Critical Thinking | Definition & Examples
Critical thinking is sometimes called “thinking about thinking” because it is a skill that helps you analyze information effectively. It is this ability that helps you to make a sound judgment about the information you encounter.
Thinking critically involves understanding your own preconceptions and biases. Being aware of your attitudes helps you to be consistent in your standards when evaluating sources.
Why is critical thinking important?
Critical thinking helps you to:
- Determine credible sources
- Evaluate different perspectives
- Analyze arguments and respond to them
- Use relevant criteria to test hypotheses
If you want to make judgments about the credibility of information sources, then critical thinking is very important. Its emphasis on a self-aware, objective, and rational approach helps you to identify sources which are credible. As a result, your arguments and conclusions will be strengthened and improved.
Every academic discipline requires critical thinking, and it underpins the whole research process. Even though the sciences and humanities often use different types of evidence, both require critical thinking.
Critical thinking can improve your academic writing by helping you to identify whether a source:
- Supports its research findings with evidence
- Avoids research bias
- Takes into account alternative perspectives
You will also find your own digital literacy is improved by your critical thinking, helping you to evaluate and make sense of the mass of information available online and in social media.
Critical thinking examples
It isn’t enough just to cite sources in your research paper; those sources need to be reliable. That is where critical thinking comes in, as it helps you to evaluate and analyze the sources you find.
Critical thinking will also help you to be aware of the biases and assumptions you encounter in everyday life: both your own and other people’s. This is very valuable when sifting through news and social media content.
Academic critical thinking
Critical thinking skills are especially important in the academic world. Academic writing and research rely on good academic practice, and that requires good critical thinking.
You are aware that this appears to be very much an outlier and that it calls into question the policies being adopted by many nations and pan-national organizations like the UN. You decide to explore further.
Your exploration reveals that the paper is funded by an institute that is entirely bankrolled by the fossil fuel industry. This makes you skeptical about the results.
This approach has shown confirmation bias. You have accepted the findings uncritically because they are in line with what you previously believed.
Nonacademic critical thinking
Critical thinking can also save you from making mistakes in the nonacademic world. Whenever we look into making a major purchase, for instance, it makes sense to research the best options. Not all the information available is necessarily trustworthy, however, so it’s good to use critical thinking skills.
When you compare this review with others on a different website, however, you find that the comments are not so positive. There are numerous complaints about the machine’s “smart” features, and especially the noise.
As a result, you return to the original review. In the small print under the title, you notice the words “sponsored content.” This leads you to the conclusion that this review is no more than an advertisement and cannot be trusted as an independent source.
The new development meets your needs, and its impact on you will be positive. Therefore, you have discounted the negative impact on other local shops in the town center
Tips on how to think critically
How you apply the skill of thinking critically will depend on the type of source you are using and what information you want. There is no one way to think critically.
It is possible, however, to be systematic and critical in the way you engage with sources. You can start by asking some questions when faced with an information source. Try using the CRAAP test, which is a series of questions that focus on the currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose of the information source.
These are some useful questions to ask when analyzing an information source:
- When is the information from? Is it current?
- Who is the author? Do they have the expertise to give them authority?
- What does the argument say? Is it clear? Can it be summarized?
- Why was it published? What is the author’s motivation? What is the purpose?
- Where is the information? Does it have the authority of a peer-reviewed academic journal?
- How does the author make their argument? Do they back it up with evidence? Does the article address other arguments? Is it colored by speculation, appeals to emotion, or opinion?
Those questions address the potential biases of the article and its author. Critical thinking also requires you to be aware of your own biases. So you can ask similar questions about your own writing when you are making an argument or drawing conclusions:
- Are my preconceptions limiting the evidence I am considering?
- Have I expressed my argument clearly and backed it up with sources that are credible?
- If this argument were written by someone else, would I find it credible?
Frequently asked questions about critical thinking
- What are critical thinking skills?
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Some important critical thinking skills are:
- Identifying credible sources
- Using relevant criteria to test hypotheses
- Evaluating arguments and responding to them
- Assessing alternative opinions
- How can I assess information critically?
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Using the CRAAP test will help you to assess information critically. This focuses on the currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose of the information source.
Good questions to ask include:
- Who is the author? Do they have expertise in the field?
- How does the author make their argument? Do they back it up with evidence?
- Why did they publish the information? What are their purpose and motivation?
- Why is information literacy important?
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Strong academic research requires engagement with information from other researchers, but this is only valid when the sources used are accurate. Online information and published articles may exhibit bias, lack credibility, or lack evidence to support their claims.
Information literacy denotes the range of skills you need to be able to decipher the credibility of a source. Information literacy and critical thinking are fundamental to academic research and responsible media consumption more broadly. It is also essential to compare and contrast sources.
QuillBot offers a free notepad online that can help you keep track of your notes and all the sources you consult.
