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Student Resources

Thinking Critically

Learning is not just acquiring facts. College students learn to think critically and to understand and evaluate what they are asked to learn. The National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking states, “Knowing that something is so is not simply a matter of believing that it is so; it also entails being justified in that belief.”

Intellectual learning is a primary focus in educational settings. This encompasses six different skill levels, each more complex than the last.

  • Knowledge. Can you recall the facts? (What events led up to WWII?)
  • Comprehension. Do you understand the facts and what they mean? (Understand why the colonists protested against English Rule. Understand how the internal combustion engine works.)
  • Application. Can you apply the facts in a new situation? (Use what you’ve learned in psychology to analyze a relationship. Use what you’ve learned in math to calculate budgets.)
  • Analysis. Can you break down the information and figure out how it is organized and fits together? Can you examine it methodically? (Compare and contrast democracy in ancient Greece with democracy in modern America. Figure out why the computer network went down.)
  • Synthesis. Can you put together the parts that you’ve learned to create something new? (Design a new organizational scheme. Reorganize an operations manual.)
  • Evaluation. Can you make sound judgments about the value of the ideas or information? (Compare and judge two historical arguments. Decide whether or not the U.S. should have dropped the bomb on Hiroshima or invaded Iraq.)

College courses often focus on your ability to comprehend, analyze, and evaluate information. Fortunately, these are skills you can learn.

The National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking has developed a set of principles for thinking critically. (You may wish to explore their website at www.criticalthinking.org.) Though standards for disciplines vary, the general standards for evaluating thinking or intellectual material (or even everyday arguments) are the same. They include:

  • Clarity
  • Precision
  • Accuracy
  • Relevance
  • Significance
  • Fairness
  • Logic
  • Depth and breadth
  • Evidentiary support
  • Probability
  • Predictive or explanatory power

For a broader explanation of these characteristics, go to: http://www.criticalthinking.org/resources/articles/universal-intellectual-standards.shtml.

Below is a method with which to approach a task that requires you to think critically about something you are learning. These questions can help you to recognize, analyze, and assess the material you’re studying (Principle #9). Ask yourself:

  • What is the purpose or goal of the material?
  • What problem or question is at issue?
  • What is the author’s frame of reference or point of view?
  • What assumptions has the author made?
  • What central concepts and ideas are at work in the material?
  • What principles or theories does the author use?
  • What evidence, reasons, or data has the author advanced to support his case? Are they sufficient? Are they persuasive?
  • What claims has the author made and what conclusions has the author drawn?
  • What inferences, reasoning, or lines of thought has the author used?
  • What are the implications and consequences of the material?

These questions will help you weigh the validity of what you are studying and decide your opinion about it.

Explanation of some of these elements may be found at: http://online.santarosa.edu/philo/tutorial/title.html.