Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is the ability to question, reason and analyse information before making judgements and assumptions. Critical thinkers approach decision making and problems in a rational, systematic way and build well-informed arguments. This module will provide you with the tools to help you develop this important academic and employability skill.

Overview

What you will learn:

• What critical thinking is
• The skills needed for critical thinking
• The importance of critical thinking as a student
• The tools and strategies to become a critical thinker

Critical thinking is not about criticising ideas. It is about carefully analysing information, considering different perspectives, and making reasoned judgements based on evidence.

Rather than accepting information at face value, critical thinkers ask questions, evaluate evidence, identify assumptions, and remain open to alternative viewpoints. These skills are essential for success at university and beyond.

Why is Critical Thinking Important?

Critical thinking is important because it helps with decision making and problem solving.  The process of critical thinking involves creativity, rationality, investigation and reflection, among many other attributes.  People who practice critical thinking value reasoning, equity and clarity.  As you can see, these qualities, skills and attributes would be highly valuable in both personal and professional contexts.

In fact, at University students who develop critical thinking skills:

While you are learning and practising the skills of critical thinking in your studies, you will be learning skills that will hold you in good stead in other aspects of your life: at home, at work, in the community, and as a leader. The skill of critical thinking is not just a study skill, but a lifetime one.

Using Critical Thinking as a Student

You will need to use critical thinking in your work as a student, not only for your learning, but importantly, for your assignments. Taking an objective and comprehensive view of an issue, especially when you are reading other peoples’ work in the course of your study, can help you to:

• Assess the evidence and identify spurious or illogical reasoning.
• Create strong arguments of your own.
• Present and justify those arguments.

You will find that some assignments require critical thinking and might ask you use reason and logic rather than intuition, and to support your argument with valid evidence. Here, you will need to use your higher-order thinking skills to find relevant information, interpret it, come to a considered judgment, and make explicit your reasoning for making that judgment.

GenAI Byte: Read Critically with AI

When reading about a topic, you might consider using generative AI to help you engage more deeply with the information.

Try prompts such as:

• Ask me questions that will help me think critically about this article.
• What questions should I ask myself while reading this source?
• Ask me questions that challenge my current understanding.

Use the questions to guide your thinking and reflection. The goal is not for AI to do the critical thinking for you, but to help you develop your own reasoning and argument.

Steps to Critical Thinking

The steps that you take to critically think through a task or situation will depend on the situation, but as a guideline these 6 steps are recommended and an explanation of what it involves and the types of questions you could ask:

(Monash University, 2022)

Text Alternative

Clarify

Make yourself familiar with the text; what it is trying to tell you? What do you already know?

Question

What's the purpose of the text? Why do I need to read/use it? Is it scholarly? Reliable? What will happen if..?

Identify

What are the arguments presented? The claims being made

Analyse

What are the conclusions being reached? Why are X, Y and Z important? What are the implication if...?

Evaluate

Examine all sides of the argument and the evidence to support them; How does this affect XYZ? What is best and why?

Create

Create or Synthesise this for your own argument; What is the solution? What is another way to look at this?

End text alternative.

As information above illustrates, and many scholars such as Einstein point out, the early stages of critical thinking begins with asking the ‘right’ questions.  By asking the right questions in each step you will be able to get meaningful information to then make informed decisions.

Transcript

*Transcript obtained from YouTube and formatted by Google Gemini

Welcome to this video tutorial brought to you by HELPS. It’s designed to assist you in understanding how critical thinking skills can be applied to academic reading and writing. At university, critical thinking is an extremely important skill to cultivate and develop. This is because it is all about asking questions, then analysing and making evaluations or judgements based on the information presented. It is considered a fundamental part of scholarly studies. University students are expected to adopt this critical approach.

Critical thinking is a skill which can be challenging for students to do because it involves questioning ideas, theories, assumptions, or the validity of information. However, it is this healthy scepticism that is encouraged in an academic context. Through critical thinking, the student can demonstrate that they’ve thought deeply about the topic. Critical thinking can be approached in three simple steps. First, by analysing—asking questions of the material you are studying or researching. Secondly, by making judgements or evaluations. The reason you do this is to then finally develop your own position or argument in your assignments based on your readings, lectures, tutorials and extensive research.

