Analytical & Critical Thinking

I began developing my analytical & critical thinking skills before coming to Indiana University, but my skills have only grown since coming here. As an honors student, psychology major and avid writer, I have had to practice my ability to analyze data from different studies as well as themes from various novels. I have had to be mindful of the conclusions I make whenever writing a paper or putting together a presentation, and below is an example of my analytical thinking skills.

 

Honors Seminar Paper

I wrote this paper during the Fall 2020 semester as the first assignment in my HON-H234 “21st Century American Fiction” course. For this first paper, we were given the loose prompt of analyzing the themes from any novel we read during the first half of the course, and I chose to analyze the themes of Charles Yu’s Interior Chinatown, as I felt I could speak on the experience of being Asian American in a unique and accurate way. I had to carefully consider which quotes to use from the book in order to support and bolster my own conclusions, and what resulted from this analysis was a paper titled “The Pickled Daikon Radish.” This paper goes through the story of Interior Chinatown and carefully considers the subtle themes presented in the book as well as relays my own thoughts on its messages and takeaways. This paper showcases my ability to think analytically and critically about abstract themes as well as find ways to communicate those complex ideas to a general audience. Furthermore, I had to identify my own biases and maintain an objective standpoint when coming to my final conclusions.

You can read the full paper below.