You probably use critical thinking skills every day without even realising; it's really all about asking those key questions that help you make decisions and make sense of the world around you. As you come into a more academic, university setting you will start to reflect upon your questioning skills and begin to develop them in a more structured way.
At the beginner level you should be developing skills which will help you to:
- Recognise that different sources of information will have different authorship and 'voice'. For example you may be looking at materials with professional, academic or personal points of view.
- Understand how to apply basic evaluation criteria to assess resources you find for quality, accuracy and authorship. For example you may use the 'Who, What, When, Where, Why' model to evaluate sources of information. See the link below for more information.
- Identify and understand the differences between examples of high and low quality information sources found on the internet.
- Use a range of Develop@Derby resources to improve your evaluation skills.
- Seek out opportunities to develop your skills by attending relevant workshops. See Tools to Help for more information.
