It’s finally finished! All your hard work paid off, and another semester is completed. Another milestone in your path to graduation, as an articulate, thoughtful, educated person with the knowledge, skills and attitudes for a productive life. But what you’ve learned isn’t behind you. Your classwork isn’t just a set of hoops to jump through – now, you can put that critical thinking into action.

There are things in need of critical examination all around you. How is it that both a gecko and a woman with a 1960’s haircut can claim that they can save you more than the other one on car insurance? Can both of them be telling the truth, in certain situations? Or can you believe either of their claims at all?

Media preys on the unwary, making self-serving statements or assumptions that many people naturally take for truth. You are constantly bombarded with such claims, which you critically evaluate in some way. Someone without your rigorous intellectual discipline will give only a minimal appraisal to such claims. But you know more – and the same critical thought poured into a research paper will serve you well in navigating this cacophony of information and keep you from being taken advantage of.

By all means, enjoy your well-earned vacation. This isn’t a last minute homework assignment. But between now and January 11^th, put your training into action. Consciously think about the messages around you, particularly in advertising. Deliberately apply critical thinking to them, examining and unpacking their statements. You don’t need to crack a book or look up information about companies in a scholarly database like Hoover’s Company Records, Datamonitor 360, or Mergent Online (although you could). But purposefully reason out for yourself why you think they are saying what they are saying, and whether you think it is credible. So often, people make these evaluations without consciously thinking about them. But you can do more now. And that effort, that intentionality, will set you free from others’ influence.

You’re in control. You won’t be in anyone’s sway. But you’re also not alone. If you need any help finding critical resources, we’re available all through the break. Ask us at iueref@iue.edu!