Analytical Thinking

When you analyze something, you break into down into its main parts. If you were to analyze Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, you could break it into Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor. Or into groups of students based on their year of study. Even towers, dungeons, and greenhouses.

Then, you take those main parts and ask yourself… “What is this telling me?”

Try employing analytical thinking in your textbook readings. What are the main ideas of the chapter? What are the important points and how do they relate to each other and to the textbook as a whole? You are not concerned with background material or interesting facts.

Questions to ask:

• What are the main points?
• What are the important parts?
• What are the key issues?
• What is the major purpose?
• What is the relationship between these parts?
• What is being said and what isn’t being said by these relationships?

Cuseo, Joseph B, Aaron Thompson, Michele Campagna, Viki Sox Fecas. Thriving in College and Beyond: Research-Based Strategies for Academic Success and personal Development. Dubuque: Kendall Hunt Publishing Company, 2016. Ellis, Dave. Becoming a Master Student. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006.