Different disciplines may have different approaches to critical thinking but all disciplines require you to relate theory to practice, ask questions, find and use evidence, evaluate the arguments, find links between the arguments, and categorise the main lines of thinking. Reading can be a daunting task. It’s a great idea to think about the main points of a text and consider how you might put them into your own words. Think about bias, schools of thought, or even information that you feel is missing or irrelevant. Ensure you understand the stages of the argument and check that it’s logical. Ask yourself if the ideas presented are supported by reliable evidence. Are there connections between what you see and other texts you have read? What are the wider implications? Most importantly, state whether you agree or disagree with the arguments presented.

When you take notes, divide your notepad into two columns. Jot down the main ideas in the left-hand column, and the supporting comments in the right-hand column. Add your own comments in another colour, or in brackets. Talk to other people about what you’ve read. Relate and compare this text to others by looking for similar or contrasting themes. Think of how you might explain what the text means to a general educated reader. What would you have to add to make it intelligible? Think about whether it is possible to disagree with the arguments presented and how you can convince your reader.

Critical thinking applies to writing, too. In order to improve the standard of our writing we need to think about what the lecturer is looking for and work out what sort of critical thinking will be involved—comparing? Problem solving? Looking for cause and effect? Evaluating? Make sure everything you say is backed up by sufficient evidence and references. Link what you’re saying into the overall field of the discipline. Think about why this essay topic is worth writing about—what makes it particularly significant. Most importantly, we need to look at different sides of an argument.

Let’s recap the key points discussed in this video! For your writing to be critical in the broadest sense, it should categorise the issues or arguments involved, establish cause-effect chains, make comparisons and contrasts, and point out problems and suggest solutions, evaluate theories and relate them to practice. Your writing must be rational, balanced, well-argued, and based on evidence, examples, and extensive reading using a wide range of literature. It must be insightful and thought-provoking.

The skills that you develop at university in critical thinking will support you in your future professional lives. That’s because professionals are always being asked to make decisions based on evaluating information, processes, and outcomes and to continually reflect on their practice. If you need help with your academic studies or assistance at any stage of completing your assignments, you can access the services at the HELPS Unit at UTS. For details on our location, operating hours, services and programmes, including a wealth of self-help resources, visit us in person or online. We’re at your service! Thanks for watching and thanks for listening.

End transcript.

Taking notes critically

As a student critical thinking involves active reading and listening, and good note-taking.

According to Suffolk University (2023) there are four steps to good note-taking:

Summary

Critical thinking is an important part of life. It is highly valued and University and in the workplace.  It involves looking beyond the obvious before we make judgments. It means taking into account the many sides to any issue, in a way that is as least subjective as possible. It involves analysing, interpreting, and synthesising, and we can become better at it the more we exercise it. This is not only because we become more skilled at doing it, but because the more we practise it, the more informed we become, and the deeper and better our thinking and judgments can be.

References:

Monash University 2022, What is Critical Thinking, viewed 17 October 2022, <https://www.monash.edu/learnhq/enhance-your-thinking/critical-thinking/what-is-critical-thinking>.

Patterson, R 2017, ‘7 ways to improve your critical thinking skills’, CollegeInfoGeek, blog, viewed 29 August 2017, <https://collegeinfogeek.com/improve-critical-thinking-skills/>.

SkillsYouNeed 2022, ‘Critical Thinking Skills’, viewed 17 October 2022, <https://www.skillsyouneed.com/learn/critical-thinking.html>.

Suffolk University 2023, ‘Taking notes’, viewed 5 January 2023, <https://www.suffolk.edu/academics/advising-student-services/academic-success-services/student-resources/taking-notes>. 

University of Sydney, ‘Developing critical thinking skills’, Orientation lecture series: learning to learn, viewed 29 August 2017, <https://sydney.edu.au/stuserv/documents/learning_centre/critical.pdf>.

Module updated 2026