do this.

How to Read an Editorial

To become adept at reading editorials, you must first understand that the goal of the editorial writer is to make a brief case for one side of a controversial issue. His or her goal is not to consider all sides or to do what a writer of a research paper or report is expected to do. Most people read editorials in the following way. If writers are defending what they believe, they praise the editorial. If writers are criticizing what they believe, they criticize the editorial. Therefore, they are unable to gain insights from people with whom they disagree. The fact is that most people are rigid in their thinking and largely closed-minded. There are many points of view into which they cannot enter. There are many ways to look at the world that they never examine or appreciate.

By contrast, critical readers recognize that they have been wrong in the past and may be wrong now. They recognize what they would like to believe while at the same time realizing that they may be prejudiced by that very desire. It is in this spirit of open-mindedness that we should learn to read editorials — especially the ones to which we are least sympathetic. We must learn how to step outside of our own point of view and enter points of view with which we are unfamiliar.

Of course, we should not assume that the editorials in our own culture’s newspapers provide us with a full range of points of view. What we can expect is merely that these newspapers provide us with the range of views held by the mainstream readers within the society. The goal of a newspaper is not to educate readers concerning international and dissenting points of view but rather to make money. And a newspaper makes money only when it caters to the beliefs and preconceptions of its readers. Thus, newspapers rarely present radically dissenting perspectives, and when they do, they emphasize that these are merely opinions.

Critical readers read all editorials with equal sympathy. They read to discover and digest a wide range of points of view, especially points of view that tend to be ignored in the mainstream of the culture. To enhance their breadth of vision while avoiding ethnocentrism and sociocentrism, critical readers search out dissenting media sources. For examples of dissenting news sources, see The Miniature Guide to Media Bias and Propaganda.


This article was adapted from How to Read a Paragraph: The Art of Close Reading by Richard Paul and Linda Elder.

In the previous article we introduced the idea of close reading, which is reading with an emphasis on:

* understanding your purpose in reading

* understanding the author’s purpose in writing

* seeing ideas in a text as being interconnected

* looking for and understanding systems of meaning

In this article, we discuss the art of engaging a text while reading. To read closely, students must get beyond impressionist reading. They must come to see that simply deciphering words on a page and getting some vague sense of what is there does not translate into substantive learning. Instead, they must learn that to read well is to engage in a self-constructed dialog with the author of a text. Really good reading requires close reading. It requires one to formulate questions and seek answers to those questions while reading. It requires connecting new ideas to already learned ideas, correcting mistaken ideas when necessary. In other words, close reading requires specific intellectual work on the part of the reader. This article briefly elaborates the nature of this intellectual work.

Avoiding Impressionistic

Reading and Writing

The impressionistic mind follows associations, wandering from paragraph to paragraph, drawing no clear distinction between its own thinking and the author’s thinking. Being fragmented, it fragments what it reads. Being uncritical, it judges an author’s view to be correct only if that view concurs with its own beliefs. Being self-deceived, it fails to see itself as undisciplined. Being rigid, it does not learn from what it reads.

Whatever knowledge the impressionistic mind absorbs is uncritically intermixed with prejudices, biases, myths, and stereotypes. It lacks insight into how minds create meaning and how reflective minds monitor and evaluate as they read.

Reading Reflectively

The reflective mind seeks meaning, monitors what is being said from paragraph to paragraph, draws a clear distinction between the thinking of an author and its own thinking. The reflective mind, being purposeful, adjusts reading to specific goals. Being integrated, it interrelates ideas in the text with ideas it already commands. Being critical, it assesses what it reads for clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logic, significance, and fairness. Being open to new ways of thinking, it values new ideas and learns from what it reads.

Thinking About Reading While Reading

The reflective mind improves its thinking by reflectively thinking about it. Likewise, it improves its reading by reflectively thinking about how it is reading. It moves back and forth between the cognitive (thinking) and the meta-cognitive (thinking about thinking). It moves forward a bit, then loops back upon itself to check on its own operations. It checks its tracks. It makes good its ground. It rises above itself and exercises oversight on itself.

One of the most important abilities that a thinker can have is the ability to monitor and assess his or her own thinking while processing the thinking of others. In reading, the reflective mind monitors how it is reading while it is reading. The foundation for this ability is knowledge of how the mind functions when reading well. For example, if I know that what I am reading is difficult for me to understand, I intentionally slow down and paraphrase each sentence. I put the meaning of each sentence that I read into my own words.

If I realize that I am unsympathetic to an author’s viewpoint, I suspend judgment about the text’s meaning until I have verified that I truly understand what the author is saying. I strive not to commit a common mistake that some readers make in reading: “I don’t really know what this means, but it is wrong, wrong, wrong!” Instead I try to accurately understand the author’s viewpoint while reading. I attempt to enter that viewpoint, to be open to it as much as possible. And even if I don’t agree fully with the author’s view, I appropriate important ideas whenever possible. I take command of the ideas that I think are worthwhile rather than dismissing all the ideas simply because I don’t completely agree with the author’s view.

Engaging a Text

The reflective mind interacts with the author’s thinking. In this interaction, the reader’s mind reconstructs the author’s thinking. It does this through a process of inner dialogue with the sentences of the text, assessing each sentence for its intelligibility and questioning in a disciplined way:

* Can I summarize the meaning of this text in my own words?

* Can I give examples from my own experience of what the text is saying?

* Can I generate metaphors and diagrams to illustrate what the text is saying?

* What is clear to me and what do I need clarified?

* Can I connect the core ideas in this text to other core ideas I understand?

Books Are Teachers

Every book we read is a potential teacher. Reading is a systematic process for learning the essential meanings of that teacher. When we become good readers, we can learn the essential meanings of an unlimited number of teachers whose teachings live on, ever available, in the books they have written. When we take the core ideas of those teachings into our minds through careful reading, we can productively use them in our lives.

Reading Minds

You have a mind. But do you know how your mind operates? Are you aware of your prejudices and preconceptions? Are you aware of the extent to which your thinking mirrors the thinking of those around you? Are you aware of the extent to which your thinking has been influenced by the thinking of the culture in which you have been raised and conditioned? To what extent can you step outside your day-to-day mindset and into the mindset of those who think differently from you? Are you able to imagine being “wrong” in some of your beliefs? What criteria would you use to evaluate your personal beliefs? Are you aware of how to upgrade the quality of your own beliefs?

