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You use critical thinking skills every day - think about the process you go through when you buy a new piece of equipment, or choosing where to go on holiday. At university you need to use critical thinking skills in your reading, and demonstrate critical thinking skills in your writing.
Critical thinking involves reading and writing critically. Reading critically means examining different points of view with an open and enquiring mind, evaluating your own position, and drawing conclusions as to whether a particular point of view is persuasive. Writing critically means presenting your conclusions in a clear and well-reasoned way to persuade others.
When you think critically, you:
Tip: Ask yourself: What am I expected to believe? What evidence is produced to convince me?
A critical thinker is enquiring, analytical, and open-minded.
Remember: Keep an open and enquiring mind, so you can recognise different viewpoints.
Reading critically is a positive process aimed at identifying shortcomings in an argument in order to build on and improve the ideas presented.
To do this you:
The word "argument" is often associated with fighting. In academic writing, however, the word is used to describe any attempt to persuade. An argument asserts and provides evidence in support of a particular point of view. It can be used to advance an opinion or recommend a course of action.
When someone wants to persuade you to accept an idea they put forward an argument.
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All arguments consist of two parts:
For example:
"Donors should be paid for giving blood [assertion] because the extra incentive would attract potential donors [evidence]."
The assertion is the main idea or course of action presented. All arguments have a minimum of one assertion, and at least one piece of evidence in support. The assertion may appear at the beginning, middle, or end of an argument.
Tip: Arguments usually take the form assertion because evidence, or evidence therefore assertion
Tip: If an assertion does not contain any supporting evidence, it is an opinion, description, or explanation, rather than an argument.
Once you have identified the assertion, you need to evaluate the reasons given to support an idea or a course of action.
Pieces of evidence may appear at the beginning, middle, or end of an argument. Certain words and phrases help to identify the evidence in an argument. For example:
Remember: Always check that the assertion is well supported by evidence.
Remember: Make sure the evidence is relevant, adequate and current.
When presenting an argument, authors often omit information, perhaps because they assume it is self-evident or "common-sense." These unstated pieces of information are hidden assumptions.
If an author's assertion relies on a hidden assumption that is not reasonable, the entire argument is weakened.
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To uncover hidden assumptions you must be able to identify the unstated beliefs the argument relies on. In other words, you must be able to identify anything that has been taken for granted in support of the argument.
Tip: Every argument contains at least one hidden assumption!
A sound argument is based on evidence and logic. However arguments relying on faulty reasoning can be persuasive. It is important to guard against this!
It is helpful to become familiar with some common types of "faulty reasoning".
Remember: Evidence provided does not always offer sufficient support!
Look again at the example snippets shown earlier.
Q How would you evaluate each example now?
Q Are there other comments you might make?
Critical thinking - Putting it all together (PDF)
Emily Arvay with Anne Chirnside and Mary Hutchison. First published
April 2009. Last updated April 30 2009.
Students
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