Critical thinking involves three main components. The first one is making sure you are asking the right questions. You need to try and get to the heart of the matter of what the author is trying to convey. The second one is to try to begin to answer those questions by reasoning each one of them out, one at a time. You need to really think about how you are answering the questions and not just what you automatically would assume the answer would be. Lastly, the third and final component is believing the conclusion of your reasoning. Do you feel in your whole being that you have dissected the article and torn it apart to believe that you are correct in your conclusions?
Critical thinking has gotten a bad wrap these days. People tend to think of critical thinking as only negative people or people without emotions critically think things through. That really should be the farthest from the truth. Any person who feels passionately about a subject should learn how to critically think things through. You must analyze and dissect each area of the subject. You might be surprised to find your conclusions are what you thought they would be or a completely different conclusion.
Emotions play a huge role when you are trying to critically think through a subject. You must have an open mind at all times. You cannot let past feelings or emotions cloud your judgments on the subject at hand. Negativity and anger can do damaging things to a persons mind. If you are upset about what you are dealing with, take some time to redirect and focus on the subject when you have cleared your mind and are more level headed. Your mind will tend to be more open to new and different ideas if you wipe out all the negativity from it. On the other side of the coin, when you are passionate about the subject, you will be more apt to research it more in depth and be more inclined to many different ideas and opinions in order to reach the best possible solution to the...