Part of a set of university teaching materials called "Encouraging Critical Thinking Online" by Meriel Patrick of Oxford University, made openly available for adaptation and re-use in the Intute Virtual Training Suite <http: />

1. Encouraging Critical
Thinking Online
Unit 1
Checking Facts and
Gathering Opinions

2. In which year was the
philosopher Plato born?
• Find three websites that provide an
answer
• Fill in the boxes on the worksheet
for each of them
• Comment on any notable features
of the sites or answers you discover

3. In which year was the
philosopher Plato born?
• Many sources give a date around
428 or 427 BCE
• See, for example, the biographies
of Plato from
– The Philosopher’s Lighthouse
– The European Graduate School

4. Extracts from The Philosopher’s Lighthouse
and the EGS website
http://library.thinkquest.org/18775/plato/biop.htm and http://www.egs.edu/resources/plato.html Retrieved 6 August

5. Extracts from The Philosopher’s Lighthouse
and the EGS website
http://library.thinkquest.org/18775/plato/biop.htm and http://www.egs.edu/resources/plato.html Retrieved 6 August

6. In which year was the
philosopher Plato born?
• But it’s not hard to find sites that
give dates ranging from at least 430
to 423 BCE
– Bristol University course description
– Australian Psychological Society
newsletter

7. Extracts from Bristol University course
description and APS newsletter
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/philosophy/current/undergrad/pastunits/units0506/plato.html and
http://www.groups.psychology.org.au/Assets/Files/paig_newsletter_1999.pdf Retrieved 6 August 2008

8. Extracts from Bristol University course
description and APS newsletter
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/philosophy/current/undergrad/pastunits/units0506/plato.html and
http://www.groups.psychology.org.au/Assets/Files/paig_newsletter_1999.pdf Retrieved 6 August 2008

9. In which year was the
philosopher Plato born?
• Many sites will indicate that there’s
some uncertainty
– By preceding the date with ‘around’,
‘ca.’, ‘circa’ or similar
– By giving a range of dates – e.g. 428/7
BCE

10. In which year was the
philosopher Plato born?
• However, many sites just give an
unqualified date
– St Andrews University Plato summary
– UsefulTrivia.com even gives a month
• Surprisingly few sites indicate the
full extent of the uncertainty

11. Extracts from St Andrews University
website and UsefulTrivia.com
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Plato.html and
http://www.usefultrivia.com/biographies/plato_001.html Retrieved 6 August 2008

12. Extracts from St Andrews University
website and UsefulTrivia.com
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Plato.html and
http://www.usefultrivia.com/biographies/plato_001.html Retrieved 6 August 2008

13. In which year was the
philosopher Plato born?
• Some sites even contradict
themselves
– Bookrags.com’s extract from the
Encyclopedia of World Biography
– A previous version of the Wikipedia
article on Plato, online for at least
several months in 2008

14. Bookrags.com: Extract from
Encyclopedia of World Biography
http://www.bookrags.com/biography/plato/ Retrieved 4 June 2008

15. Bookrags.com: Extract from
Encyclopedia of World Biography
http://www.bookrags.com/biography/plato/ Retrieved 4 June 2008

16. Wikipedia article on Plato from 2008
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato Retrieved 4 June 2008

17. Wikipedia article on Plato from 2008
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato Retrieved 4 June 2008

18. Further questions to consider
• What reasons are given for
accepting one date rather than
another?
• In your view, which date has the
best claim to be the correct
answer? Why is this?

19. Summary - key things to note
• The precise answer to a question is not
always known
– But sources don’t always acknowledge that
this is the case
– Important qualifications can get omitted
• Caution and cross-checking of facts are
vital

20. Why might we find conflicting
answers to a question?
• There may be real uncertainty
about the answer
• Authorities may disagree
• There may be multiple ways of
interpreting a question

21. Why might we find conflicting
answers to a question?
• Some sources may be more up to
date than others
• Answers may vary in precision
• Some sources may simply be
wrong

22. Questions to ask when
assessing sources
• Who is the author?
– An individual or an institution?
– What are the author’s credentials?
• Is this a scholarly resource, or a
more informal one?
• How up to date is this source?

23. Questions to ask when
assessing sources
• Are there reasons to doubt the
reliability of this source?
– Does it include information I know to
be false?
– Does it contradict itself or use poor
reasoning?
– Is it biased towards a particular view?

24. Questions to ask when
assessing sources
• Is the information provided
confirmed by other sources?
– Are references provided?
– Do other websites agree? (A major
advantage of the Web is that many
sources can be compared quickly and
easily.)

25. Remember the three Ws
• WHO wrote this site?
– Is the author a trustworthy source?
• WHEN was it written?
– Is it up to date?
• WHY was it written?
– Does the author have an axe to grind?

26. This slideshow is part of
Encouraging Critical Thinking Online,
a set of free teaching resources
designed to develop
students’ analytic abilities,
using the Web as source material.
For the full set, please visit
Intute Training:
http://www.intute.ac.uk/training/