Critical Thinking
What is it?
Critical thinking is the attempt to be clear and rational in thought and in expression. It involves:
- reflection and asking questions
- avoiding bias and aiming for objectivity
- coming to your own conclusions (evaluation)
Why is it important?
To avoid making mistakes and to make fair judgements of the ideas of others.
At university, part of your grade will be for critical thinking, so it is a good idea to show you are a critical thinker in your assignments.
How can I learn how to do it?
- Work through our Critical Thinking resources.
- Discuss topics with other people.
- Read, especially things with contrasting points of view so that you can try to work out why they don't agree.
- Reflect on your own reasons for believing something.
- Remember that evidence is not black and white but a sliding scale - in the real world things are not usually 100% perfect, so think about what compromises researchers made when gathering evidence.
- Assumptions are things that people believe but have not tried to prove. These are very common. Try to identify some assumptions in what you read - and in your own positions.
- Be curious. Ask questions about everything you read or hear.
Writing critically involves:
- building an argument
- having support for the points you make (e.g. references)
- showing your own voice (rather than just collecting what other people have said)
- being clear
Reading critically involves:
- asking questions and seeing if the text can answer them
- not assuming the text you are reading is correct and unbiased
- not assuming that the view of the author you are reading is the only possible or correct view - it isn't.
- being sceptical, in other words you expect evidence to support claims.
- thinking about whether the source you are reading has political / ideological / commercial motives that might have introduced bias.
Example
You see a video on YouTube claiming that a new diet will let people lose 3kg a week. As a critical thinker you don't immediately start the diet and recommend it to all your friends and family. Instead you...
Ask questions:
- Is the content creator a credible source?
- What evidence do they give and how strong is it?
- Does the content creator have personal motivations for promoting the diet?
- Do they build a good rational argument?
- What assumptions is the content creator making?
You can then evaluate the claim and come to your own conclusion.
Links
For more examples, resources and activities to help you with critical thinking, go to our Critical Thinking page and do our Mini-modules:
