Deductive logical thinking is really less about problem-solving and more about interpreting and applying rules. Because you must base each step of your argument on the premises, there’s not much room for creativity and exploration. Inductive Reasoning vs. Abductive Reasoning. After a couple years of studying French, I received a phone call (in English) at home for my father, and wrote the message the caller wished to leave for him. When I hung up and looked down at the paper, I found it was written in perfect French.

When I was in 7th grade, my U.S. history teacher gave my class the following advice:

Your teachers in high school won’t expect you to remember every little fact about U.S. history. They can fill in the details you’ve forgotten. What they will expect, though, is for you to be able to think; to know how to make connections between ideas and evaluate information critically.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but my teacher was giving a concise summary of critical thinking. My high school teachers gave similar speeches when describing what would be expected of us in college: it’s not about the facts you know, but rather about your ability to evaluate them.

And now that I’m in college, my professors often mention that the ability to think through and solve difficult problems matters more in the “real world” than specific content.

Despite hearing so much about critical thinking all these years, I realized that I still couldn’t give a concrete definition of it, and I certainly couldn’t explain how to do it. It seemed like something that my teachers just expected us to pick up in the course of our studies. While I venture that a lot of us did learn it, I prefer to approach learning deliberately, and so I decided to investigate critical thinking for myself.

What is it, how do we do it, why is it important, and how can we get better at it? This post is my attempt to answer those questions.

In addition to answering these questions, I’ll also offer seven ways that you can start thinking more critically today, both in and outside of class.

What Is Critical Thinking?

“Critical thinking is 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.”

Logic:some Tips For Thinking And Writingthoughtfull English Language

– The Foundation for Critical Thinking

The above definition from the Foundation for Critical Thinking website is pretty wordy, but critical thinking, in essence, is not that complex.

Critical thinking is just deliberately and systematically processing information so that you can make better decisions and generally understand things better. The above definition includes so many words because critical thinking requires you to apply diverse intellectual tools to diverse information.

Ways to critically think about information include:

• Conceptualizing
• Analyzing
• Synthesizing
• Evaluating

That information can come from sources such as:

• Observation
• Experience
• Reflection
• Reasoning
• Communication

And all this is meant to guide:

• Beliefs
• Action

You can also define it this way:

Critical thinking is the opposite of regular, everyday thinking.

Moment to moment, most thinking happens automatically. When you think critically, you deliberately employ any of the above intellectual tools to reach more accurate conclusions than your brain automatically would (more on this in a bit).

This is what critical thinking is. But so what?

Why Does Critical Thinking Matter?

Most of our everyday thinking is uncritical.

If you think about it, this makes sense. If we had to think deliberately about every single action (such as breathing, for instance), we wouldn’t have any cognitive energy left for the important stuff like D&D. It’s good that much of our thinking is automatic.

We can run into problems, though, when we let our automatic mental processes govern important decisions. Without critical thinking, it’s easy for people to manipulate us and for all sorts of catastrophes to result. Anywhere that some form of fundamentalism led to tragedy (the Holocaust is a textbook example), critical thinking was sorely lacking.

Even day to day, it’s easy to get caught in pointless arguments or say stupid things just because you failed to stop and think deliberately.

But you’re reading College Info Geek, so I’m sure you’re interested to know why critical thinking matters in college.

Here’s why:

According to Andrew Roberts, author of The Thinking Student’s Guide to College, critical thinking matters in college because students often adopt the wrong attitude to thinking about difficult questions. These attitudes include:

Ignorant Certainty

Ignorant certainty is the belief that there are definite, correct answers to all questions–all you have to do is find the right source (102). It’s understandable that a lot of students come into college thinking this way–it’s enough to get you through most of your high school coursework.

In college and in life, however, the answers to most meaningful questions are rarely straightforward. To get anywhere in college classes (especially upper-level ones), you have to think critically about the material.

Naive Relativism

Naive relativism is the belief that there is no truth and all arguments are equal (102-103). According to Roberts, this is often a view that students adopt once they learn the error of ignorant certainty.

While it’s certainly a more “critical” approach than ignorant certainty, naive relativism is still inadequate since it misses the whole point of critical thinking: arriving at a more complete, “less wrong” answer.

Part of thinking critically is evaluating the validity of arguments (yours and others’). Therefore, to think critically you must accept that some arguments are better (and that some are just plain awful).

Critical thinking also matters in college because:

• It allows you to form your own opinions and engage with material beyond a superficial level. This is essential to crafting a great essay and having an intelligent discussion with your professors or classmates. Regurgitating what the textbook says won’t get you far.
• It allows you to craft worthy arguments and back them up. If you plan to go on to graduate school or pursue a PhD., original, critical thought is crucial
• It helps you evaluate your own work. This leads to better grades (who doesn’t want those?) and better habits of mind.

Doing college level work without critical is a lot like walking blindfolded: you’ll get somewhere, but it’s unlikely to be the place you desire.

The value of critical thinking doesn’t stop with college, however. Once you get out into the real world, critical thinking matters even more. This is because:

• It allows you to continue to develop intellectually after you graduate.Progress shouldn’t stop after graduation–you should keep learning as much as you can. When you encounter new information, knowing how to think critically will help you evaluate and use it.
• It helps you make hard decisions. I’ve written before about how defining your values helps you make better decisions. Equally important in the decision-making process is the ability to think critically. Critical thinking allows you compare the pros and cons of your available options, showing that you have more options than you might imagine.
• People can and will manipulate you. At least, they will if you take everything at face value and allow others to think for you. Just look at ads for the latest fad diet or “miracle” drug–these rely on ignorance and false hope to get people to buy something that is at best useless and at worst harmful. When you evaluate information critically (especially information meant to sell something), you can avoid falling prey to unethical companies and people.
• It makes you more employable (and better paid). The best employees not only know how to solve existing problems–they also know how to come up with solutions to problems no one ever imagined. To get a great job after graduating, you need to be one of those employees, and critical thinking is the key ingredient to solving difficult, novel problems.

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7 Ways to Think More Critically

Now we come to the part that I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for: how the heck do we get better at critical thinking? Below, you’ll find seven ways to get started.

1. Ask Basic Questions

“The world is complicated. But does every problem require a complicated solution?”

– Stephen J. Dubner

Sometimes an explanation becomes so complex that the original question get lost. To avoid this, continually go back to the basic questions you asked when you set out to solve the problem.

Here are a few key basic question you can ask when approaching any problem:

• What do you already know?
• How do you know that?
• What are you trying to prove, disprove, demonstrated, critique, etc.?
• What are you overlooking?

Some of the most breathtaking solutions to problems are astounding not because of their complexity, but because of their elegant simplicity. Seek the simple solution first.

2. Question Basic Assumptions

“When you assume, you make an ass out of you and me.”

The above saying holds true when you’re thinking through a problem. it’s quite easy to make an ass of yourself simply by failing to question your basic assumptions.

Some of the greatest innovators in human history were those who simply looked up for a moment and wondered if one of everyone’s general assumptions was wrong. From Newton to Einstein to Yitang Zhang, questioning assumptions is where innovation happens.

You don’t even have to be an aspiring Einstein to benefit from questioning your assumptions. That trip you’ve wanted to take? That hobby you’ve wanted to try? That internship you’ve wanted to get? That attractive person in your World Civilizations class you’ve wanted to talk to?

All these things can be a reality if you just question your assumptions and critically evaluate your beliefs about what’s prudent, appropriate, or possible.

If you’re looking for some help with this process, then check out Oblique Strategies. It’s a tool that musician Brian Eno and artist Peter Schmidt created to aid creative problem solving. Some of the “cards” are specific to music, but most work for any time you’re stuck on a problem.

3. Be Aware of Your Mental Processes

Human thought is amazing, but the speed and automation with which it happens can be a disadvantage when we’re trying to think critically. Our brains naturally use heuristics (mental shortcuts) to explain what’s happening around us.

This was beneficial to humans when we were hunting large game and fighting off wild animals, but it can be disastrous when we’re trying to decide who to vote for.

A critical thinker is aware of their cognitive biases and personal prejudices and how they influence seemingly “objective” decisions and solutions.

All of us have biases in our thinking. Becoming aware of them is what makes critical thinking possible.

4. Try Reversing Things

A great way to get “unstuck” on a hard problem is to try reversing things. It may seem obvious that X causes Y, but what if Y caused X?

The “chicken and egg problem” a classic example of this. At first, it seems obvious that the chicken had to come first. The chicken lays the egg, after all. But then you quickly realize that the chicken had to come from somewhere, and since chickens come from eggs, the egg must have come first. Or did it?

Even if it turns out that the reverse isn’t true, considering it can set you on the path to finding a solution.

5. Evaluate the Existing Evidence

“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

– Isaac Newton

When you’re trying to solve a problem, it’s always helpful to look at other work that has been done in the same area. There’s no reason to start solving a problem from scratch when someone has already laid the groundwork.

It’s important, however, to evaluate this information critically, or else you can easily reach the wrong conclusion. Ask the following questions of any evidence you encounter:

• Who gathered this evidence?
• How did they gather it?
• Why?

Take, for example, a study showing the health benefits of a sugary cereal. On paper, the study sounds pretty convincing. That is, until you learn that a sugary cereal company funded it.

You can’t automatically assume that this invalidates the study’s results, but you should certainly question them when a conflict of interests is so apparent.

