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Smart Thinking: Skills for Critical Understanding and Writing

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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.

206 pages, Paperback

First published January 6, 2005

61 people are currently reading
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About the author

Matthew Allen

6 books9 followers

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5 stars
27 (23%)
4 stars
28 (24%)
3 stars
39 (33%)
2 stars
12 (10%)
1 star
9 (7%)
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
Profile Image for Emma.
387 reviews23 followers
April 20, 2011
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.
Profile Image for Monica Barratt.
13 reviews18 followers
March 11, 2011
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!
16 reviews
January 11, 2022
The book is about how to think properly. It explains the process of thinking in a very broad aspect which is very fundamental.
Profile Image for Michael Chavinda.
3 reviews23 followers
June 27, 2014
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.
Profile Image for YMIR.
8 reviews2 followers
December 2, 2019
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!
38 reviews2 followers
December 28, 2020
Logic is must read for everone and this book is a very good start for it.
Profile Image for sAmAnE.
1,361 reviews155 followers
December 22, 2023
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.
Profile Image for Sofia Rivera.
16 reviews
March 9, 2025
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.
4 reviews
October 6, 2019
Me parece que este libro puede ser útil para un curso sobre metodología de investigación. No me parece muy técnico, pero se lee bien.
Profile Image for Idir Yacine.
53 reviews2 followers
June 13, 2022
Too much prejudice and political agendas that ruined the book .It's still worth a quick read mostly chapters 4 ,7,8
Profile Image for Arjun.
608 reviews32 followers
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