Critical Thinking Strategies

Critical thinking is about the evaluation of information to get a conclusion. It is disciplined thinking that is informed by proofs. To improve this soft skill, some critical thinking strategies are used. Critical thinking helps in solving problems, finding reasons and analyzing the actual situation in the best possible way. It also helps in making decisions.

Becoming a critical thinker requires proper practice and enough time.

Here are some critical thinking strategies that will help you in growing your critical thinking skills.

Examine your Assumptions

Assumptions are our unexamined beliefs. Examine carefully your assumptions because they are sometimes misguided.  We often make conclusions based on our assumptions but our assumptions are usually not examined, we do not think critically about our assumptions and they may be inaccurate.

When we think, we assume things to be true without any proof. Critical thinkers are attentive towards what they think subconsciously because whatever they assume does not need to be true. While evaluating information or making inferences, think carefully and critically about your assumptions.

Make Predictions (Critical Thinking Strategies)

A prediction is a statement that is based on a guess. It may or may not be correct. We often make predictions about stories or while reading books. It tells us about our understanding of the important information.

Making predictions make us think critically because we guess about the future of the story. We make clues or figure out, what might be the next. It helps in maintaining our focus and looking for the details about the information. Having skills such as making predictions allow you to think more deeply about a story or some happening.

Read with a Purpose

Reading is effective only when you know the purpose of reading. Simple reading is not enough to get the information. Reading with propose helps you in thinking critically to retain the information. It is important to master your reading skills to think critically about the topic.

Thinking critically while reading anything assists you to explore new things. By reading critically, you do not just read what the author presents in the text. Instead, you read it skeptically and also give your opinion against the author’s point of view.

Sharpen your interpretations

Sharp interpretations are a sign of powerful thinking and imagination and among one of the best critical thinking strategies. Sharpening your interpretation helps in thinking critically. It helps in understanding things more quickly. It explores deep hidden meanings of information for you.

Sharpening your interpretation not only helps in getting things in a better way but also helps in coping with difficult circumstances. It helps answer the queries. Sharp your interpretations so that you should think critically and explore the possible dimensions of things.

Read and Understand Graphics

Reading and understanding graphics are important because they help in getting the information more easily. By understanding the graphics, you not only get the information but also retain it for a long time. Graphics make us think critically and understand the point.

Graphics help students in processing information. They make the learning process more interesting and engaging. So, experts of study skills give a special place to graphics in critical thinking strategies.

Evaluate your Learning

Evaluating your learning is important in critical thinking strategies so that you can measure how much you have learned. It is the measurement of improvement of your performance.

According to the recent studies, evaluation of your own learning process leads to stronger feelings of self-efficacy. When we stop, think, and evaluate our learning, we get more motivation and then perform better afterwards.

To evaluate our own learning helps to recognize such patterns and habits which are useful for better performance and learning. It is a good way to guide our own learning because once we reflect on our learning we will come to know what we have learnt and what is remaining.

In a nutshell

Follow these critical thinking strategies especially handling graphics, evaluating learning and reading with a purpose and build your skills of thinking critically.

Writer: Areeba Bashir

Chief Editor: Ajmal Dass Jaipal