In reading the work of others, you enter their minds. In coming to terms with the mind of another, you can come to better discover your own mind — both its strengths and its weaknesses. To read your own mind, you must learn how to do second-order thinking — how to think about your thinking while you are thinking from outside your thinking. But how do you get outside your thinking?

To do this, you must recognize that there are eight basic structures in all thinking. Whenever we think, we think for a purpose within a point of view based on assumptions leading to implications and consequences. We use concepts, ideas and theories to interpret information (data, facts, and experiences) in order to answer questions, solve problems, and resolve issues.

When we come to understand these eight basic elements, we have powerful intellectual tools that enable us to think better. We understand that whenever we reason about anything whatsoever, these parts of thinking are inherent in our mind’s operations.

Thus when you read, you are reasoning through the text; you are reading for a purpose, using concepts or ideas and assumptions of your own, making inferences, thinking within a personal point of view. At the same time, the text you are reading is the product of someone else’s reasoning. You therefore recognize that embedded in the text is the author’s purpose, the author’s question, assumptions, concepts and so forth. The better you are at understanding your own reasoning within your own perspective, the better you can understand the reasoning of others. The better you understand someone else’s logic, the better you understand your own.

When you can effectively move back and forth between what you are reading and what you are thinking, you bring what you think to bear upon what you read and what you read to bear upon what you think. You are able to change your thinking when the logic of what you read is an improvement on what you think. And you are able to withhold accepting new ideas when you cannot reconcile them with your own. You realize that you may be wrong in some of your beliefs.

The Work of Reading

Reading is a form of intellectual work. And intellectual work requires willingness to persevere through difficulties. But perhaps even more important, intellectual work requires understanding what such work entails. This is where most students fall short. Consider the challenge of analyzing, evaluating, and repairing an automobile engine. The biggest challenge is in knowing how to do what needs to be done: how to use the tools of auto mechanics in taking the engine apart and how to run tests on specific systems in it. And learning this requires learning how an automobile engine functions, the internal combustion system it represents.

No one would expect to know how to repair an automobile engine without training, involving both theory and practice. If you learn to “read” without understanding what good reading involves, you learn to read poorly. That is why reading is a fundamentally passive activity for many students. It is as if their theory of reading was something like this: “You let your eye move from left to right, scanning one line at a time, until somehow, in some inexplicable way, meaning automatically and effortlessly happens in the mind.”

Conclusion

In this article we have emphasized the fact that close reading, reading that is substantive in nature, requires a particular form of engagement of the mind. It requires intellectual skills that enable the reader to analyze and assess as one reads. It requires the ability to question in special ways while reading. Only when students actively engage their minds in a skilled dialog with the texts they read, disciplining their thinking as they read, are they achieving depth of understanding. (Samples of close reading are available in the referenced reading guide below.)


This article adapted from How to Read a Paragraph: The Art of Close Reading by Richard Paul and Linda Elder.

Toread well requires one to develop one’s thinking about reading and, as a result, to learn how to engage in the process of what we call close reading. Students not only need to learn how to determine whether a text is worth reading, but also how to take ownership of a text’s important ideas (when it contains them). This requires the active use of intellectual skills. It requires command of the theory of close reading as well as guided practice based on that theory.

In this and the next few articles we focus on some of the fundamentals of close reading. We explain what it means to think through a text using theory of close reading at the core of the reading process.

Reading For a Purpose

Skilled readers do not read blindly, but purposely. They have an agenda, goal, or objective. Their purpose, together with the nature of what they are reading, determines how they read. They read in different ways in different situations for different purposes. Of course, reading has a nearly universal purpose: to figure out what an author has to say on a given subject.

When we read, we translate words into meanings. The author has previously translated ideas and experiences into words. We must take those same words and re-translate them into the author’s original meaning using our own ideas and experiences as aids. Accurately translating words into intended meanings is an analytic, evaluative, and creative set of acts. Unfortunately, few people are skilled at translation. Few are able to accurately mirror the meaning the author intended. They project their own meanings into a text. They unintentionally distort or violate the original meaning of authors they read. As Horace Mann put it in
1838:

"I have devoted especial pains to learn, with some degree of numerical accuracy, how far the reading, in our schools, is an exercise of the mind in thinking and feeling and how far it is a barren action of the organs of speech upon the atmosphere. My information is derived principally from the written statements of the school committees of the respective towns — gentlemen who are certainly exempt from all temptation to disparage the schools they superintend. The result is that more than 11/12ths of all the children in the reading classes do not understand the meanings of the words they read; and that the ideas and feelings intended by the author to be conveyed to and excited in, the reader’s mind, still rest in the author’s intention, never having yet reached the place of their destination." (Second Report to the Massachusetts Board of Education, 1838)

In general, then, we read to figure out what authors mean. Our reading is further influenced by our purpose for reading and by the nature of the text itself. For example, if we are reading for pure pleasure and personal amusement, it may not matter if we do not fully understand the text. We may simply enjoy the ideas that the text stimulates in us. This is fine as long as we know that we do not deeply understand the text. Some of the various purposes for reading include:

1. Sheer pleasure: requires no particular skill level

2. To figure out a simple idea: which may require skimming the text

3. To gain specific technical information: skimming skills required

4. To enter, understand, and appreciate a new world-view: requires close reading skills in working through a challenging series of tasks that stretch our minds

5. To learn a new subject: requires close reading skills in internalizing and taking ownership of an organized system of meanings

How you read should be determined in part by what you read. Reflective readers read a textbook, for example, using a different mindset than they use when reading an article in a newspaper. Furthermore, reflective readers read a textbook in biology differently from the way they read a textbook in history.

Having recognized this variability, we should also recognize that there are core reading tools and skills for reading any substantive text, some of which will be the focus of this and our next few our columns.

Considering the Author’s Purpose
In addition to being clear about our own purpose in reading, we must also be clear about the author’s purpose in writing. Both are relevant. Consider the following agendas. Think about what adjustments you would make in your reading given the differing purposes of these writers:

* politicians and their media advisors developing political campaign literature

* newspaper editors deciding which stories their readers would be most interested in and how to tell the story to maintain that interest

* advertisers working with media consultants while writing copy for advertisements (to sell a product or service)

* a chemist writing a laboratory report

* a novelist writing a novel

* a poet writing a poem

* a student writing a research report.

