Asking the right questions : a guide to critical thinking / M. Neil Browne, Stuart M. Keeley.

"International edition"--Cover.

Includes index.

claims--Sources of evidence--Intuition as evidence--Personal experience as evidence--Case examples as evidence--Testimonials as evidence--Appeals to authority as evidence--Problems with citers citing other citers--Using this critical question--Evidence and your writing and speaking--Anticipating critical readers--Determining whether you need more evidence--Your academic writing and evidence--Practice exercises--Sample responses--8. How good is the evidence: PersonalObservation, Research Studies, and Analogies?:- Personal observation as evidence--Research studies as evidence--Problems with research findings--Generalizing from the research sample--Biased surveys and questionnaires--Critical evaluation of a research-based arguement--Anologies as evidence--Identifying and comprehending analogies--Evaluating anologies--Using evidence in your own writing--Research and the internet--Practice exercises--Sample responses--9. Are There Rival Causes?:- When to look for rival causes--The pervasiveness of rival causes--Detecting rival causes--The cause or A cause--Rival causes for differences between groups--Confusing causation with association--Confusing after this with because of this--Explaining individual events or acts--Evaluating rival causes--Rival causes and your own communication--Exploring potential causes--Narrowing down your list of potential causes--Practice exercises--Sample responses--10. Are the Statistics Deceptive?- Unknowable and biased statistics--Confusing averages--Concluding one thing, proving another--Deceiving by omitting information--Risk statistics and omitted information--Using statistics in your writing--Practice exercises--Sample responses--11. What Significant Information is Omitted?:- The benefits of detecting omitted information--The certainty of incomplete reasoning--Questions that identify omitted information--The importance of the negative view--Omitted information that remains missing--Missing information in your own arguments--Using this critical question--Practice Exercises--Sample responses--12. What Reasonable Conclusions Are Possible?:- Assumptions and multiple conclusions--Dichotomous thinking: impediment to considering multiple conclusions--Two sides or many?--Searching for multiple conclusions--Productivity of if-clauses--Alternative solutions as conclusions--The Liberating effect of recognizing alternative conclusions--All conclusions re not created equal--Summary--Practice exercises--Sample responses--Final word.

1.The benefit and manner of asking the right questions:- Introduction--Critical thinking to the rescue--The sponge and panning for Gold: Alternative thinking styles--An example of the panning-for-gold approach--The Myth of the right answer--The usefulness of asking the question: Who Cares?--Weak-sense and strong-sense critical thinking--The satisfaction of panning for gold--The importance of Practice--The right questions--Critical thinking is a social activity--Values and other people--Primary values of a critical thinker--Thinking and feelings--Keeping the conversation going--Creating a friendly environment for communication--Wishful thinking: Perhaps the biggest single obstacle to critical thinking--2. What Are The Issue and The Conclusion:- Kinds of issues--Searching for the issue--Searching for the Author\'s or Speaker\'s conclusion--Using this critical question--Clues to discovery: How to find the conclusion--Critical thinking and your own writing and speaking--Narrowing your issue prior to writing--Cluing your reader into your conclusion--Practice exercises--Sample responses--3. What are the reasons?--Initiating the questioning process--Words that identify reasons--Kinds of reasons--Keeping the reasons and conclusions straight--Using the critical question--Reasons first, then conclusions--Critical thinking and your own writing and speaking--Exploring possible reasons before reaching a conclusion--Identify major publications that cover your issue--Helping your readers identify your reasons--Practice exercises--Sample responses--4. What Words or Phrases Are Ambiguous?:- The confusing flexibility of words--Locating key terms and phrases--Checking for Ambiguity--Using this critical question--Determining Ambiguity--Context and ambiguity--Using this critical question--Ambiguity, definitions, and the dictionary--Ambiguity and loaded language--Limits of your responsibility to clarify ambiguity--Ambiguity and your own writing and speaking--Keeping your eye out for ambiguity--Practice exercises--Sample responses--5. What are the value and descriptive assumptions?:- General guide for identifying assumptions--Value conflicts and assumptions--From values to value assumptions--Typical value conflicts--The communicator\'s background as a clue to value assumptions--Consequences as clues to value assumptions--More hints for finding value assumptions--Finding value assumptions on your own--Using this critical question--Values and relativism--Identifying and evaluating Descriptive assumptions--Illustrating descriptive assumptions--Clues for locating assumptions--Avoiding analysis of trivial assumptions--Assumptions and your own writing and speaking--Practice exercises--Sample responses--6. Are there any fallacies in the reasoning:- A questioning approach to finding reasoning fallacies--Evaluating assumptions as a starting point--Discovering other common reasoning fallacies--Looking for diversions--Sleight of hand: begging the question--Using this critical question--Summary of reasoning errors--Expanding your knowledge of fallacies--Fallacies and your own writing and speaking--Practice exercises--Sample responses--7. How good is the evidence: Intuition, Pesonal Experience, Case Examples, Testimonials, and appeals to authority?:- The need for evidence--Locating factual