Critical Thinking
Questions to Ask Yourself When Writing a Paper, Creating a Presentation, or Speaking
Adapted from Paul, R. P. and Elder, L. (2008). The miniature guide to critical thinking: Concepts and tools. Tomales, CA: Foundations for Critical Thinking Press. p. 6.
Purpose: What am I trying to accomplish? What is the purpose of this paper/presentation?
Questions: What question am I raising or trying to answer?
Information: What information am I using to support my conclusion? What experience have I had to support my claim?
Inferences/Conclusions: How did I read this conclusion? Is there another way to interpret the information?
Concepts: What is the main idea? Am I able to explain the main idea?
Assumptions: What am I taking for granted with this topic? What am I assuming to be true that I haven’t proved with information?
Implications/Consequences: If someone believes me, what are the implications? What might happen?
Points of View: What is my point of view for this issue? What other points of view might there be?

Template for Analyzing an Article (or chapter, or blog, or video)
Adapted from Paul, R. P. and Elder, L. (2008). The miniature guide to critical thinking: Concepts and tools. