critical thinking

Critical Thinking Resources

Here are some resources about Critical Thinking. These are intended to help you with your class dialogue, video responses and final exam. You’ll get a good understanding of how critical analysis is more than reporting, describing or making arguments based on opinions or personal morals.

Critical Thinking – Wikipedia Entry
Critical Thinking Skills in Education and Life
Making your essay or report analytical

Critical thinking is the art of asking questions

“Which questions should I ask? Should I question the answers to the questions that I ask? Should I question the question? Are some questions better to ask than others? How do I recognize a useful as opposed to an unhelpful question? If thinking is something I do inside my head and I ask all these questions do I have to come up with the answers?”
Tips to start critical thinking
1. Describe – state what it is
2. Analyze – Break it down into its component parts and
3. Name the parts
4. Look at the relationships between the parts
5. What are the possible problems/issues with these relationships?
6. Evaluate the ‘problems’ is it an important issue/ why do you think that?
7. Imagine an alternative
8. Apply steps 1-7 to the alternative.

Another way to organize these eight steps is to use the general categories of:

What:
Background, Context, Parts

How
Relationships of parts, to each other and to the whole

Why
The meaning of it: Why are the relationships between the parts structured that way

Why Not
Alternatives: How could it be different? What would it look like if it was different?

Questions and Critical Thinking

Summary and Definition Questions
• what is (are)…?
• who…?
• when…?
• how much…?
• how many…?
• what is an example of…?

Analysis Questions
• how…?
• why…?
• what are the reasons for…?
• what the types of…?
• what are the functions of…?
• what is the process of…?
• what other examples of…?
• what are the causes/ results of…?
• what is the relationship between …and …?
• what is the similarity or difference between… and…?
• how does …apply to …?
• what is (are) the problems or conflicts or issues…?
• what are possible solutions/ resolutions to these problems or conflicts or issues…?
• what is the main argument or thesis of…?
• how is this argument developed…?
• what evidence or proof or support is offered…?
• what are other theories arguments from other authors…?

Hypothesis Questions
• if…occurs, then what happens…?
• if …had happened, then what would be different…?
• what does theory x predict will happen…?

Evaluation Questions
Opinion Based/Subjective:
• what is my opinion…?
• what is my support for my opinion…?
• …..correct or incorrect…?
• …..effective or ineffective…?
• …..relevant or irrelevant…?
• …..clear or unclear…?
• …..logical or illogical…?
• …..applicable or not applicable…?
• …..proven or not proven…?
• …..ethical or unethical…?
• what are the advantages or disadvantages of…?
• what are the pros or cons of…?
• what is the best solution to the problem / conflict / issue…?
• what should or should not happen…?