UMDNJ-School of Nursing - Center for Academic Success

Center for Academic Success

Definitions of Critical Thinking on the Web:

-- is a term used to refer to those kinds of mental activity that are clear, precise, and purposeful. It is typically associated with solving complex real world problems, generating multiple (or creative) solutions to a problem, drawing inferences, synthesizing and integrating information, distinguishing between fact and opinion, or estimating potential outcomes, but it can also refer to the process of evaluating the quality of one's own thinking. ... www.senate.psu.edu/curriculum_resources/guide/glossary.html

-- An ability to evaluate information and opinions in a systematic, purposeful, efficient manner. highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0070294267/student_view0/glossary_a-d.html

-- An essential tool of inquiry; purposeful, self-regulatory judgment that results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations upon which that judgment is based. ... www.netnet.org/students/student%20glossary.htm

-- A cognitive process based on reflective thought and a tolerance for ambiguity which has the following attributes: web.uccs.edu/bethelstudenthandbook/definition_of_curriculum_terms.htm

-- Reasonable reflective thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe or do. More precisely, it is assessing the authenticity, accuracy, and/or worth of knowledge claims and arguments. It requires careful, precise, persistent and objective analysis of any knowledge claim or belief to judge its validity and/or worth. www.seattlecentral.org/faculty/jshoop/glossary.html

-- is the process of evaluating propositions or hypotheses and making judgments about them on the basis of well-supported evidence. (see Thinking Critically About Psychology) Example: Consider the five steps of critical thinking. (a) What am I being asked to believe or accept? What is the hypothesis? (b) What evidence is available to support the assertion? Is it reliable and valid? (c) Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence? ... college.hmco.com/psychology/bernstein/psychology/6e/students/key_terms/ch02.html

-- Focused, organized thinking about such things as the logical relationships among ideas, the soundness of evidence, and the differences between fact and opinion. highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/007256296x/student_view0/glossary.html

-- A persistent effort to examine evidence that supports any belief, solution, or conclusion prior to its acceptance. The ability to think clearly, to analyze, and to reason logically. www.misd.net/gifted/terms.htm

-- Shows or requires careful analysis before judgment. www.ncpublicschools.org/curriculum/artsed/scos/visualarts/vglossary

-- Systematic and analytic reasoning; includes convergent and logical thinking and the high levels of Bloom's taxonomy. www.district196.org/elp/educationalterms.htm

-- Cultivated analytical skills allowing students to logically comprehend and solve complex concepts or problems. pages.mhlearningnetwork.com/jdelisle/id25.html

-- A complex set of cognitive skills employed in problem-solving and intellectual consideration and innovation. ... www.trincoll.edu/~tvogel/gloss.htm

-- Critical thinking is a process that challenges an individual to use reflective, reasonable, rational thinking to gather, interpret and evaluate information in order to derive a judgment. The process involves thinking beyond a single solution for a problem and focusing on deciding what the best alternatives are. www.ptc.edu/department_nursing/Philosophy.htm

-- one of the most important skills for college work and beyond, seeks the meaning beneath the surface of a statement, poem, editorial, picture, advertisement, or other “text.” Using analysis, the critical thinker separates this text into its elements in order to see meanings, relations, and assumptions that might otherwise remain buried. members.tripod.com/hjohnsonmac0/TermsToKnow.htm

-- Summarized from a variety of composition theorists from Key Terms in Composition Studies; includes seeing facts stripped down and vulnerable, similar to reflective thinking that invites speculation and questioning, or as John Trimbur defines: ì(elicits) counter-reading of the codes and practices of the dominant cultureî (50-51). english.montclair.edu/isaacs/605LitResearch/litermFA02.htm

-- The careful and deliberate determination of whether to accept, reject, or suspend judgment about a claim. www.mhhe.com/mayfieldpub/ct/ch01/glossary.htm

-- Critical thinking is the rational and reflective process of making judgments. This process underlies independent and interdependent nursing decisions and provides the basis for reflective nursing practice. Critical thinking includes the ability to manage ambiguity as part of the complexity of human experience and roles. http://k.faculty.umkc.edu/kinnamanm/CompDef.htm

-- is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information, gathered or generated by observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, and/or communication as a guide to belief or action. ... www.delmar.edu/rn/handbook/docs/glossary.html

-- Critical thinking is a mental process of analyzing or evaluating information. Such information may be gathered from observation, experience, reasoning, or communication. Critical thinking has its basis in intellectual values that go beyond subject matter divisions and include: clarity, accuracy, precision, evidence, thoroughness and fairness. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_thinking