To read productively, your purpose in reading must take into account the author’s purpose in writing. For example, if you read a historical novel to learn history, you would do well to read further in history books and primary sources before you conclude that what you read in the historical novel was accurate. Where fact and imagination are blended to achieve a novelist’s purpose, fact and imagination must be separated to achieve the reader’s pursuit of historical fact.

Developing a “Map” of Knowledge

All knowledge exists in “systems” of meanings, with interrelated primary ideas, secondary ideas, and peripheral ideas. Imagine a series of circles beginning with a small core circle of primary ideas, surrounded by concentric circles of secondary ideas, moving outward to an outer circle of peripheral ideas. The primary ideas, at the core, explain the secondary and peripheral ideas. Whenever we read to acquire knowledge, we should take ownership, first, of the primary ideas, for they are a key to understanding all of the other ideas. Moreover, when we gain an initial understanding of the primary ideas, we can begin to think within the system as a whole. The sooner we begin to think within a system, the sooner the system becomes meaningful to us.

Thus, when we understand core historical ideas, we can begin to think historically. When we understand core scientific ideas, we can begin to think scientifically. Core or primary ideas are the key to every system of knowledge. They are the key to truly learning any subject. They are the key to retaining what we learn for lifelong use.

We should relate the core ideas we learn within one discipline to core ideas in other systems of knowledge, for knowledge exists not only in a system but also in relation to all other systems of knowledge. To do this, we must learn how to read books for their core ideas and for their system-defining function. Mastering any set of foundational ideas makes it easier to learn other foundational ideas. Learning to think within one system of knowledge helps us learn to think within other systems.

For example, if in studying botany, we learn that all plants have cells, we should connect this idea to the fact that all animals have cells (which we learned in studying biology). We can then begin to consider the similarities and differences between animal and plant cells.

Or consider the relation between psychology and sociology. Psychology focuses principally on individual behavior while sociology focuses on group behavior. But one’s individual psychology influences how one relates to group norms, and social groups shape how individuals deal with their perceived life problems and opportunities. By reading for the core ideas in both fields and relating those ideas, we better understand the way in which the psychological and sociological are intertwined in our lives.

Reading to Understand Systems of Thought

Reading with discipline, then, means reading to understand systems of thought. Understanding systems of thought means taking command of the structures that are the basis of all thought. In other words, when we understand the parts of thinking, we then read for purposes and goals; for questions, problems, and issues; for information and data; for concepts, theories, and ideas; for interpretations and conclusions; for assumptions; for implications and consequences; and for points of view. The ability to read in these disciplined ways gives power and command to your reading. You do not simply read; you construct systems of thought as you read.

Reading Within Disciplines

To understand academic subjects or disciplines, we must approach them as systems of thought. Indeed, not only are all disciplines system of thought, but often they are systems of systems. Thus, scientific thinking forms a large-scale system of thought (which contrasts with other systems, such as ethical thinking). But science as a large-scale system also contains sub-systems within it (physics, chemistry, biology, physiology, and so forth). Science, therefore, is a system of systems.

But, unlike science, in which there is agreement on the most basic principles guiding scientific thinking, some systems within a given discipline are in conflict with each other. For example, philosophy, psychology, and economics contain multiple conflicting schools of thought.

To be an effective reader within disciplines, you must learn to identify, for any given subject, whether it is best understood as a system of supporting systems (such as math and science) or a system of conflicting systems (such as philosophy, psychology, and economics). If you are within a system-harmonious field, your task is to master the systems and come to see how they support each other. If you are within a system-conflicting field, your task is to master the systems by exploring how they conflict with each other. Of course, in seeing how conflicting systems exclude each other, you would also discover how they overlap. Conflict between systems of thought is rarely, if ever, total and absolute. You will find conflicting systems in all disciplines in which there are competing schools of thought.

Conclusion

To read well, we must understand reading as requiring intellectual skills. As a good reader, we don’t simply decipher words, we actively engage in a dialog with the writer. We actively seek the author’s purpose in writing. We look for systems of meaning in a text.


This article was adapted from How to Read a Paragraph: The Art of Close Reading , by Richard Paul and Linda Elder.

Critical Thinking: Teaching Students How to Study and Learn (Part Four)

In the previous three articles we focused on ideas for helping students improve their studying and learning habits. All of the recommendations come from our Miniature Guide for Students on How to Study and Learn. This guide is designed to help students think deeply through content and begin to take their learning seriously. In this article, the final in its series, we focus on the importance of questioning in learning, providing suggestions to help students become active questioners. We also introduce students to the idea that some disciplines deal largely, if not exclusively, with definitive questions, while others deal largely with debatable questions. As with the previous three columns, each of the sections below is written in the form of directions for students. Thus, you should read what follows as if you were a student considering how you can improve your learning. Of course, we assume that students will probably need help from their teachers in understanding how to take ownership of each of the essential ideas below. Only a rare student will be able to immediately implement the recommendations without some guidance and facilitation

How To Understand
The Role of Questions in Thinking & Learning

Thinking is not driven by answers but by questions. Had no questions been asked by those who laid the foundation for a field--for example, Physics or Biology — the field would never have been developed in the first place. Furthermore, every field stays alive only to the degree that fresh questions are generated and taken seriously as the driving force in thinking. To think through or rethink anything, one must ask questions that stimulate thought. Questions define tasks, express problems and delineate issues. Answers on the other hand, often signal a full stop in thought. Only when an answer generates a further question does thought continue its life. This is why you are thinking and learning only when you have questions.

So, instead of trying to store a lot of disconnected information in your mind, start asking questions about the content. Deep questions drive thought beneath the surface of things, forcing you to deal with complexities. Questions of purpose force you to define tasks. Questions of information force you to look at your sources of information as well as assess the quality of information. Questions of interpretation force you to examine how you are organizing or giving meaning to information. Questions of assumption force you to examine what you are taking for granted. Questions of implication force you to follow out where your thinking is going. Questions of point of view force you to examine your perspective and to consider other relevant viewpoints.

Questions of relevance force you to discriminate what does and does not bear on a question. Questions of accuracy force you to evaluate and test for truth and correctness. Questions of precision force you to give details and be specific. Questions of consistency force you to examine your thinking for contradictions. Questions of logic force you to consider how you are putting the whole of your thought together, to make sure that it all adds up and makes sense within a reasonable system of some kind.

