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Showing posts from November, 2008

Boost your creativity by asking questions

What is creativity? It involves seeing a problem in a new light. What are some ways to see a problem in a new light? Ask yourself questions about the problem or the underlying issues. When you're working on a long-term writing project, it's not uncommon to feel stuck in a rut. You can feel like your argument is stale and that you're not offering anything new. At that point, it may be helpful to try posing questions to yourself that jolt you out of that rut. What got me started thinking about this was an article I was reading called "The Role of Socratic Questioning in Thinking, Teaching, & Learning" . The authors point out that thinking comes from questions: "Questions define tasks, express problems and delineate issues. Answers on the other hand, often signal a full stop in thought. Only when an answer generates a further question does thought continue its life as such." As they point out, "The art of Socratic questioning is important for t