Reasoning Skills Success in 20 Minutes a Day

by LearningExpress (Primary Contributor)

From diagnosing a problem to deductive and inductive reasoning and beyond, Reasoning Skills in 20 Minutes a Day, provides the key to improving test scores, job performance, and more. Many standardized tests and career paths require the ability to reason thoroughly and efficiently. This book provides tested techniques for this highly regarded ability. Refreshed with new material throughout, the lessons in Reasoning Skills are broken into easily digestible practice sessions that can be completed in just 20 minutes each day. What's more, each day the lessons build upon each other so information becomes second nature. Students, full-time employees, home workers, and others will benefit from: Proven methods for increasing reasoning and decision-making skills Useful tutorials in a variety of areas, including problem solving, logic skills, thinking versus knowing, inductive reasoning, and much more A pretest to diagnose strengths and weaknesses and a posttest to measure progress Additional online questions for the areas that need more practice Valuable real-life skills, such as understanding and using statistics, assessing the validity of evidence, recognizing logical fallacies, and more To be able to use one's mind, think logically, and effectively reason is a skill necessary in all parts of life. It is necessary for learners to hone their reasoning skills in an effect to better their mind. Reasoning Skills in 20 Minutes a Day will help learners sharpen their skills in inductive reasoning, logic, and validity of evidence. Reasoning Skills in 20 Minutes a Day contains substantial information and practice questions that can only benefit the reader. Moreover, this book will allow the reader to understand the importance of making reasoning practice a part of their daily regimen. With dedication and open mindedness, users of Reasoning Skills in 20 Minutes a Day start to realize their full potential and learn to approach the test with the information they need to succeed and the confidence they need to conquer any standardized test.

Genres: Self Help

192 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1900

Reviews

[Charmin · Rating 5 out of 5]

HIGHLIGHTS:
1. Critical Thinking & Reasoning: decision-making process. Determine the best solution.
Consider: problem, claim, question, situation. How best to solve. Accept or reject. Best answer. How to best handle. Process of getting from problem to solution.
Reason = motive (why). Reasoning skill = use good sense, base on fact, evidence, logical conclusion (vs. emotion. Justify decisions and actions. Pinpoint the main issue. Break down parts. Questions, situations, convincing, solving. Identify the problem, Scope parts  prioritize. Relevance to the issue.

2. Fact vs. Opinion: Use scientific proof to justify claims. Knowing = proving. Believing = think, debatable. Fact=proven, know. Opinion=think, believe. Tentative Truth

3. Claims: Level of testing sources. Level of knowledge on the topic. Evaluate the credibility of the source. Make well-informed decisions. Expertise = education, expertise, job, reputation, achievements. Eye Witnesses Credibility (4) = Bias, environment, physical/emotional, the time between event and reflection. Partial Claims & Half-Truths: Beware: comparison with incomplete information or vague. Exaggeration. Studies (4)= who, how conducted, what was tested, what results. Average = not always used for “typical” or usual. If convincing motivation, beware of misleading claims.

4. Word: word choice  opinions and bias. Euphemism = phrase softens, positive spin. “passed away”. Dysphemism = negative. “Kick the bucket”. Biased Questions = Loaded to lean toward the obvious desired answer.

5. Arguments: Inductive = making observations, drawing conclusions. Specific to general. Is the conclusion logical? Deductive = conclusion to evidence. Is evidence logical?
Premise = pieces of evidence that support. Conclusion = the point of the claim/argument
Argument = supported by evidence. Separate Support = Premise + Premise + Premise. “Because” Test. Evaluate Evidence: Examine validity of conclusion. Type of evidence = Fact, opinion, tentative truth. Credible = Person (no bias, expertise). Reasonable = based on logic, common sense, evidence. Statistic = credibility, questioned. Good Argument: Clear and complete. Credibility = no bias. Reasonableness = logical, evidence and common sense.

6. FALLACIES - Fallacies Appeal to Emotions: Scare Tactics = frighten you with a negative impact
Flattery = appeal to vanity. Peer Pressure = accept or you will not be accepted. Fear of being left out.
Pity = compassion, feel sorry for. Fallacies Imposter: No In Between = false dilemma. Either-or, Black & White, no grays. Slippery Slope = if / then. Circular Reasoning = begging the question. Conclusion and premise say the same thing. 2 Wrongs Make a Right = it’s okay to do because someone else “might” do it to you. Getting an edge. Distractions & Distorters: Ad Hominem = attack person instead of a claim. Bias or credible? Red Herring = offers a claim #2, not address claim #1. Straw Man = distorts opponent’s position. Oversimplified, exaggerate, misrepresent. Doesn’t consider all sides.

7. Why did it happen?: Criteria for good explanation. Convince why a claim is true (because)
Relevance = clear obvious connection. Testability = verified through experimentation. Circularity = restates situation. Compatibility with existing knowledge. Accept  fact. Accept  Tentative Truth. Reject. Numbers Don’t Lie: Source provided. Trustworthy or Bias? Sample Size = larger is better. Reflect accuracy. Representative. Random. Bias Sample. Apples to Oranges statistics (bad comparison). Statistics can be misleading.

8. Inductive Reasoning: Evidence + evidence  conclusion. Likelihood = common sense, past experience. Reasonable to assume. Logical conclusion = common sense + past experience + substantial evidence. Inductive: Causal reasoning. Key differences. Common denominator. Post Hoc – “after this, therefore, because of this”. Chicken or Egg?

9. Jumping to Conclusions: Hasty Generalizations = little evidence. Like stereotypes. Biased = testimony of low credibility. Non-Sequitur = too big of a jump. Assumes A then B. Reverses the premise and conclusion.

10. Problem Solving Revisited: (Types) Common sense = scenarios, break a problem down into parts. How to prioritize issues. Good v. bad evidence = credible and reasonable. draw the logical conclusion from evidence.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good general overview of different argument types and critical thinking. I enjoyed some of the exercises but dont think it takes 20 minutes to do each one. Good use of examples to help understand concepts.