6. Remember to Think for Yourself

Don’t get so bogged down in research and reading that you forget to think for yourself–sometimes this can be your most powerful tool.

Writing about Einstein’s paper “On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies” (the paper that contained the famous equation E=mc²), C.P. Snow observed that “it was as if Einstein ‘had reached the conclusions by pure thought, unaided, without listening to the opinions of others. To a surprisingly large extent, that is precisely what he had done'”(121).

Don’t be overconfident, but recognize that thinking for yourself is essential to answering tough questions. I find this to be true when writing essays–it’s so easy to get lost in other people’s work that I forget to have my own thoughts. Don’t make this mistake.

For more on the importance of thinking for yourself, check out our article on mental laziness.

7. Understand That No One Thinks Critically 100% of the Time

“Critical thinking of any kind is never universal in any individual; everyone is subject to episodes of undisciplined or irrational thought.”

– Michael Scriven and Richard Paul

You can’t think critically all the time, and that’s okay. Critical thinking is a tool that you should deploy when you need to make important decisions or solve difficult problems, but you don’t need to think critically about everything.

And even in important matters, you will experience lapses in your reasoning. What matters is that you recognize these lapses and try to avoid them in the future.

Even Isaac Newton, genius that he was, believed that alchemy was a legitimate pursuit.

Conclusion

As I hope you now see, learning to think critically will benefit you both in the classroom and beyond. I hope this post has given you some ideas about how you can think more critically in your own life. Remember: learning to think critically is a lifelong journey, and there’s always more to learn.

For a look at critical thinking principles in action, check out our guide to strategic thinking.

Sources

• The Thinking Student’s Guide to College by Andrew Roberts (the source of several of the seven ways to think more critically)
• What the Best College Teachers Do by Ken Bain (the source of several of the seven ways to think more critically)
• A Short History of Nearly Everythingby Bill Bryson (the source for the C.P. Snow quote about Einstein and the information about Isaac Newton).

Image Credits: skyline, waterfall, vaulted ceiling, snowy road, thinker

This post will show you my strategies for thinking of better ideas for Writing Task 2 questions.

One of the biggest fears students have is opening up the writing paper, looking at the question and having no idea what to write. Idea generation in IELTS Writing Task 2 is something students worry a lot about, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

The reason for this fear is natural, but there are easy solutions.

First World Problems

Most of the students I teach come from developing countries and they often complain that IELTS Task 2 questions are biased towards ‘Western’ countries and are mostly ‘First world problems’. For example:

In some countries, young people are encouraged to work or travel for a year between finishing high school and starting university studies. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages for young people who decide to do this.

‘What the hell is a ‘gap year?” shouted most of the learners in my class. I did have some sympathy for them on this question. Most of the Vietnamese students I currently teach have no first-hand experience with taking a year off before going to University. This seems like a very ‘Western’ idea to them and they felt a little bit annoyed with the question, which is totally understandable.

Fortunately, questions like these are rare and most of them will be on familiar topics that most people have an opinion on, such as health, education and the environment. Remember that this is a language test not a general knowledge test.

Do my ideas have to be entertaining?

Many students also worry that their ideas are not interesting enough or they are too boring. The examiner is not looking for you to entertain her. They are looking for you to demonstrate an ability to write an essay in English supported by evidence and relevant examples. There are no extra points for interesting ideas. What the ideas must be is relevant to the question being asked. Have a look at my post on question analysis for help with that.

You can have the most boring ideas in the world and still get a band score 9, as long as your ideas are relevant.

This may seem illogical to some people who have already been to university and know that your ideas should be both relevant and interesting. Stop thinking about how you write at university level, this is an IELTS exam, not a university essay. Give the IELTS examiners what they want and nothing else.

Logic:some Tips For Thinking And Writingthoughtfull English Dub

Solutions

Below I will outline several solutions that have worked well for my students in the past. They are:

1. Common Topic Familiarisation
2. Brainstorming (least effective)
3. Mind Mapping
4. 5 Questions Method
5. Personal Opinion Method (most effective)

No One Size Fits All

The main thing I have learned from teaching my students these methods is that no one method is suitable for everyone. You have to try each of them out and see which one works for you. When you are practising remember: the examiner is looking for relevant ideas that you can support by explaining them and giving examples. You should also use the one that gives you ideas quickly. You will only have 2 or 3 minutes for idea generation in the exam. Don’t worry if this is taking you a lot of time at the moment, you will improve with practice. Pick a method below, set yourself a time limit and practice with some old past exam papers.

1. Common Topic Familiarisation

This simply means knowing the 10 common topics that come up in the exam and learning some vocabulary associated with these repeated topics. The wider your vocabulary the easier it will be for you to think of ideas. If you have time, don’t just stick with the 10 most common topics, go even further.

