Critical Thinking and
Evaluation of Sources
Critical thinking is learning to think for yourself and to develop your own independent opinions, backed by sound reasoning and support. It is learning to drop the role of passive student and to assume the role of a self reliant thinker and researcher.

Critical thinking enters into important decisions in your daily life and affects your growth process in school and work. The term critical thinking describes the deliberate thinking that helps you to decide on what to believe and how to act. It helps you examine a problem or issue from many angles to arrive at the best possible solution.

Critical thinking is by no means restricted to academic matters. At certain points in our lives, we face situations in which it is not clear how we should proceed. Examples can include career choices and educational choices. The act of purchasing a car involves critical thinking to a certain degree. Without thinking carefully, you may make spur-of-the-moment decisions. In order to think critically you need to have sufficient background information concerning your subject. The information found in this chapter will assist you with the decision making process.

The Critical Thinking Process
Most personal and academic decisions require a basic critical thinking process. It is helpful to write your ideas and see them in front of you.

1. Determine what you hope to achieve as a result of the decision.
2. Gather information deliberately (read up on the issue, talk to knowledgeable people), make no hasty decision.
3. List all realistic possibilities for each choice
   1. Consider the benefits/advantages.
   2. Consider the disadvantages.
   3. Foresee the worst and decide if you can live with it.
   4. Evaluate each choice by estimating its short and long range consequences.
   5. Rank each factor in order of its importance to you, work out your priorities.
   6. Make a choice.

To learn to think independently, consider the following guidelines:

1. Avoid making inaccurate generalizations, such as women are too emotional.
2. Avoid oversimplifying complex problems.
3. Accept that diversity of opinions exists.
4. Remain open to new or stronger ideas.
5. Withhold judgment until you are sure.
6. Evaluate for yourself the opinions of authorities.
7. Ask questions for clarification when speaking with someone who holds opposing views.
8. Avoid stereotyped thinking.

When doing research for college courses, apply critical thinking techniques when designing your search and evaluating materials found in books and journals related to your search.

In many cases, students are taught only where and how to find information and the mechanics of writing a research paper (how to use the results of research in a coherent paper). Students also must learn how to evaluate various sources of information in order to have a research paper which is balanced in terms of scholarly resources and general interest articles. Scholarly resources are usually focused on a particular subject area and can include such titles as the Journal of Advertising, Journal of the American Medical Association, Journal of Basic Writing, etc. General interest titles might include Newsweek, Time, U.S. News and World Report, etc.

Authors of scholarly articles are experts in their field of study and generally write articles in one subject area. The authors at Time magazine write a variety of articles on various subjects.. One week they may write an article on a new AIDS treatment, and later an article on United States foreign policy. These writers are not usually experts in a particular subject.

When you read a book or an article, you need to focus on several key points:

1. Is the article or book biased? This means does the article try to influence the reader in thinking one way or another.
2. Does the background of the author lead to conclusions concerning the article? For example, would the director of an animal testing laboratory write an article which is different from that of a member of an animal rights group.
3. What is the authority of the author? Is the author an expert in this particular field of study? Does the article or book give any background information on the author? Does the author a Ph.D. in a subject; is she or he a physician or researcher?
4. Is the article scholarly or of general interest? A scholarly article should include research findings, statistics, a bibliography or references. It should be written by experts in a particular subject. General interest titles are usually not written by subject experts.
5. How are articles accepted for publication? Most scholarly journals have an editorial board comprised of individuals in the subject area who determine which articles to accept for publication.
6. Is there an abstract at the beginning of the article? An abstract is a summary of the article. Most scholarly articles have an abstract at the beginning.
7. When looking at books, keep in mind the following questions:
   1. Do you need books which cover new technologies; for example, in computers or nursing?
   2. Do you need a book with up-to-date statistics?
   3. Do you need sources which cover new trends in a particular area?
   If you answered yes to any of the above questions, pay particular attention to the publication date of the books.
8. When reading books, you may want to look for book reviews or a critical analysis. Also, you could look for background information on the author which may give you insight of why that person wrote the book.

Another aspect of the critical thinking process is the ability to narrow a research topic into smaller pieces. For example, your teacher has asked you to write a paper on an aspect of the American Civil War. There are thousands of books on this subject covering a wide range of subtopics. You would want to narrow down this topic to something more manageable. One could write about the role of the Civil War generals or one of the causes of the war. The same process can be applied to searching for journal articles. For example, if you decide to write a paper on Aids, you, for example, can narrow your search to locate articles on Aids and Infants and Treatment. Using this process you can find enough information on a subject without being overwhelmed.

Clicking HERE will open up a brief computer-graded quiz on Critical Thinking and Evaluation of Resources. If you are not satisfied with your answers, please consult with the Reference Librarian.

You can use the frame at left to go to any chapter you wish to explore next. The next chapter in order, however, is Chapter Eight -- Designing Your Search.