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This review has been accessed times since January 23, 2006

Allen, Matthew. (2004). Smart thinking: skills for critical understanding and writing. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.

Pp. xi + 193
$19.95   ISBN 0-19-551733- 4

Reviewed by Jill L. Woolums
University of California, Berkeley

January 23, 2006

Written for the student or teacher of critical thinking Smart Thinking is a guidebook or textbook on the structure and practical use of critical thinking. It also serves as a reference book by providing a glossary of key terms and concepts, by providing a bibliography of books and sources on knowledge, reasoning, writing and communicating, and by outlining important critical thinking skills. As a librarian and instructor of Internet research skills, I found it also valuable for teachers and students of information literacy.

A knowledgeable academic, author Matthew Allen is a university instructor of critical thinking. He coordinates the Internet Studies Program and is the Association Dean of Teaching and Learning and Humanities at Australia’s Curtin University of Technology.

Allen writes in a clear, straightforward, interactive style suitable for a Web-savvy audience. As he states in the Preface, Allen writes with a bias that expresses greater interest in the communication and contextual issues involved in learning and applying critical thinking skills, which he believes are as or more important than abstract, logical reasoning skills. The book focuses on developing one’s own reasoning ability rather than relying on others’ arguments.

The Second Edition goes beyond the First Edition by expanding on more complicated reasoning and research skills and by providing more models and examples. The book builds sequentially chapter by chapter, providing narrative, lecture-like sections, explanations and exercises. Chapters are well-organized, providing an introduction to key concepts, explanations, concrete examples, diagrams when appropriate (as in the chapter on casting), and several types of interactive exercises for students to test their learning and apply concepts to individual issues.

Exercises are found at the end of each chapter. Some exercises stimulate smart thinking by asking readers to apply the concepts of the chapter to key issues in their lives. For these questions, there are neither right nor wrong answers. Answers instead reflect smart thinking skills, incorporating the need to ask smart questions. Other exercises require analytical problem-solving, reading comprehension and synthesis of concepts in the planning of an essay or report. Particularly helpful are the concept checks at the end of the chapters.

The book is organized, as one would hope, logically. Chapter One defines smart thinking, explains how to study smart thinking, and tells why we need to think smart. Chapters Two through Four breakdown the elements of reasoning: claims, links, dependent premises. Chapters Five and Six demonstrate how to evaluate well-formed and well-founded claims and how to determine the quality of reasoning according to relevance, use of premises, strength of support and authority. Chapter Seven distinguishes deductive and inductive reasoning, categorical and propositional logic and explains causal reasoning, reasoning from generalization, reasoning from specific cases, reasoning from analogy, and reasoning from terms. Chapter Eight, one of the best in the book, applies smart thinking to the research process and information seeking. The final two chapters demonstrate how to use all of the skills outlined and explained in the previous chapters to plan and create the analytical structure for a report. The appendices provide some of the most useful and practical information in the book. The Glossary of Key Terms and Concepts provides a ready reference of definitions for clarification. The annotated bibliography found in Further Reading enables readers to pursue the author’s perspective on critical thinking and to find other guidebooks for skill development in both reasoning and writing.

A primary weakness of the book is linked to one of its strengths. While it purports to be a guide for students, the book is somewhat cumbersome in its structure and neglects to clearly connect some of the skills described with the ways they can be directly useful to students. Finally, at the end of the book, Allen attaches a four page Guide to Important Skills. The general and specific questions asked, such as “What do I need to do to be convincing in my reports, essays, and presentations?” would have had significantly greater impact and aroused more interest in explanations, had they been woven into the chapters that provide the answers. The questions in Guide to Important Skills are clear and relevant to students’ real academic needs. They are in fact a primary motive for reading the book. Therefore, had they been better integrated into the text, they may have made it more readable and user-friendly. In particular, had they been emphasized in the introductions to each relevant chapter and reflected in the reviews, they would have helped the author achieve his intent of linking the study of critical thinking to communication and contextual issues. They would thereby provide an incentive to persevere through the exercises in analytical logic.

The Guide to Important Skills, while an excellent addition to the book, needs further expansion. Similarly, the final two chapters on how to use all the skills Allen outlines in the creation of a new report could have been further developed to make this a better textbook not only for developing comprehension through critical thinking, but also for developing superior writing skills. Nevertheless, these final chapters are an excellent beginning to understanding what goes into a carefully thought out and planned research paper. The author does provide references for further reading on the subject of writing in the Further Reading appendix.

One piece of back matter missing from the book is an index. While the table of contents and chapter outline is very clear, an index would be especially helpful, especially if the book is to be used as a textbook for a critical thinking or information literacy class. An index is an important study tool.