When you have free time, have a look at some English newspapers and identify some topics that might come up in the IELTS test. When you do this you should be doing two things. The first is simply noting down any unknown vocabulary, try to guess the meaning from the context and then look up the meaning to confirm on your smartphone or dictionary. This will really help you, not only for writing part 2 but also for all the other parts of the IELTS exam.

2. Brainstorming

Brainstorming is basically thinking of as many ideas as possible relevant to your topic. It was developed by an advertising agency, in order to come up with new ideas for advertising campaigns. The technique involves putting keywords in the middle of a page and then writing down as many ideas associated with that idea as possible.

Some students, and many teachers, love this method and if it works for you then continue to use it, but I have a few problems with it. Firstly, some students spend too much time on this stage and try to think of too many ideas. Secondly, because they are thinking very generally, their ideas are not relevant. It then takes extra time, which you don’t have in the exam, to sort out the relevant from the irrelevant ideas.

3. Mind Mapping

Mind mapping is a way to visually organise your thoughts on to paper.

Some people love this method because it represents how their brain is working and allows them to organise their thoughts. It is much more organised than simply brainstorming and can be done very quickly once you have practised a few times with different questions.

A good technique is to place the keywords in the middle and then place the micro-keywordson the branches.

The only disadvantage to this method is that some students spend too much time creating the perfect mind map. There are no points for creating beautiful mind maps; they are only there to help you with ideas so do it quickly.

4. 5 Questions Method

This method uses who/what/why/where/how question words in order to generate ideas for Writing Task. This works best for people who think very logically and also know a little bit about the topic already.

Let’s look at an example:

In some countries, young people are encouraged to work or travel for a year between finishing high school and starting university studies. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages for young people who decide to do this.

Why- to gain work experience, to experience life in different countries, to understand different cultures, to make money before going to university, lazy, not mature.

Where- tourist destinations, developing countries, local business, internship in big company.

How- save money, permission from parents and university, apply for internship/job, travel to inexpensive countries.

So as you can see, in a couple of minutes we have generated many ideas by asking ourselves just three of the five questions. These ideas are much more than we need to complete the task, so always remember to choose the ones you feel comfortable writing about after you generate your ideas.

5. Personal Opinion Method (or coffee shop method)

Personally, I think this is the most effective method for generating ideas for Writing Task because it is the fastest and helps students focus on the question.

The method is simple. I ask students to imagine they are sitting with their friend or family member in a coffee shop and they ask your opinion. In an exam, there is a lot of pressure on you and you often find it difficult to think, but if you were in a relaxed environment with a friend you would have no problem giving your opinion.

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To think of more ideas you just imagine that your friend has the opposite feelings to you about the topic and write their ideas down.

Let’s look at the example below:

Your friend- ‘Do you think it’s a good idea that young people take a year off between school and university to work or travel?’

You- ‘Yes. Many young people are not mature enough to go to university at 18 and travelling or working will help them mature. Working for a year could also allow them to save money and gain valuable work experience. If they go travelling, they will get to experience different cultures.

So you see you have just thought about all the ideas you will need for this question. You can write your ideas down (recommended) or just think about it for a minute.

Logic:some Tips For Thinking And Writingthoughtfull English Subtitles

This idea gives you a very clear idea about your opinion on the question and will help you stay relevant and write a clear, coherent essay. Like any method it takes practice, so try it out with a few past questions.

I hope this has been of help to you and please let me know if you have any questions or feedback.

If you have any other ideas, I’d love to hear from you.

Further Help

Click here to download your FREE study plan to guide you through your IELTS preparation.

Below you will find a video lesson that will show you how to think of ideas for Writing Task 2:

You can find more video lessons like this on my YouTube Channel and Facebook page.

Need more help with Writing Task 2?

No problem – see below for more resources to help you get ready for your IELTS exam.

This article is unique to anything we’ve published before. Read it now to access our 61-page Task 2 strategy.

Making a good plan actually saves you time when you write your essay. If you don’t plan you are more likely to get lost halfway through your essay and the result is normally a very confused piece of writing that is difficult to read. This guide will show you how to write a clear essay every time.

Complex sentences help you boost your score for grammar. Complex sentences are actually very simple to write and are not complex at all- in this article we show you how.

Paraphrasing is one of the essential IELTS skills, not just in Writing Task 2, but in all parts of the IELTS test. You should paraphrase the question in every essay and I recommend doing this in the very first sentence to help boost your vocabulary score.

Logic:some Tips For Thinking And Writingthoughtfull English Language Arts

Supporting paragraphs are the main body paragraphs and are the meat in the sandwich. This is where you provide the detail the examiner is looking for in the form of explanations and examples.

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