How can I improve my critical thinking skills?

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Sep 15, 2023

Written By Dana Drozina

You’ve probably heard the term “critical thinking” before – in school, at university or from recruitment officers – but many people still struggle to define it, let alone improve it. Understanding and building your critical thinking skills takes time but is possible with easy exercises; check them out here.

What is critical thinking?

Critical thinking is defined by academic Robert Ennis as: “Reasonable reflective thinking, focused on deciding what to believe or do.” In other words, critical thinking is clear, rational, logical, and independent thinking. It also means thinking in a self-regulated and self-corrective manner.

The process of thinking critically involves precise problem identification and analysis, clarification of meaning, gathering the relevant evidence, assessment of the evidence, inferring conclusions, consideration of other relevant information, and making an overall judgement.

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Why is critical thinking important for lawyers?

Lawyers must often analyse, evaluate and synthesise information from a variety of sources and present their own justified interpretation of this information. Their work frequently demands interpretation and synthesis skills, used to analyse and manipulate information (rather than just memorise it), hence critical thinking is very important

How to improve critical thinking skills?

The following exercises can help you develop and improve your critical thinking skills.

Read, read, read

Reading will expose you to knowledge and help trigger your critical thinking instincts. Read an interesting newspaper article, then write down the main ideas you identify in it – this will help you analyse it more deeply. It is not really important what you read, as long as the material introduces you to innovative ideas and new strategies that help you think differently.

Ask questions

The next time you attend an event or workshop, participate in discussions and ask questions. Always aim to ask interesting open-ended questions, which require an elaborated answer, rather than a basic yes or no.

Consider your question properly beforehand, as well as listening carefully to the answer you receive. This whole process of forming a question, asking it in a coherent manner, listening to the answer, and perhaps also thinking about and asking a follow-up question will exercise your critical thinking when participating in discussions.

Discuss with others

Get together with a friend or two and agree on a topic you wish to discuss. Each of you will defend one side. Get involved in a discussion, in which both sides voice their opinions. Think about the arguments you can make to defend your side, and listen to the arguments of the other.

Aim to reach a conclusion and, if you do, try to understand how that conclusion was made.

Critical thinking means mindful communication, problem-solving, and a freedom from bias or ego. The importance of a lawyer's ability to think critically cannot be overstated. Remember that no one is born as a critical thinker, and that improving critical thinking is all about practice.

By actively seeking out chances to hone your critical thinking skills in everyday life, they will improve sooner than you would expect.

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