PDF Version

As students, readers, and thinkers, we are often taught to find the main idea or to summarize an author's argument. While these are essential skills, the deepest and most original insights come not from understanding what is obvious, but from identifying what is strange, contradictory, or absent. This is the art of finding the "scholarly problem."

A scholarly problem isn’t a mistake or a flaw in the text. Instead, it is a point of tension, a surprising contradiction, or an unresolved question that a careful reader uncovers. It’s the moment you pause and think, "That's odd," or "This doesn't quite add up." Locating this "problem" is the first step in moving from passive observation to active analysis. It provides the engine for a compelling argument by giving you something specific to investigate and explain.

Critical thinkers use several key frameworks to locate these problems. By learning to recognize them, you can unlock a more profound understanding of any subject, from literature and art to science and sociology.

Part and Part: The Internal Contradiction

This framework involves observing a tension between two different parts of the same text. An author might define a key term one way in the beginning and another way later on, creating an internal conflict that begs for interpretation.

The Concept

A text appears to contradict itself, offering conflicting definitions or perspectives on the same subject.

In Practice

Literary critic Barbara Johnson identified such a problem in Zora Neale Hurston’s essay, “How It Feels to Be Colored Me.” In one paragraph, Hurston begins, “I am colored,” suggesting that this identity is a stable, inherent state. Yet, a later paragraph starts, “I remember the very day that I became colored.” This shift presents a problem: is being "colored" a state of being or a process of becoming? The tension between these two statements allows for a much richer discussion about the nature of racial identity as both an internal reality and a social construction.

The Question to Ask

Does the text contradict itself? If so, what might this contradiction reveal about the complexity of its subject?

Pattern and Break: The Unexpected Exception

We are naturally inclined to find patterns. This analytical method involves first identifying an established pattern and then, more importantly, locating where that pattern breaks. The break is often more interesting than the pattern itself.

In Practice

Ecologists Philippe Perret and Jacques Blondel observed that in most bird populations, increased density leads to increased aggression. This was the established pattern. However, they found a "break" in this pattern on certain islands, where densely populated bird communities were less aggressive. This exception to the rule becomes the scholarly problem. It forces the question: what is different about the island environment that reverses this expected behavior? The answer provides a new understanding of animal adaptation.

The Question to Ask

Is there a prevailing pattern in the language, data, or imagery? Where does the text or evidence break from that pattern, and why might that break be significant?

The Concept

A text or set of data establishes a clear pattern, only to present a case where that pattern is violated.

Form and Function: When Appearance Deceives

This method focuses on the tension between the structure or appearance of something (its form) and what it actually does (its function). A simple form can hide a complex function, and vice versa.

The Concept

An object or text's appearance suggests one thing, while its purpose or effect accomplishes something entirely different and unexpected.

In Practice

In a text on public health, scientist Peter Muir discusses enteroviruses. Their form is deceptively simple: they have a small size and an uncomplicated genomic structure. This apparent simplicity is the "form." However, their "function" is vastly complex, causing a diverse and broad spectrum of illnesses. The scholarly problem lies in this incongruity. The tension between the simple form and complex function prompts deeper investigation into how such a basic structure can produce such varied and powerful biological effects.

The Question to Ask

Does the form of this text, object, or organism suggest one thing, while its function or effect achieves another? What is the significance of this gap between appearance and reality?

Presence and Absence: The Power of the Unsaid

Sometimes, the most powerful statement a text can make is through what it leaves out. This framework involves observing a tension between what is overwhelmingly present and what is conspicuously absent.

The Concept

By noting what is expected but missing, we can analyze the significance of that absence.

In Practice

In their study, “Denial of Power in Televised Women’s Sports,” kinesiologists Margaret Carlisle Duncan and Cynthia A. Hasbrook articulate a problem by highlighting a stark contrast. The overwhelming presence of televised male sports on television serves to emphasize the comparative absence of female sports coverage. The problem isn't just that there's less coverage; it's that the sheer volume of men's sports creates a context in which the lack of women's sports becomes a significant statement about cultural values and power. The absence itself is the story.

Given what is present, what is conspicuously absent? What does that absence tell us about the text's priorities, biases, or underlying assumptions?

The Question to Ask

Conclusion

Critical thinking is not about having all the answers; it is about learning to ask better questions. By training yourself to look for these "problems"—contradictions, breaks, incongruities, and absences—you move beyond the surface of a text. You become an active investigator, equipped to develop arguments that are not only original but also deeply insightful. These frameworks are the keys to unlocking a more complex and rewarding understanding of the world around us. They are the starting blocks for true intellectual inquiry.