What is Critical Thinking?

The Critical Thinking Community at criticalthinking.org characterizes critical thinking as “the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness.” However, for those who need a more resolute definition that summizes the definition quickly and concisely, critical thinking is the process of further evaluating a given piece of information. Critical thinking is taking a step beyond the face-value of what is said or done and analyzing it or reanalyzing it. For a keen example, “thinking critically” is most closely seen being done by sharing my own definition of critical thinking, aforementioned, after reevaluating the dictionary entry quoted from criticalthinking.org.