Smart Thinking: Skills for Critical Understanding and Writing

by Matthew Allen

Smart Skills for Critical Understanding and Writing 2E is a practical step-by-step guide to improving skills in analysis, critical thinking, and the effective communication of arguments and explanations. The book combines an accessible and straightforward style, with a strong
foundation of knowledge. The text treats reasoning as an aspect of communication, not an abstract exercise in logic. The book not only provides detailed advice on how to practise analytical skills, but also demonstrates how these skills can be used in research and writing. In particular, it
emphasises how to develop arguments that are coherent and that take account of their audience and context.

Genres: Nonfiction, Writing, Reference, Psychology, Self Help, Ebooks, Productivity

206 pages, Paperback

First published January 6, 2005

Reviews

[Emma]

This book was one of the textbooks we were 'recommended' to buy for our Reasoning and Communication unit at university. I wanted to add this to my goodreads because

a) I read the whole thing back to front
and
b) I think some people would read it without having to as a way to expand on their critical thinking skills.

First off, it's a valid subject, but the author approached it in a way that took something seemingly easy and made it into this complex scientific method. I found some chapters interesting and the chapters with all the diagrams and maps to be quite tedious.

However, it is completely valid in helping to form arguments hence I felt I should add it to the collection.

[Monica Barratt]

If you are writing a thesis, I highly recommend reading this book. Matt Allen breaks down the logic of argument in text and provides a framework to assist people to identify arguments in other people's work and create their own arguments. This is one of the top recommendations I can make to PhD students - wish I'd read it and re-read it sooner!

[druger2006]

Useless piece of writing(((

[Ghassan Samaha]

Artifical Intelligence

[Aditya Prakash]

The book is about how to think properly. It explains the process of thinking in a very broad aspect which is very fundamental.

[Michael Chavinda]

Very helpful book if read in conjunction with a more essay-based book. It has really helped me with casting reasoning and thinking about my own writing. Not a good book to learn the nuances of language and stuff but it doesn't purport to be. I'll be reading it again soon.

[YMIR]

Very informative. I mean, too informative. More than enough. Great as a course book for a critical thinking class, and the exercises are very good - if you’re patient to finish them all!

[Zaid]

Logic is must read for everone and this book is a very good start for it.

[sAmAnE]

کتاب تفکر هوشمندانه
Smart Thinking
مهارت های فهم و نگارش نقادانه.
.

تفکر نقاد چیزی است آموختنی، و مهارت یافتن در آن بسیار تمرین می‌خواهد.
برای رسیدن به چنین بینشی نیازمند به تفکر هوشمندانه است.
تفکر هوشمندانه یعنی آگاهی از اینکه چگونه انگاره‌های اصلی‌تان را بپرورانید و آن‌ها را تبیین کنید. طرحی بیندیشید برای انتقال این انگاره‌های به شکلی واضح و درک شدنی...
تفکر هوشمندانه به شما کمک می‌کند تا بیاموزید. تمام فعالیت‌های آموزشی نستلزم کاربست استدلال است و در این کتاب به استدلال و غهم و درک محتواها و طی کردن مسیر استدلال می‌پردازد، چرا که استدلال کردن هم مهارت است و مهارت‌ها با تمرین بهتر می‌شوند.
تفکر نقادانه نگرش است با نگاهی که دید مخاطب آن نقادانه است.

[Sofia Rivera]

Me ayudó a poder crear mejores enlaces a mis argumentos, o por lo menos esclareció ese camino que estaba nublado para mí. Da consejos mayormente para temas académicos y no socialmente aplicables, pero igual; es un libro de gran utilidad que todo estudiante de nivel superior, si es antes mejor, debería tomar en cuenta para no caer en la mediocridad con sus sustentos argumentativos en el ámbito estudiantil y al momento de redactar ensayos de investigación.

[Pedro Garrido Vega]

Me parece que este libro puede ser útil para un curso sobre metodología de investigación. No me parece muy técnico, pero se lee bien.

[Zarine Ahmed]

It was okay. Good methods were described in smart thinking!

[Idir Yacine]

Too much prejudice and political agendas that ruined the book .It's still worth a quick read mostly chapters 4 ,7,8

[Arjun]

Bookmark...
Chapter 2

[Hasina]

Brilliant!

[Agustinus Wibowo]

good guide for writers to logical and systematical reasoning.

[Menglong Youk]

3.5 stars