What is critical thinking?

In a world where so much information is readily available to us, the ability to think critically is an important and valuable skill to learn. To think critically we need to ask questions about what we are learning and reading. ‘Critical’ often carries negative connotations but when we are applying this to a subject we’re studying it means that we’re asking questions about the reliability and validity of what we’re learning. Critical thinking is about understanding the location connections between ideas and to engaging in reflective and independent thinking. Try to approach critical thinking in terms of questioning how you know what you know.

Critical questions

When approaching a problem, theory, or argument some useful questions to ask are:

• Who?
• What?
• Why?
• When?
• Where?
• How?

Whether or not you use all of these questions will depend on the initial material you are approaching but, for example, if you read an article as part of the set readings for your course you might want to ask yourself: Who wrote it? What are they saying? What else have they written? Why are they using the arguments and evidence they present? When was it written? How does this connect to other theories/topics? How have other writers built on this work? Answering these questions will help you to situate what you’re learning in the context of wider debates and discussions.

Skills for thinking critically  

In order to think critically in your course you will need to describe, analyse and evaluate issues, topics, arguments and debates you encounter.

• Describe

Description is the first level of critical thinking and relies on you being able to understand the different threads of the topic you are studying. Within this you are outlining the main points of a topic or identifying different arguments in relation to an issue or topic. At this stage you can begin to think about how these different threads of discussion connect to each other.

• Analyse

The next level of critical thinking is analysis. Within this you are going further than simply looking at the threads of the topic to thinking about the implications that may lie behind these different strands. At this stage you also need to begin recognising weaknesses in evidence or arguments.

• Evaluate

The final stage is evaluation, following on from recognising the strengths and weakness of arguments you can begin to examine a point of view, an argument, or a theory in order to assess and determine how strong or valid it is.
To come back to the example we used above of a set reading on your course:

• Describing the content of the article you’re checking your own understanding of the arguments it contains. While with some articles you will be able to being the process of analysis yourself, others may be more complex and will rely on going along to lectures and seminars in order to discuss.
• Analysing the article will involve you beginning to explore what they implications of the content and think about how the ideas presented within there connect to other aspects of your course or other reading you are doing.
• Evaluation will see you will begin to explore the strengths and weakness of the arguments and how they are presented. You do not have to agree with authors or arguments in order to recognise that they are well presented and robust. Similarly, you can agree with a point of view but recognise that the argument for it is poorly presented.  

Applying critical thinking to your own arguments

We have so far focused on applying critical thinking to the arguments and writing of others but you will also need to apply this to your own thought processes for your discussions in seminars and for assignments you write. In order to present critically thought out ideas you need to provide structured reasoning and support for the arguments you wish to make. In much the same way as you would when writing a discursive essay (see study guide on Writing An Effective Essay) you will need to explore the arguments around a particular topic, look at ideas you don’t agree with an use the questions above to articulate why you don’t agree with them.

Summary

• Critical thinking is about going beyond the words on the page and thinking about how what we read, write and discuss connects to issues and debates in the wider world.
• When we are thinking critically we not only describe but also analyse and evaluate topics in order to explore their validity.
• We should apply our critical thinking skills to our own work as well as to the work of others.

Further reading

For an overview of critical thinking, see: https://www.skillsyouneed.com/learn/critical-thinking.html
Critical thinking exercises: https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/uploads/production/document/path/1/1710/Critical_Thinking.pdf
Books
Stella Cottrell (2017) Critical Thinking Skills: Effective Analysis, Argument and Reflection. Red Globe Press.
This is an introductory text on critical thinking, aimed at university students.