Smart Thinking, in Chapter One, does briefly address the “Why” of critical thinking, or the motivation for learning these skills. Allen acknowledges that for students, smart thinking helps one study. For adults in general, smart thinking helps us perform well at work, makes us better decision-makers, and makes us active community members. However, these statements are general and need greater specificity. The Guide to Important Skills is a quick brushstroke to achieve a little specificity and functions more as an afterthought.

Smart Thinking does provide noteworthy substance on the nature of critical thinking. Allen explains in depth what he considers to be the four key elements of smart thinking; i.e., (1) considering issues in depth and with breadth; (2) critically assessing information, without taking anything for granted or making easy assumptions about the truth of claims or the interrelationships of claims; (3) relating texts to the contexts within which they are produced, presented or used; and (4) seeing that knowledge and reasoning are two perspectives of one concept: that ideas and objects are understood in relation to other ideas and objects.

Allen says “Smart thinking is about reasoning, which is about the use and communication of knowledge….once you understand that knowledge consists of innumerable interrelations between small bits of information then you will be able to find, shape, and use knowledge for yourself….It is always a social act…. The connections and relations between ideas, events, proposals and so on only become meaningful in the context of how, when, where, and why they are communicated with others.” (p. 5)

Allen teaches that the key skill needed to be an effective and thoughtful thinker who is able to engage with and understand the world is not an ability to find the answers. It is the ability to ask the right questions. This premise weaves throughout the book, both in its design and its content.

As a research librarian and college instructor, I particularly appreciated Chapter Eight, where Allen applies his ideas about research, reasoning and analysis to the finding of information. He describes the finding of information as a reasoning process, stressing that information and information sources are understood by where we find them, how they relate to other information, how they are classified, and how they are to be used. Information extracted from a source must be critically and appropriately used within a new document. These skills are increasingly important in developing the information literacy and Internet research abilities necessary for performing research in a digital environment. In the print and library environment, the presence of editors and knowledgeable selectors has meant that information found could more likely be relied upon for credibility. In the Internet environment where anything can be published by anyone with or without credentials, critical evaluation is a task the user must perform for him/herself with little help from experts. The ability to ask appropriate questions about the who, what, where, when, and why of the information context, and the ability to recognize claims, arguments, explanations, assumptions, and values are critical thinking skills demanded of the information literate researcher as well as writer.

ACRL (American College & Research Libraries) has set forth five information literacy competency standards for higher education. These standards specify the performance indicators and achievement outcomes necessary to be a skilled, information literate researcher in the digital age. Allen’s Smart Thinking supports all of these standards. His text is therefore particularly useful as a reference or guidebook for information literacy instructors who are constructing curriculum materials to teach students how to evaluate and critique information sources. The ACRL standards are as follows:

Standard One. The information literate student determines the nature and extent of the information needed. This includes (1) defining and articulating the need for information; (2) identifying a variety of types and formats of potential sources; (3) considers the costs and benefits of acquiring information; (4) reevaluates the nature and extent of the information need.

Allen adds an insight relevant to Standard One. “Critical academic work about any topic is designed, first and foremost, to discover the right questions to ask; the answers come later, once those questions have been determined….Thinking first about questions is much smarter than trying to think first about answers.” (p. 104) Allen explains that the information need to which ACRL refers is essentially the need to ask smart questions. To ask smart questions is to engage in the process of reasoning and to understand the links between claims. Questions help the researcher to clarify and focus in on particular aspects of a topic and to establish parameters for analysis. Allen elaborates that this process determines “what we do consider and what we do not consider; what broadly defined bodies of knowledge we will and will not call upon; what definitions of terms we will use within our reasoning; and what methods of investigation we will use.” (p.105). Defining a topic is a process of refining our focus that, in turn, provides a level of precision that enables one to efficiently and effectively search.

Standard Two. The information literate student accesses needed information effectively and efficiently. This includes (1) selecting the most appropriate investigative methods of information retrieval systems for accessing the needed information; (2) constructs and implements effectively-designed search strategies; (3) retrieves information online or in person using a variety of methods; (4) refines the search strategy as necessary; (5) extracts, records, and manages the information and its sources.

Allen offers smart thinking tips to enhance the development of a search strategy.