Continually remind yourself that learning begins only when questions are asked.

Essential Idea: If you want to learn, you must ask questions that lead to further questions that lead to further questions. To learn well is to question well. How To Raise Important Questions Within A Subject

Every discipline is best known by the questions it generates and the way it goes about settling those questions. To think well within a discipline, you must be able to raise and answer important questions within it. At the beginning of a semester of study, try generating at least 25 questions that each discipline you are studying seeks to answer. To do this you might read an introductory chapter from the textbook or an encyclopedia entry on the topic. Then explain the significance of the questions to another person.

Then add new questions to the list (as your courses proceed) underlining questions when you are confident you can explain how answer them. Regularly translate chapter and section titles from your textbooks into questions. For example, a section on photosynthesis answers the question: What is photosynthesis?

In addition, look for key questions in classroom lectures. Relate basic questions to the theory the discipline uses to solve problems. Master fundamental questions well. Do not move on until you understand them.

Notice the interrelationship between key ideas and key questions. Without the ideas the questions are meaningless. Without the questions, the ideas are inert. There is nothing you can do with them. A skilled thinker is able to take questions apart, generate alternative meanings, distinguish leading from subordinate questions, and grasp the tasks that questions demand of us.

Essential Idea: If you become a good questioner within a discipline, you will learn the essential content of the discipline.

How To Distinguish One-System
From Competing-System Disciplines

In some disciplines, the experts rarely disagree; in others, disagreement is common. The reason for this is found in the kinds of questions they ask and the nature of what they study. Mathematics and the physical and biological sciences fall into the first category. Thinkers within these disciplines study phenomena that behave consistently under predictable conditions. They also pose questions that can be expressed clearly and precisely, with virtually complete expert agreement. The disciplines dealing with humans, in contrast — all the social disciplines, the Arts, and the Humanities — fall into the second category. What they study is often unpredictably variable.

For example, humans are born into a culture at some point in time in some place. They are raised by parents with particular beliefs. And they form a variety of associations with other humans who are equally variously influenced. What is dominant in our behavior varies from person to person. Hence, many of the questions asked in the disciplines dealing with human nature are subject to disagreement among experts (who approach the questions from different points of view). Consider the varieties of ways that human minds are influenced:

* sociologically (our minds are influenced by the social groups to which we belong)
* philosophically (our minds are influenced by our personal philosophy)
* ethically (our minds are influenced by our ethical character)
* intellectually (our minds are influenced by the ideas we hold, by the manner in which we reason and deal with abstractions)
* anthropologically (our minds are influenced by cultural practices, mores, and taboos)
* ideologically and politically (our minds are influenced by the structure of power and its use by interest groups around us)
* economically (our minds are influenced by the economic conditions under which we live)
* historically (our minds are influenced by our history and by the way we tell our history)
* biologically (our minds are influenced by our biology and neurology)
* theologically (our minds are influenced by our religious beliefs)
* psychologically (our minds are influenced by our personality and egocentric tendencies)

What is more, humans are capable of discovering how they are being influenced in these ways, may reflect on them, and then act to change their behavior in any number of ways. For example, consider how much more difficult it would be to study the behavior of mice if each mouse varied in its behavior from every other mouse depending on experience, personal philosophy, and culture. Or, consider how difficult it would be to study the behavior of mice if the mice could discover we were studying them and begin to react to our study in the light of that knowledge. And what if those mice then decided to study us studying them? In other words, the goal of studying human behavior faces enormous difficulties.

In studying a “one system” subject, in contrast, the task is to learn how to think within one overriding point of view. Learning to think algebraically, for example, does not require that you consider schools of thought within algebra. Algebraic thinking is based on a precisely defined system. All mathematicians who teach algebra share virtually all algebraic ideas. Each idea is strictly and precisely defined. It is possible to PROVE this or that. Given a number system, one can derive arithmetic. Given arithmetic, one can derive algebra. Given algebra, one can derive calculus. All inferences can be tested, one by one.

Essential Idea: For any subject one studies, it is important to know the extent of expert disagreement and the “variability” of what one is studying.

How To Ask Questions About Fields of Study

(Answer as many of these questions as you can by examining texts in the subject. You may need help from your instructor on some of them).

1. To what extent are there competing schools of thought within this field?
2. To what extent do experts in this field disagree about the answers they give to important questions?
3. What other fields deal with this same subject (from a different standpoint, perhaps)? To what extent are there conflicting views about this subject in light of these different standpoints?
4. To what extent, if at all, is this field properly called a science?
5. To what extent can questions asked in the field be answered definitively? To what degree are questions in this field matters of (arguable) judgment?
6. To what extent is there public pressure on professionals in the field to compromise their professional practice in light of public prejudice or vested interest?
7. What does the history of the discipline tell you about the status of knowledge in the field? How old is the field? How common is controversy over fundamental terms, theories, and orientation?

Essential Idea: Many disciplines are not definitive in their pursuit of knowledge. As you learn a subject, it is important to understand both its strengths and limitations.

How To Ask Questions About Textbooks

(Answer as many of these questions as you can by examining your textbook. You may need help from your instructor on some of them).

1. If there are competing schools of thought within this field, what is the orientation of the textbook writer(s)? Do they highlight these competing schools and detail the implications of that debate?
2. Are there other books available that approach this field from a significantly different standpoint? If there are, how should we understand the orientation or bias of this textbook?
3. Would other experts in this field disagree with any of the answers given in this textbook to important questions? How would they disagree?
4. Are there books in other fields that deal with this same subject (from a different standpoint, perhaps)? To what extent are there conflicting views about this subject in light of these different standpoints?
5. To what extent does this textbook represent this field as a science? If so, do some experts in the field disagree with this representation? In what sense is it not a science?
6. To what extent do the questions asked in this textbook lead to definitive answers? Conversely, to what extent are questions in this textbook matters of (arguable) judgment? And does the textbook help you to distinguish between these very different types of questions?

Essential Idea: Not all textbooks are equal as to quality. As you read a textbook, it is important to understand its strengths and limitations.

