{"id":1125,"date":"2016-07-25T20:57:53","date_gmt":"2016-07-25T20:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-level3-english\/?post_type=chapter&p=1125"},"modified":"2017-09-25T16:46:33","modified_gmt":"2017-09-25T16:46:33","slug":"outcome-critical-thinking","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-englishcomposition1\/chapter\/outcome-critical-thinking\/","title":{"raw":"Introduction to Critical Thinking","rendered":"Introduction to Critical Thinking"},"content":{"raw":"

Identify and Apply Critical Thinking Skills<\/h2>\r\n\"Woman\r\n\r\nConsider these thoughts about the critical thinking process, and how it applies not just to our school lives but also our personal and professional lives.\r\n
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\"Thinking Critically and Creatively\"<\/h3>\r\nCritical thinking skills are perhaps the most fundamental skills involved in making judgments and solving problems. You use them every day, and you can continue improving them.\r\n\r\nThe ability to think critically about a matter\u2014to analyze a question, situation, or problem down to its most basic parts\u2014is what helps us evaluate the accuracy and truthfulness of statements, claims, and information we read and hear. It is the sharp knife that, when honed, separates fact from fiction, honesty from lies, and the accurate from the misleading. We all use this skill to one degree or another almost every day. For example, we use critical thinking every day as we consider the latest consumer products and why one particular product is the best among its peers. Is it a quality product because a celebrity endorses it? Because a lot of other people may have used it? Because it is made by one company versus another? Or perhaps because it is made in one country or another? These are questions representative of critical thinking.\r\n\r\nThe academic setting demands more of us in terms of critical thinking than everyday life. It demands that we evaluate information and analyze myriad issues. It is the environment where our critical thinking skills can be the difference between success and failure. In this environment we must consider information in an analytical, critical manner. We must ask questions\u2014What is the source of this information? Is this source an expert one and what makes it so? Are there multiple perspectives to consider on an issue? Do multiple sources agree or disagree on an issue? Does quality research substantiate information or opinion? Do I have any personal biases that may affect my consideration of this information?\r\n\r\nIt is only through purposeful, frequent, intentional questioning such as this that we can sharpen our critical thinking skills and improve as students, learners and researchers.\r\n\r\n\u2014Dr. Andrew Robert Baker,\u00a0Foundations of Academic Success: Words of Wisdom<\/em>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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What You Will Learn to Do<\/h2>\r\n