RESEARCH TIPS
Critical thinking
Start 2023 by making sure you’re engaging with the critical thinking that will hone your research, with advice from Tarja Moles
Tarja Moles
Critical thinking is an active cognitive process based on reason. The word ‘critical’ does not refer to negativity as there’s more to critical thinking than finding fault: it can help us find answers and come to conclusions through disciplined thinking – thinking that’s rational, evidence-based, coherent, reflective and open-minded.
Why engage in critical thinking?
Essentially, critical thinking helps you make decisions about what’s probably true and what’s not. If you’re writing non-fiction, it’s obvious that you need to get your facts right. This means that you need to assess which facts, arguments and viewpoints you’re going to believe and include in your writing. Fiction writers can also benefit from critical thinking skills. Not only does every story need an internal logic, but many fictional stories also have factual information woven into them. If you get, say, your historical facts wrong, your readers won’t be shy about pointing this out. For example, as entertaining as the film Braveheart may be, it’s far from being an accurate account of Scottish history.