Conclusion

To develop as thinkers, students need to become adept at questioning. They need to actively formulate questions as they study. They also need to recognize that some disciplines deal largely with definitive questions while others deal primarily with debatable questions or question requiring reasoned judgment. As instructors it is important that we ourselves recognize whether our field of study has largely divergent or convergent viewpoints, so that we can accurately represent these fields to our students.

{Information in this article is taken from Paul, R. & Elder, L. 2001, The Miniature Guide to How to Study and Learn, Dillon Beach, CA: Foundation For Critical Thinking.}

Critical Thinking: Teaching Students How to Study and Learn (Part Three)

In the previous two articles we introduced some of the intellectual skills, abilities, and dispositions essential to the development of the educated person as articulated in our Miniature Guide for Students on How to Study and Learn. All the ideas in this miniature guide are designed to help students think deeply through content and develop intellectually. In this article we focus on the analysis and evaluation of reasoning.


To analyze thinking,
we focus on its parts. In other words, we focus on the purpose of thinking, the questions the thinking is pursuing, the information being used, the assumptions and inferences being made, the concepts and point of view guiding the thinking, and its implications.

To evaluate or assess thinking, we apply intellectual standards to the parts of thinking, standards such as clarity, accuracy, relevance, logic, precision, justifiability, significance, depth, and breadth. For example, we ask whether the purpose and question are clear, the information relevant and accurate, the inferences and implications logical, the assumptions and concepts justifiable, the point of view relevant.

When students can analyze and assess reasoning, they have skills essential to the educated person. In this column, we provide templates for students to use in analyzing and assessing reasoning in written form, the reasoning, for example, embedded in an article, essay, chapter, or textbook. Each of the sections in this column is written in the form of directions for students.

How To Analyze The Logic of
An Article, Essay, or Chapter

One important skill for understanding an essay, article or chapter is through the analysis of the parts of the author’s reasoning. Once you have done this, you can then evaluate the author’s reasoning using intellectual standards. Here is a template to follow.


1) The main purpose of this article is ______________________. (Here you are trying to state as accurately as possible the author’s purpose for writing the article. What was the author trying to accomplish?)

2) The key question that the author is addressing is __________________________. (Your goal is to figure out the key question that was in the mind of the author when s/he wrote the article. In other words, What was the key question that the article addressed?)

3) The most important information in this article is ___________________________. (You want to identify the key information the author used, or presupposed, in the article to support his/her main arguments. Here you are looking for facts, experiences, data the author is using to support her/his conclusions).

4) The main inferences/conclusions in this article are ________________. (You want to identify the most important conclusions that the author comes to and presents in the article).

5) The key idea(s) we need to understand in this article is (are)_______________ . By these ideas the author means ________________________________. (To identify these ideas, ask yourself: What are the most important ideas that you would have to understand in order to understand the author’s line of reasoning? Then elaborate briefly what the author means by these ideas).

6) The main assumption(s) underlying the author’s thinking is (are)________ (Ask yourself: What is the author taking for granted (that might be questioned). The assumptions are generalizations that the author does not think s/he has to defend in the context of writing the article, and they are usually unstated. This is where the author’’s thinking logically begins).

7) If a) we take this line of reasoning seriously, the implications are ___________. (What consequences are likely to follow if people take the author’s line of reasoning seriously? Here you are to follow out the logical implications of the author’s position. You should include implications that the author states, if you believe them to be logical, but you should do your best thinking to determine what you think the implications are.) If b) we fail to take this line of reasoning seriously, the implications are _____________. (What consequences are likely to follow if people ignore the author’s reasoning?)

8) The main point(s) of view presented in this article is are)_____________________. (The main question you are trying to answer here is: What is the author looking at, and how is s/he seeing it? For example, in this mini-guide we are looking at “education” and seeing it “as involving the development of intellectual skills.” We are also looking at “learning” as “the responsibility of students.”)

If you truly understand these structures as they interrelate in an article, essay, or chapter, you should be able to empathically role-play the thinking of the author. Remember, these are the 8 basic structures that define all thinking. They are the essential element of thought.

How To Figure Out the Logic of A Textbook

Just as you can understand an essay, article or chapter is by analyzing the parts of the author’s reasoning, so can you figure out the system of interrelated ideas within a textbook by focusing on the parts of the author’s reasoning within the textbook. To understand the parts of the textbook author’’s reasoning, use this template:

The Logic of a Textbook


1) The main purpose of this textbook is _______________________.
(Here you are trying to determine the author’s purpose for writing the textbook. What was the author trying to accomplish?)

2) The key question(s) that the author is addressing in the textbook is ___________.
(You are trying to figure out the key question that was in the mind of the author when s/he wrote the textbook, in other words, What was the key question which the textbook answers? Here, you might identity the most broad question the textbook answers, along with the most important sub questions it focuses on.)

3) The most important kinds of information in this textbook are ________________. (You want to identify the types of information the author uses in the textbook to support his/her main arguments {e.g. research results, observations, examples, experience, etc.}).

4) The main inferences/conclusions in this textbook are________________(You want to identify the most important conclusions that the author comes to and presents in the textbook. Focus on this question: What are the most important conclusions that the author presents, conclusions that, if you understand them, shed important light on key beliefs in the field).

5) The key idea(s) we need to understand in this textbook is (are)_______________. By these ideas the author means ________________________________.
(To identify these ideas, ask yourself: What are the most important ideas that you would have to understand in order to understand the textbook? Then elaborate on precisely what the author means by these basic ideas. Begin with the most fundamental idea presented such as “science, biology, psychology, etc.” These can usually be found in the first chapter. Then identify the other significant concepts that are deeply tied into the most fundamental one).

6) The main assumption(s) underlying the author’s thinking is (are)_____________ (Ask yourself: What is the author taking for granted (that might be questioned)? The assumptions are sometimes generalizations that the author does not think s/he has to defend in the context of writing the textbook. The assumptions are sometimes stated in the first chapter as the key assumptions underlying the subject area).

7) a) If people take the textbook seriously, the implications are _______________.
(What consequences are likely to follow if readers take the textbook seriously? Here you are to follow out the logical implications of the information/ideas in the textbook. You should include implications that the author argues for, if you believe them to be well-founded, but you should do your best thinking to determine what you think the implications are.)

b) If people fail to take the textbook seriously, the implications are _____________. (What consequences are likely to follow if the author’s thinking is ignored in a situation when it is relevant?)

