Introduction

Reflective and critical thinking are important skills that make students better writers and thinkers. Reflective thinking is more creative than critical thinking. It helps you develop your ideas and express them in a creative way. Reflective thinking focuses on your opinion and your side of the story with little reference to other sources. On the other hand, critical thinking is structured. It is based on facts, evidence, and other people's opinions. It may portray your opinion, but it has to be supported by evidence. By being able to use both types of thinking, you can develop your deas and support them. NCLC 110 focused on reflective thinking while NCLC 130 focused on critical thinking, and the differences I just described can be seen in my museum essays and discovery projects from both classes.      First of all, reflective writing focuses on your opinion. This is seen in my paper on the National Portrait Gallery. In NCLC 110, we went to the "Recognize" exhibit in the National Portrait Gallery. After we had seen the exhibit, we were asked to write a reflective paper on what we saw. The paper I wrote focused on my opinion. I described my feelings and what I thought about the exhibit. I wrote about how the exhibit changed my view of graffitti art. I also talked about my impression of some of the art. The paper was solely focused on my opinion and no one else's.      On the other hand, critical thinking is based on the opinions of others. For example, my paper on the National Gallery of Art is based on Deipeveen's ideas of art museums. In NCLC 130, my classmates and I went to the National Gallery of Art. After walking through the museum and answering several questions, we were asked to write an analysis of the museum based on the ideas and opinions of some of the authors we had read. We had to take their ideas and either support them or prove them wrong based on what we saw in the museum. My paper focused on Deipeveen's idea of decontextualizing. I gave a short description of his idea, and I chose an area in the museum where I saw decontextualization at work. I chose the religious section of the museum because that is where decontextualizing is most evidently seen. Then, I described the effect of decontextualization on the museum and explained, based on Deipeveen's ideas, how the museum contradicted its goal to educate its visitors. I had to take what I had learned from Deipeveen and apply it to my trip to the museum. Towards the end of the paper, I did give a short reflection on my opinion of decontextualization, but Deipeveen's ideas supported it. With critical thinking, your opinion can be stated, but it has to be supported by other authors.

Secondly, reflective writing is creative. This is seen in my first discovery project. In NCLC 110, we were told that our discovery project was to be focused on one person and could be written any way we wanted. I chose to write a story about my discovery subject's life. The story describes Carla's life from childhood to present day. It is very creative and descriptive. The introduction to the story shows this. Instead of writing a story based on the facts Carla gave me, I added description to make it more interesting. I described the place and the house that Carla grew up in. I described it as if I was walking up to the house from the road. I wrote about the noises I would hear and the things I would see if I were at her house. The story is mostly based on my interviews with Carla, but there are a few other sources that add to the story. This story shows the creative and descriptive aspect of reflective thinking.      On the other hand, critical thinking is more structured. In NCLC 130, we were told to pick a migration wave that relates to our discovery subject, and analyze it. I chose to write about the British immigration wave between 1790 and 1820. Instead of my discovery project being creative, it was structured and based on facts. It has facts and statistics rather than detailed description. It gives the number of immigrants that came during that time period, and it lists the events that may have caused them to leave their homeland. I also had to incorporate ideas I had learned in class to the paper. At the end of the paper, I did give a short description of Henry Bolton's trip to America, but it was not very detailed. This paper shows the structural aspect of critical thinking.      Reflective and critical thinking are different, but they do overlap. Reflective thinking focuses on your opinion and is creative. On the other hand, critical thinking is based on other people's opinions and is structured. Reflective thinking can use other people's opinions in it, and critical thinking can use description. These papers show the differences and similarities between the two kinds of thinking. Both types are needed to become a great thinker. If you can give your opinion but can not support it, no one will listen to you. Similarly if you hve the evidence but can not develop your own opinion, no one will want to be around you because you can not make up your mind. Therefore, it is important to develop both reflective and critical thinking skills.

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