This is a central process in all academic work. It involves thinking critically, which is applying rational and logical thinking to deconstructing the texts you read (and write) at university.
Browne and Keeley (2001, p.2) define critical thinking as:
When we think critically we are being active; we are not passively accepting everything we read and hear, but questioning, evaluating, making judgements, finding connections and categorising. It means being open to other points of view and not being blinded by our own biases.
Critical thinking is useful for most activities associated with tertiary study, such as forming judgements in lectures, tutorials and when reading, writing essays and assignments, making decisions and developing arguments.
Critical thinking involves various processes in the disciplines:
Science and technology: asking questions, identifying problems, describing, predicting, analysing, categorising, establishing cause and effect.
Arts and social sciences, commerce: asking questions, identifying problems and solutions, relating theory to practice, stating an argument and supporting it with evidence, making comparisons, evaluating.
From: Windschuttle, K & Elliot, E 1999, Writing, researching, communicating: communication skills for the information age, 3rd edn, McGraw-Hill, Sydney.
Asking questions - and then answering them - is a central skill for critical analysis.
Start firstly by asking questions that relate to the context and the ‘big picture’ of a text. Then ask questions about the author’s argument and the evidence provided to support it. You should also consider the style of writing and how it affects the clarity with which the author’s argument is presented.
These points are explained in the sections that follow.
These questions help to you identify the significance of a text:
These questions help you to judge the validity of the argument or the author’s point of view:
These questions help you to examine how the language and the style of writing used can contribute to how clearly (or not) the author conveys the argument/point of view in a text:
In answering the questions you have posed about a text you will develop a body of useful insights and knowledge about it. You can then use this information in discussions, in tutorials, in your thinking and decision making, and in your academic writing. This is how people develop critiques of articles, reviews of texts and appear to be very knowledgeable! Try it!
Browne, M & Keeley, S 2001, Asking the right questions: a guide to critical thinking, 6th edn, Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, N.J.
Windschuttle, K & Eliot, E 1999, Writing, researching, communicating: communication skills for the information age, 3rd edn, McGraw-Hill, Sydney.