8) The main point(s) of view presented in this article is (are)_____________________ (The main question you are trying to answer here is: What is the author looking at, and how is s/he seeing it? For example, the author might be looking at “science” and seeing it as “the most effective tool for better understanding the physical world and how it operates.”)


How To Evaluate An Author’s Reasoning

Once you have accurately identified the parts, or elements, of an author’s reasoning you are then ready to assess those parts to determine the quality of the author’s reasoning. Use the following guides to do so:


1. Focusing on the author’’s Purpose: What is the purpose of the reasoner? Is the purpose well stated or clearly implied? Is it justifiable?

2. Focusing on the key Question which the written piece answers: Is the question at issue well stated (or clearly implied)? Is it clear and unbiased? Does the expression of the question do justice to the complexity of the matter at issue? Are the question and purpose directly relevant to each other?

3. Focusing on the most important Information presented by the author: Does the writer cite relevant evidence, experiences, and/or information essential to the issue? Is the information accurate and directly relevant to the question at issue? Does the writer address the complexities of the issue?

4. Focusing on the most fundamental Concepts that are at the heart of the author’’s reasoning: Does the writer clarify key ideas when necessary? Are the ideas used justifiably?

5. Focusing on the author’’s Assumptions: Does the writer show a sensitivity to what he or she is taking for granted or assuming? (Insofar as those assumptions might reasonably be questioned?) Or does the writer use questionable assumptions without addressing problems inherent in those assumptions?

6. Focusing on the most important Inferences or conclusions in the written piece: Do the inferences and conclusions made by the author clearly follow from the information relevant to the issue, or does the author jump to unjustifiable conclusions? Does the author consider alternative conclusions where the issue is complex? In other words, does the author use a sound line of reasoning to come to logical conclusions, or can you identify flaws in the reasoning somewhere?

7. Focusing on the author’’s Point of View: Does the author show a sensitivity to alternative relevant points of view or lines of reasoning? Does s/he consider and respond to objections framed from other relevant points of view?

8. Focusing on Implications: Does the writer display a sensitivity to the implications and consequences of the position s/he is taking?

Conclusion

In this article, we have provided three templates useful in helping students practice analyzing and assessing reasoning. When we ask students to read an article, a chapter in a textbook, or a textbook as a whole, we should provide structures that enable them to understand and evaluate its basic logic. The templates described in this column can be invaluable in doing just that. These templates, which are used by faculty in multiple disciplines, place the burden of thinking through the content on the student where it should be and can be used routinely throughout a course. When using them, we strongly recommend that faculty work through these templates themselves, so that they can better help students learn to analyze and assess the reasoning embedded in written material.

{Information in this article is taken from Paul, R. & Elder, L. 2001, The Miniature Guide to How to Study and Learn, Dillon Beach, CA: Foundation For Critical Thinking.}

Critical Thinking: Teaching Students How to Study and Learn (Part Two)


In part one of this article, we introduced some of the intellectual skills, abilities, and dispositions essential to the development of the educated person as articulated in our Miniature Guide for Students on How to Study and Learn. We provided eighteen ideas students need for becoming master students. In this article, we continue to highlight important ideas from the Miniature Guide for Students on How to Study and Learn. Specifically, we focus on three key ideas: the importance of ideas, or concepts in thinking, how to think within the ideas of a subject or discipline, and how to learn important ideas from textbooks. Each section in this article is written directly to students, with important implications for learning.

How To Understand Ideas

Ideas are to us like the air we breathe. We project them everywhere. Yet we rarely notice this. We use ideas to create our way of seeing things. What we experience we experience through ideas, often funneled into the categories of “good” and “evil.” We assume ourselves to be good. We assume our enemies to be evil. We select positive terms to cover up the “indefensible” things we do. We select negative terms to condemn even the good things our enemies do. We conceptualize things personally by means of experience unique to ourselves (often distorting the world to our advantage). We conceptualize things socially as a result of indoctrination or social conditioning (our allegiances presented, of course, in positive terms).

Ideas, then, are our paths to both reality and self-delusion. We don’t typically recognize ourselves as engaged in idea construction of any kind whether illuminating or distorting. In our everyday life we don’t experience ourselves shaping what we see and constructing the world to our advantage.

To the uncritical mind, it is as if people in the world came to us with our labels for them inherent in who they are. THEY are “terrorists.” WE are “freedom fighters.” All of us fall victims at times to an inevitable illusion of objectivity. Thus we see others not as like us in a common human nature, but as “friends” and “enemies,” and accordingly “good” or “bad.” Ideology, self-deception, and myth play a large part in our identity and how we think and judge. We apply ideas, however, as if we were simply neutral observers of reality. We often become self-righteous when challenged.

If you want to develop as a learner, you must come to recognize the ideas through which you see and experience the world. You must take explicit command of your thinking. You must become the master of your own ideas. You must learn how to think with alternative ideas, alternative “world views.” As general semanticists often say: “The word is not the thing! The word is not the thing!” If you are trapped in one set of concepts (ideas, words) then your thinking is trapped. Word and thing become one and the same in your minds. You are unable then to act as a truly free person.

Essential Idea: To understand our experience and the world itself, we must be able to think within alternative world-views. We must question our ideas. We must not confuse our words or ideas with things.

How To Control (& Not Be Controlled By) Ideas

The ideas we have formed in personal experience are often egocentric in nature. The ideas we inherit from social indoctrination are typically ethnocentric in nature. Both can limit our insight significantly. This is where mastery of academic subjects and of our native language comes into play. This is where education is supposed to empower us.

The ideas we learn from academic subjects and from the study of distinctions inherent in language use represent sources of ideas that can take us beyond our personal egocentrism and the social ideology in which we are otherwise typically entrapped. When we learn to think historically, sociologically, anthropologically, scientifically, and philosophically, we can come to see ignorance, prejudice, stereotypes, illusions, and biases in our personal thinking and in the thinking common in our society. Many, without such command, confuse very different things: for example, needing and wanting, having judgment and being judgmental, having information and gaining knowledge, being humble and being servile, being stubborn and having the courage of one’s convictions.

Command of distinctions such as these and those inherent in multiple disciplines can have a significant influence upon the way we shape our experience. If, for example, we see confuse ethics with arbitrary social conventions or religion or national law, we have no basis for understanding the true basis of universality in ethics: what does harm or good to humans and other sentient creatures.

