Critical Thinking at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Lesson 4 & 5

1. Critical thinking
James Powell
IM / TMA
HvA University of Applied Sciences, Amsterdam
j.r.powell@hva.nl

2. Prove it!
Identifying valuable and
invaluable sources of
information and research
Think for a moment...
Where do you get
your information?

3. Friends Teachers
Colleagues
Newspapers
Google
Where does my
Parents knowledge Blogs
from?
Books
Television
Wikipedia
Libraries

4. Good? Bad?
Newspapers Colleagues
Television Wikipedia
Where does my
Teachers Blogs
knowledge
Parents from? Friends
Libraries Google
Books

5. There’s no such thing as
a bad source of information...

6. The problems arise when
1.The source doesn’t support the purpose
2. The sources are de-contextualised.
We’ll look at source and purpose next week
when we take a look at your own projects.
For now let’s discuss...

7. 2. Source and context
“The Google Generation”

8. TIME
HOW DO I ESTABLISH
PLACE
CONTEXT?
T H R O U G H A CON MOTIVATION
SIDER ATION OF THE
P A R A M E T E RS HISTORY
?
OTHER
VOICES

9. a shopkeeper
my mum a buddhist
a child
a website
a parameter
a news report
The Truth
a motive
a welshman
a historical factor
a current factor her friend
Obama

10. The Truth Have I missed anything?

11. 1. Source and purpose

12. What is your purpose?
Get together with your group and sit together with another group.
Give them your research question and a copy of your sources.Use the handout matrix
to evaluate the extent to which the sources support the purpose of the research.

13. What is your purpose?
Research and sources: questions to
ask yourselves:
1.How reliable is this source?
2.Are the examples used truly
representative?
3.Are the examples recent enough?
4.Do the findings contradict other
evidence?
5.What is the author’s motive?
6.Is the author / commentator an
authority on this subject?
7.Is the publication recognised as an
authority? If not, is that important in
relation to your research?

14. Referencing and footnotes
It is expected that you will reference
sources consistently, and we are
using the Harvard system on this
course. Which is
In the body: (Mouse, M., 2010, p21)
Under ‘Bibliography’ at the end:
Mouse, M., (2010) How to be a
mouse, in ‘It’s a Mouse’s Life’, Walt
Disney Press, California
Same structure for websites plus:
http://www.example.com (accessed

15. Referencing and footnotes
In the event that you find that there is
either some explanation needed, or
you want to invite the reader to look at
something that is relevant to, but
beyond the scope of the research,
use footnotes[1]
[1] Note: Don’t use footnotes for references, or vice versa. It
gets confusing, it undermines the validity of your research,
and annoys people who are trying to use your research for
further projects!
.

16. Next week
Introductions &
conclusions
A chance to ask any
final questions and
check any last minute
requirements for the
mid-term presentation
Question for the week: Is this photo inappropriate?