Bluefield State Library

New Student Orientation:

Please contact the Library, Nancy Adam-Turner or the Circulation desk phone 304 327 4054 to schedule an orientation class. This can be done in the library or in the class room.

The library encourages the entire faculty to bring their class up to the library for an orientation class and an information research class. Orientation is a single session the information research/information literacy class is at minimum a two session class. These classes are designed to address the specific subject/topic areas of the class. We also offer individual student support and instruction on the libraries tools services and information research methods.

Critical Thinking:

Explain and teach the student how to apply some of these basic concepts to their research and learning process.

Understanding:

To convert the information that makes sense to the individual who is learning it. Remake the information into a form which is personally meaningful. Comprehension is the most basic form of critical thinking. It is a necessary pre-condition to enable all the other forms of critical thinking to take place.

Application:

To apply abstract, theoretical principles to concrete, practical situations. Review the information to know if it has value, and therefore become relevant to the query or situation.

Analysis:

To break down or dissect information into its component parts in order to detect the relationships among these parts, or the relationship between the parts and the whole.

E.G.: identifying the underlying reasons for of disagreement during a class discussion.

Synthesis:

To build up or connect separate pieces of information to form a larger, more coherent pattern. To make a connection with related ideas discussed in separate sections or units of a course into a single, unified product, such as a concept map.

Example:

Integrating ethical concepts learned in a course with marketing philosophy concepts learned in a different course to produce a set of ethical guidelines for good management standards.

Evaluation:

To critically judge the validity (truth), morality (ethics), or aesthetic value of ideas, data, or products by using relevant criteria (standards) for assessing their  quality.

Cuseo, Joe/Marymount College "CRITICAL THINKING: DEFINITION, JUSTIFICATION, CLASSIFICATION, & FACILITATION" article circa. 2004