When we develop our thinking, we go beneath the surface of ideas. Our personal experience is no longer “sacred.” We recognize our fallibility. We strive for ideas to broaden us and empower us as free individuals.

Essential Idea: There are at least four different sources for ideas: our personal experience, socialization, the academic subjects we study, and our native language (English, Spanish, etc.). To become truly educated, we must learn to monitor and evaluate our use of ideas from these domains. Only then can we learn how to control (and not be controlled) by ideas.


How To Think Within the Ideas of a Subject

Learning to think within the ideas of a subject is like learning to perform well in basketball, ballet, or on the piano. Thinking within the ideas of a subject at an advanced level without disciplined practice is as unnatural to the human mind as sitting down at a piano and spontaneously playing Chopin’s Polonaise.

Unfortunately, many classes do not highlight how to think within the ideas of the subject. Merely receiving lectures on the content of a subject will not teach you how to think within its ideas. You must therefore set out to discover how to think within biology, how to think within chemistry, how to think within economics, etc. You will not discover this thinking by cramming large masses of partially digested contents of a textbook or sets of lectures into your head. Here is what we recommend.

Recognize that you are seeking a new way to look at learning. Recognize that it will take time to become comfortable in this new perspective. Consider your task as a student to learn new ways to think. Stretching the mind to accommodate new ideas is crucial.

For example, if you are in a history course, your job is to learn how to think historically. Or, if you are in a writing class, your job is to learn to think like a skilled writer. Or, if you are in a Sociology, Psychology, Geography, Biology, Philosophy, or Chemistry class, you should be striving to think sociologically, psychologically, geographically, biologically, philosophically, or chemically. If you are in a Nursing, Engineering, or Architecture class, you should be attempting to think like a professional nurse, like an engineer, or like an architect. Your mind must stretch to be successful.

Recognize that there are key ideas behind the subject that give a unified meaning to it. Look up a variety of formulations of the essence of the subject (use dictionaries, textbooks, encyclopedias). Remember that you are looking for the ideas that give a unified meaning to the subject. What makes art, art? What makes science, science? What makes biology, biology? Try to find the common denominator of the various accounts. Ask your instructor for help.

Now relate every new idea (in the textbook or lectures) to the fundamental idea with which you have begun. The big idea with which you began should be in the background of all new ideas. Seek intuitive connections, connections that make complete sense to you.

Essential Idea: There are basic ideas that act as guide-posts to those thinking within a subject. Look for these basic ideas and stretch your mind to learn them. Weave everything else into them.


How to Learn Ideas From Textbooks

* All textbooks are organized by systems of ideas within them. Diagram the systems to help you begin to learn them. Notice yourself naming, identifying, connecting, distinguishing, and explaining things using ideas.
* Where we have knowledge, we have an organized technical vocabulary. Create a glossary of the most important ideas you learn in each subject you study.
* Your knowledge can be no stronger than the knowledge you have of ideas in a subject. Test yourself by trying to explain key ideas in non-technical language.
* All ideas must be understood in relation to contrasting ideas. Try naming and explaining the ideas opposite to key ideas you learn.
* All idea clusters must be understood as part of further such clusters. Take any important idea you learn; name the ideas that cluster around it.
* There are many domains of ideas: ethical, religious, cultural social, political, scientific, mathematical, etc. Name and explain a key idea in each domain.
* At the beginning of any class, try making a list of at least 25 ideas of the subject you want to learn. To do this you might read an introductory chapter from the textbook or an article on the subject from an encyclopedia. Then explain the list of ideas to a friend (State, Elaborate, Exemplify, and Illustrate each).
* As the course proceeds, add new ideas to the list and underline those ideas you are confident you can explain. Regularly translate chapter and section titles from the textbook into ideas. In addition, look for key ideas in every lecture you hear. Relate basic ideas to the basic theory the subject uses to solve problems. Master fundamental ideas and theories well. Do not move on until you do.

Essential Idea: One important way to think about what you are learning is by highlighting, diagramming, and explaining the ideas at the heart of each subject you study.

Conclusion

Understanding the power of ideas in human thought is critical to cultivating intellectual development. We cannot give academic content deep and significant meaning, nor effectively use it in our lives, if we are unable to actively bring the concepts embedded in that content into our thinking. We cannot command the quality of our own lives if we cannot recognize the role of ideas in our lives. We cannot be ethical persons if we cannot recognize how and when we manipulate others---or they manipulate us--- through misleading or false ideas. In short, the development of the educated mind presupposes insightful understanding of the crucial role of concepts and ideas in human life.

{Information in this article is taken from Paul, R. & Elder, L. 2001, The Miniature Guide to How to Study and Learn, Dillon Beach, CA: Foundation For Critical Thinking.}

ALLthinking occurs within, and across, disciplines and domains of knowledge and experience, yet few students learn how to think well within those domains. Despite having taken many classes, few are able to think biologically, chemically, geographically, sociologically, anthropologically, historically, artistically, ethically, or philosophically. Students study literature, but do not think in a literary way as a result. They study poetry, but do not think poetically. They do not know how to think like a reader when reading, nor how to think like a writer while writing, nor how to think like a listener while listening. Consequently they are poor readers, writers, and listeners. They use words and ideas, but do not know how to think ideas through, and internalize foundational meanings. They take classes but cannot make connections between the logic of a discipline and what is important in life. Even the best students often have these deficiencies.

To study well and learn any subject is to learn how to think with discipline within that subject. It is to learn to think within its logic, to:

* raise vital questions and problems within it, formulating them clearly and precisely
* gather and assess information, using ideas to interpret that information insightfully
* come to well-reasoned conclusions and solutions, testing them against relevant criteria and standards
* adopt the point of view of the discipline, recognizing and assessing, as needs be, its assumptions, implications, and practical consequences
* communicate effectively with others using the language of the discipline and that of educated public discourse
* relate what one is learning in the subject to other subjects and to what is significant in human life

To become a skilled learner is to become a self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinker, who has given assent to rigorous standards of thought and mindful command of their use. Skilled learning of a discipline requires that one respect the power of it, as well as its, and one’s own, historical and human limitations.

