Importance Of Critical Thinking In University Studies

CRITICAL THINKING AN EFFECTIVE ATTRIBUTE FOR SUCCESS IN UNIVERSITY STUDIES

INTRODUCTION

Critical thinking is an imperative skill to acquire for university success and life in general (Wallace & Schirato, 1999). Thinking critically means being able to be aware, make connection with your learning to the world, question and be able to engage with the information you are taking in (Brookfield, 1987). This essay seeks to find out if critical thinking assists university students to succeed in their studies. It will firstly provide explanation on what is actually meant by thinking critically and how one can achieve it. Secondly, evidence will be provided as to whether critical thinking helps with university studies. A conclusion will follow.

UNDERSTANDING

Furthermore critical thinking includes the ability to engage in inflective learning and it is also a special tool needed in research and writing in university. Critical thinking is highly important in researching and writing as most university students need this skill when writing an academic report. Only a few studies to date have actually examined the link between critical thinking and writing, however, their small but in-depth study suggested that properly designed writing assignments could support higher-level thinking, like taking notes, answering study questions, and writing an analytical essay. Look at the assignment question, and formulate some questions of your own categorising the factors involved, establishing cause-effect chains, making comparisons and contrasts, pointing out problems and suggesting solutions, evaluating theories and relating them to practice. In doing this writing academic essay would be easy to write and research on.Allen ( 1997, p.2) stated that reasoning has been one of the greatest advances that human being have made in their ability of understanding and making

A student, when given an essay to write, he/she might not know how to start or go about it, but with reasoning and reflective study, he is able to find out where and how to look for the information needed. Allen (1997, p.3) states that reasoning involves thinking about issues, to analyse in more depth, making connections and the process of communicating our ideas. Therefore, in order for one to be successful in his/her university studies, reason needs to be improved on another instant to where reasoning plays a part in university students success. Therefore, according to Bean (1996) , student expand more and broadly on writing when asked to pose questions and reason out possible solution rather than giving them any random topic to write on. This goes to show that when a student engages in reasoning, which is an attribute of critical thinking, they tend to be more productive. Reflective learning which is linked to reasoning is therefore essential in becoming successful in university. Mache (2012) states that as a reflective student, going back on your previous work helps excel in the studies, reflecting on his learning allows the student to link his development to practical results and broadens the definition of what appears to be a useful activity. As a reflective learner the student will think about how he can use new information and abilities in his upcoming