Page 115 - Smart Thinking: Skills for Critical Understanding and Writing, 2nd Ed

8

Research, Reasoning,

and Analysis

Advice on research usually covers 'physical' issues such as finding books,
conducting experiments, and searching computer databases. Such advice
does not, however, address the key point that, since knowledge and reasoning
are intimately connected, then searching for knowledge is a part of reasoning.
The common thread between research and reasoning is that they both involve
analysis: the thinking through of the connections between claims (or infor-
mation). If we cannot consciously control our analysis (our 'thinking moves'),
then our research will fail to address the particular needs of the argument or
explanation that we develop on the basis of what we discover. Furthermore,
there is an easy way to conceptualise what we mean by analysis: it simply
involves a constant process of asking questions. Questioning and testing
possibilities are the most important 'thinking moves'.
Four aspects of research, reasoning, and analysis will be discussed in this
chapter:

1 We will look at knowledge in more detail. Reasoning depends absolutely
on knowledge; knowledge is the way that innumerable little pieces of
information about the world are linked. Questions are a way of expressing
and testing these links and, hence, are the crucial component of analysis.
2 We will then look at four perspectives on the process of finding informa-
tion (what some might call doing research) as a reasoning process. We will
look at:
• Information understood by where we find it.
• Information as it relates to other information.
• Information classified by the topic under investigation.

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