He stresses that information is often understood by where we find it and by how it is organized. Information is organized into monographs, periodicals, web sites, email lists, reference books, etc. These formats organize knowledge and make it accessible. The researcher needs to recognize that these formats do not make the information “analytical, sensible or useable” (p. 106). They do, however, imply that certain critical judgments have been made about the value and reliability of the information found there. For example, peer-reviewed journals are weighted more heavily than popular magazines. Researchers must also distinguish between direct or primary sources and indirect or secondary sources. Allen comments: “Sometimes we will want to make claims in our reasoning that convey information in the claims themselves. And sometimes we will want to make claims about the fact that a certain type of claim, or group of claims, has been made by others. Developing the latter type of writing is essential in good critical work and , thus, requires you to develop skills in knowing about sources of knowledge.” (p.115).

Standard Three. The information literate student evaluates information and its sources critically and incorporates selected information into his/her knowledge base and value system. This includes: (1) summarizing the main ideas to be extracted from the information gathered; (2) articulates and applies initial criteria for evaluating both the information and its sources; (3) synthesizes main ideas to construct new concepts; (4) compares new knowledge with prior knowledge to determine the value added, contradictions, or other unique characteristics of the information; (5) determines whether the new knowledge has an impact on the individual’s value system and takes steps to reconcile differences; (6) validates understanding and interpretation through discourse with others, including subject-experts and/or practitioners; (7) determines whether the initial query should be revised.

Allen’s ­Smart Thinking is especially valuable in developing the evaluative skills required by Standard Three. In chapters Two through Seven, he describes in detail how to understand language, how to see claims and the links between claims in written communication, how to assess the analytical structure of reasoning through the use of casting, how to recognize dependent premises, and how to rank claims and the links between claims in terms of effectiveness, relevance, and authority. He distinguishes deductive from inductive reasoning, and categorical from propositional logic. He considers types of arguments containing elements of reasoning from causes, specific cases, terms, generalizations, and analogies. All of these skills sharpen the information literate student’s skills in critical evaluation of information in all formats and containing any kind of content. Chapters Two through Seven are useful in the instruction of critical thinking in the context of information retrieval from online, or for that matter any, sources.

Standard Four. The information literate student, individually or as a member of a group, uses information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose. This includes: (1) applying new and prior information to the planning and creation of a particular product or performance; (2) revising the development process for the product or performance; (3) communicating the product or performance effectively to others.

Chapters Nine and Ten of Smart Thinking address synthesizing information into a planned report. Allen focuses primarily on the initial planning of a written document, with emphasis on the key analytical questions to ask before developing a structure for a narrative. He suggests that the same skills used to analyze and critically assess the works of others may be employed successfully when applied to outlining a written piece that incorporates understanding gained from such analyses and assessments. Allen offers: “The key advantage of the analytical structure format is that it lays out, in advance of writing or presentation, the structure of key claims and the links between them in a way that is driven by the analysis--the reasoning--rather than by the way we will present the argument or explanation.” (p.132). Smart Thinking provides techniques and exercises to enable a student achieve ACRL’s Standard Four.

Standard Five. The information literate student understands many of the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information and accesses and uses information ethically and legally. This includes: (1) understanding many of the ethical, legal and socio-economic issues surrounding information and information technology; (2) following laws, regulations, institutional policies, and etiquette related to the access and use of information; (3) acknowledging the use of information (via citation) in communicating the product or performance.

Smart Thinking is a manual for learning how to critically assess information within its context. The techniques and exercises throughout the book aim at developing skills to enable students to extrapolate and evaluate information and knowledge in the works of others and to incorporate and create information and knowledge in their own work. Allen clarifies how one’s critical assessment of others’ works and incorporating citations to those works, strengthens one’s research contribution. Plagiarism or other illegal ways of misusing information are entirely contrary to his thesis. If Allen’s work is to be seriously considered and believed, it provides a rationale and an incentive for eliminating both negligence in thinking and temptation to commit illegal acts with respect to the misuse of information and knowledge. In Chapter Ten, to further emphasize this point, Allen provides for review a sample text, appropriately entitled, “The Value of Referencing”. The text demonstrates and explains how citation strengthens the credibility a written document.

Allen has done a commendable job of updating the definition of what should be considered critical thinking, especially within a digital environment. He takes the process beyond abstract logical thinking to reasoning as applied to the whole environment of communication, knowledge and information seeking. Smart Thinking is useful as a reference book as well as a text for the instruction of critical thinking in information age. Smart Thinking is particularly valuable for librarians and instructors charged with the task of teaching information literacy skills to college students.

About the Reviewer

Jill L. Woolums, M.L.I.S, is a librarian at the Education Psychology Library, University of California, Berkeley and an instructor of Internet research at Ohlone College. She has taught college level research and writing classes, has authored articles, and possesses a master’s degree in English from Mills College.

Copyright is retained by the first or sole author, who grants right of first publication to the Education Review.

Editors: Gene V Glass, Kate Corby, Gustavo Fischman

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