Analytical Thinking

What is analysis and

how does it work?

What is analysis?To ask what something means To ask how something does what it does or To ask why it is as it is

Analysis is thinking – the kind we do every day!

Most of us analyze all the time!

We don’t realize that is what we are doing

Steps to becoming a better analytical thinker

Become aware of your thinking processBuild on skills you already haveEliminate habits that get in the way

Move 1: Suspend Judgement

We tend to evaluate, make judgementsWe follow the mental paths we are used toBecomes automatic and thinking stopsFIGURE OUT WHAT THE SUBJECT MEANS BEFORE DECIDNG HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT IT

Move 2: Define significant parts & how they’re related

Divide the subject into its defining parts, its main elements or ingredientsConsider how they are related, to each other and to the whole subject

Analytical writing pays attention to detailMoves from larger subject to key componentsGet past first generic response to discover what it is made ofThen how do these parts help me understand the meaning of the whole subject

Move 3: Make the implicit explicit

Converting suggestions into direct statementsEssential stepKnown as making inferencesImplication is to describe something suggested; inference describes the thinking processYou infer what the subject implies!

Converts suggestions not overly stated into direct statements of meaning

Analysis

Move 4: Look for patterns

How do you know which parts to pay attention to?What makes some parts more important than others?

3 principles to select important parts

Pattern of repetition or resemblanceOrganizing contrastsAnomalies-unusual things, things that don’t fit

Move 5: Keep reformulating questions and explanations

Requires experimentingPurpose of analytical writing is to figure something outDon’t expect to know where you’re going, how all the subject’s parts fit together, and to what end

Questions to take you from uncertainty to understanding

Organized by the moves they come from

Define significant partsMake implicit explicit

Which details seem significant? Why?What is the significance of a particular detail? What does it mean?What else might it mean?

Look for patterns of resemblance & contrast

How do the details fit together? What do they have in common?What does this pattern of details mean?What else might this same pattern of details mean? How else could it be explained?

Look for anomalieskeep asking questions

What details don’t seem to fit? How might they be connected with other details form a different pattern?What does this new pattern mean? How might it cause me to read the meaning of individual details differently?