President's
Tip of the Week
Critical
Thinking Techniques, Part 2
(8/3/09)
Here
is this week’s installment in our series on critical thinking techniques.
If you’d like to read the complete article, visit the author’s
site . As I mentioned last week, I encourage you to add in your own questions.
5.
“Know your purpose. “
This is absolutely essential to a successful
speech. Was the speaker’s purpose clear? Did everything the speaker say in
the speech contribute somehow to that purpose?
Be sure this applies to your
evaluation as well. Everything you say should contribute in some way to purpose
of helping the speaker improve. Eliminate such things as reviews of the speech
content, the TV show/conversation/situation/etc the speech reminded you of, comments
on how your own experiences relate, mention of how challenging the evaluation
was for you, etc. Focus on evaluating the speech. If the comments you are tempted
to make don’t provide the speaker with helpful feedback on the presentation
they just gave, email them to the speaker later.
6. “Identify
assumptions.”
In addition to checking your own assumptions, you can
ask yourself questions of the speaker. Did the speaker assume the audience knew
more about the subject than was reasonable? Did the speaker resort to jargon because
of this?
7. “Check your emotions. Emotions only
confuse critical thinking. Notice how your emotions may be pushing your thinking
in a certain direction.”
When giving an evaluation, your job is not to
comment on whether or not you agreed with the message of the speech. Perhaps you
may comment on the validity of logical arguments made in a speech, but that might
only be appropriate if the strategy of the speaker was to persuade you of something
based on the use of logic. Consider the following questions: Regardless of whether
or not I agreed or disagreed with the message of the speech, were valid arguments
made? Were points made and delivered effectively? Are my feelings about the subject
influencing my ability to evaluate the speech objectively?
Continue
trying to apply these techniques to your evaluations. Be prepared to add more
techniques in the next couple of weeks.
