Used in a variety of courses in various disciplines, Asking the Right Questions helps bridge the gap between simply memorizing or blindly accepting information, and the greater challenge of critical analysis and synthesis.  Specifically, this concise text teaches how to think critically by exploring the components of arguments--issues, conclusions, reasons, evidence, assumptions, language--and on how to spot fallacies and manipulations and obstacles to critical thinking. 

Table of Contents:
Contents Preface   Chapter  1:  The Benefit of Asking the Right Questions         Introduction         Critical Thinking to the Rescue         The Sponge and Panning for Gold: Alternative Thinking Styles         An Example of the Panning-for-Gold Approach         Panning for Gold: Asking Critical Questions         The Myth of the “Right Answer”         The Usefulness of Asking the Question, “Who Cares?”         Weak-Sense and Strong-Sense Critical Thinking         The Satisfaction of Using the Panning-for-Gold Approach         Effective Communication and Critical Thinking         The Importance of Practice         The Right Questions   Chapter 2:    Critical Thinking Is a Social Activity         Values and Other People         The Primary Values of a Critical Thinker         Thinking and Feelings         Keeping the Conversation Going         Avoiding the Dangers of Groupthink   Chapter 3:    What Are the Issue and the Conclusion?         Kinds of Issues         Searching for the Issue         Searching for the Author’s or Speaker’s Conclusion         Clues to Discovery: How to Find the Conclusion         Critical Thinking and Your Own Writing and Speaking         Practice Exercises   Chapter 4:    What Are the Reasons?         Reasons + Conclusion = Argument         Initiating the Questioning Process         Words That Identify Reasons         Kinds of Reasons         Keeping the Reasons and Conclusions Straight         Critical Thinking and Your Own Writing and Speaking         Practice Exercises   Chapter  5:    What Words or Phrases Are Ambiguous?         The Confusing Flexibility of Words         Locating Key Terms and Phrases         Checking for Ambiguity         Determining Ambiguity         Context and Ambiguity         Ambiguity, Definitions, and the Dictionary         Ambiguity and Loaded Language         Limits of Your Responsibility to Clarify Ambiguity         Ambiguity and Your Own Writing and Speaking         Summary         Practice Exercises   Chapter 6:    What Are the Value and Descriptive Assumptions?         General Guide for Identifying Assumptions         Value Conflicts and Assumptions         Discovering Values         From Values to Value Assumptions         Typical Value Conflicts         The Communicator’s Background as a Clue to Value Assumptions         Consequences as Clues to Value Assumptions         More Hints for Finding Value Assumptions         Avoiding a Typical Difficulty When Identifying Value Assumptions         Finding Value Assumptions on Your Own         Values and Relativism         Identifying and Evaluating Descriptive Assumptions         Illustrating Descriptive Assumptions         Using this Critical Question         Clues for Locating Assumptions         Avoiding Analysis of Trivial Assumptions         Assumptions and Your Own Writing and Speaking         Summary         Practice Exercises   Chapter 7:    Are There Any Fallacies in the Reasoning?         A Questioning Approach to Finding Reasoning Fallacies         Evaluating Assumptions as a Starting Point         Discovering Other Common Reasoning Fallacies         Looking for Diversions         Sleight of Hand: Begging the Question         Summary of Reasoning Errors         Expanding Your Knowledge of Fallacies         Fallacies and Your Own Writing and Speaking         Practice Exercises   Chapter 8:    How Good Is the Evidence: Intuition, Personal Experience, Testimonials, and Appeals to Authority?         The Need for Evidence         Locating Factual Claims         Sources of Evidence         Intuition as Evidence         Dangers of Appealing to Personal Experience as Evidence         Personal Testimonials as Evidence         Appeals to Authority as Evidence         Summary         Practice Exercises   Chapter 9:    How Good Is the Evidence: Personal Observation, Research Studies, Case Examples, and Analogies?         Personal Observation         Research Studies as Evidence         Generalizing from the Research Sample         Biased Surveys and Questionnaires         Critical Evaluation of a Research-Based Argument         Case Examples as Evidence         Analogies as Evidence         Summary   Chapter 10    Are There Rival Causes?         When to Look for Rival Causes         The Pervasiveness of Rival Causes         Detecting Rival Causes         The Cause or A Cause         Rival Causes and Scientific Research         Rival Causes for Differences Between Groups         Confusing Causation with Association         Confusing “After this” with “Because of this”         Explaining Individual Events or Acts         Evaluating Rival Causes         Evidence and Your Own Writing and Speaking         Summary         Practice Exercises   Chapter 11:    Are the Statistics Deceptive?         Unknowable and Biased Statistics         Confusing Averages         Concluding One Thing, Proving Another         Deceiving by Omitting Information         Risk Statistics and Omitted Information         Summary         Practice Exercises   Chapter 12:    What Significant Information Is Omitted?         The Benefits of Detecting Omitted Information         The Certainty of Incomplete Reasoning         Questions that Identify Omitted Information         The Importance of the Negative View         Omitted Information That Remains Missing         Missing Information and Your Own Writing and Speaking          Practice Exercises   Chapter 13:   What Reasonable Conclusions Are Possible?         Assumptions and Multiple Conclusions         Dichotomous Thinking: Impediment to Considering Multiple Conclusions         Two Sides or Many?         Searching for Multiple Conclusions         Productivity of If-Clauses         Alternative Solutions as Conclusions         The Liberating Effect of Recognizing Alternative Conclusions         All Conclusions Are Not Created Equal         Summary         Practice Exercises   Chapter 14:    Overcoming Obstacles to Critical thinkingOvercoming Obstacles to Critical Thinking         Reviewing Famnilair Obstacles%RR Reviewing Familiar Obstacles         Mental habits that Betray Us             The Seductive Quality of Personal Experience             Belief in a Just World             Stereotypes             The Urge to Simplify             Belief Perseverance             Availability Heuristic         Wishful Thinking   Final Word Index