Because we recognize the fact that students generally lack the intellectual skills and discipline to learn independently and deeply, we have designed a Miniature Guide for Students on How to Study and Learn. Its goal is to foster lifelong learning and the traditional ideal of a liberally educated mind: a mind that questions, probes, and masters a variety of forms of knowledge, through command of itself, intellectual perseverance, and the tools of learning. It respects equally the traditions of John Henry Newman, Bertrand Russell, and Albert Einstein. It emphasizes that all bona fide fields of study share common intellectual structures and standards of reasonability. It emphasizes that foundational intellectual structures and standards of reasonability are worth learning explicitly and in themselves, since they help us more deeply interconnect and understand all that we learn. This miniature guide also emphasizes foundational intellectual dispositions and values that define the traits of the disciplined thinker in all fields: intellectual autonomy, intellectual humility, intellectual integrity, intellectual perseverance, intellectual empathy, confidence in reason, and fair-mindedness.

In this column, and the next few columns, we will focus on the ideas highlighted in this miniature guide – for we believe they are essential to the cultivation of the educated mind.

The miniature guide begins with the following eighteen ideas for becoming a master student:

Idea #1: Make sure you thoroughly understand the requirements of each class, how it will be taught and what will be expected of you. Ask questions about the grading policies and for advice on how best to prepare for class.

Idea # 2: Become an active learner. Be prepared to work ideas into your thinking by active reading, writing, speaking, and listening.

Idea # 3: Think of each subject you study as a form of thinking (If you are in a history class, your goal should be to think historically; in a chemistry class to think chemically; etc…)

Idea # 4: Become a questioner. Engage yourself in lectures and discussions by asking questions. If you don’t ask questions, you will probably not discover what you do and do not know.

Idea # 5: Look for interconnections. The content in every class is always a SYSTEM of interconnected ideas, never a random list of things to memorize. Don’t memorize like a parrot. Study like a detective, always relating new learning to previous learning.

Idea # 6: Think of your instructor as your coach. Think of yourself as a team member trying to practice the thinking exemplified by your instructor. For example, in an algebra class, think of yourself as going out for the algebra team and your teacher as demonstrating how to prepare for the games (tests).

Idea # 7: Think about the textbook as the thinking of the author. Your job is to think the thinking of the author. For example, role-play the author frequently. Explain the main points of the text to another student, as if you were the author.

Ideal # 8: Consider class time as a time in which you PRACTICE thinking (within the subject) using the fundamental concepts and principles of the course. Don’t sit back passively, waiting for knowledge to fall into your head like rain into a rain barrel. It won’t.

Idea # 9: Relate content whenever possible to issues and problems and practical situations in your life. If you can’t connect it to your life, you don’t know it.

Idea # 10: Figure out what study and learning skills you are not good at. Practice those skills whenever possible. Recognizing and correcting your weaknesses is a strength.

Idea # 11: Frequently ask yourself: “Can I explain this to someone not in class?” (If not, then you haven’t learned it well enough.)

Idea # 12: Seek to find the key concept of the course during the first couple of class meetings. For example, in a Biology course, try explaining what biology is in your own words? Then relate that definition to each segment of what you learn afterward. Fundamental ideas are the basis for all others.

Idea # 13: Routinely ask questions to fill in the missing pieces in your learning. Can you elaborate further on this? Can you give an example of that? If you don’t have examples, you are not connecting what you are learning to your life.

Idea # 14: Test yourself before you come to class by trying to summarize, orally or in writing, the main points of the previous class meeting. If you cannot summarize main points, you haven’t learned them.

Idea # 15: Learn to test your thinking using intellectual standards? “Am I being clear? Accurate? Precise? Relevant? Logical? Am I looking for what is most significant?”

Idea # 16: Use writing as a way to learn by writing summaries in your own words of important points from the textbook or other reading material. Make up test questions. Write out answers to your own questions.

Idea # 17: Frequently evaluate your listening. Are you actively listening for main points? Can you summarize what your instructor is saying in your own words? Can you elaborate what is meant by key terms?

Idea # 18: Frequently evaluate your reading. Are you reading the textbook actively? Are you asking questions as you read? Can you distinguish what you understand from what you don’t?

Consider, for a moment, idea#12: Seek to find the key concept of the course during the first couple of class meetings. For example, in a Biology course, try explaining what biology is in your own words. Then relate that definition to each segment of what you learn afterward. Fundamental ideas are the basis for all others.

To help students internalize this idea, we help them identify the underlying idea for the subjects they study, through the following elaboration:

Virtually all courses have some inherent unity which, when understood, ties all the learning of the course together (like a tapestry). This unity is typically found in foundational ideas that define the subject and its goals. Below are suggestions for beginning to understand the foundational ideas behind some of the major disciplines. Use them to begin to think within the subjects. However, you must make sure you can state, elaborate, exemplify, and illustrate each of these ideas IN YOUR OWN WORDS with your own examples and illustrations. Otherwise, you are merely mouthing words that have no definite meaning in your mind.

* Mathematics as learning to think quantitatively
* Economics as the study of “who gets what, when, & how”
* Algebra as arithmetic with unknowns
* Sociology as the study of human conformity to group norms
* Anthropology as the physical and historical study of humans in light of their evolution from non-cultural into cultural animals
* Physics as the study of mass and energy and their interaction
* Chemistry as the study of elementary substances & the manner in which they react with each other
* Philosophy as the study of ultimate questions with a view to living an examined life
* Biochemistry as the chemistry of life processes in plants & animals
* Science as the attempt to learn through quantifiable observations and controlled experimentation
* Theology as the study of theories of spiritual reality
* Ethics as the study of principles to be used in contributing to the good of, & avoiding unnecessary harm to, humans and other sentient creatures
* Art as the application of skill and judgment to matters of taste and beauty (as in poetry, music, painting, dance, drama, sculpture, or architecture)
* Professions as ways of earning a living through the skilled and artful use of knowledge in everyday life


We then provide students with this essential Idea: When beginning to learn a subject, It is helpful to formulate an organizing idea to guide your thinking.

Our hope is that students begin to think critically within the subjects they study. To do this, they need the intellectual skills and discipline essential to the educated mind.

{Information in this article is taken from Paul, R. & Elder, L. 2001, The Miniature Guide to How to Study and Learn, Dillon Beach, CA: Foundation For Critical Thinking.}