Hiler Wesley - Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts & Tools

When this guide is used as a supplement to the textbook in multiple courses, students begin to perceive the usefulness of critical thinking in every domain of learning. And if their instructors provide examples of the application of the subject to daily life, students begin to see that education is a tool for improving the quality of their lives.

If you are a student using this mini-guide, get in the habit of carrying it with you to every class. Consult it frequently in analyzing and synthesizing what you are learning. Aim for deep internalization of the principles you find in ituntil using them becomes second nature.

If successful, this guide will serve faculty, students, and the educational program simultaneously.

Linda Elder
Foundation for Critical Thinking

Richard Paul
Center for Critical Thinking

• raises vital questions and problems, formulating them clearly and precisely;
• gathers and assesses relevant information, using abstract ideas to interpret it effectively;
• comes to well-reasoned conclusions and solutions, testing them against relevant criteria and standards;
• thinks openmindedly within alternative systems of thought, recognizing and assessing, as need be, their assumptions, implications, and practical consequences; and
• communicates effectively with others in figuring out solutions to complex problems.

• Can you state your purpose clearly?
• What is the objective of your reasoning?
• Does your reasoning focus throughout on your goal?
• Is your goal realistic?

• What question are you trying to answer?
• Are there other ways to think about the question?
• Can you divide the question into sub-questions?
• Is this a question that has one right answer or can there be more than one reasonable answer?
• Does this question require judgment rather than facts alone?

• What assumptions are you making? Are they justified?
• How are your assumptions shaping your point of view?
• Which of your assumptions might reasonably be questioned?

• What is your point of view? What insights is it based on? What are its weaknesses?
• What other points of view should be considered in reasoning through this problem? What are the strengths and weaknesses of these viewpoints? Are you fairmindedly considering the insights behind these viewpoints?

• To what extent is your reasoning supported by relevant data?
• Do the data suggest explanations that differ from those you have given?
• How clear, accurate, and relevant are the data to the question at issue?
• Have you gathered data sufficient to reaching a reasonable conclusion?

• What key concepts and theories are guiding your reasoning?
• What alternative explanations might be possible, given these concepts
  and theories?
• Are you clear and precise in using concepts and theories in your reasoning?
• Are you distorting ideas to fit your agenda?

• To what extent do the data support your conclusions?
• Are your inferences consistent with each other?
• Are there other reasonable inferences that should be considered?

• What implications and consequences follow from your reasoning?
• If we accept your line of reasoning, what implications or consequences are likely?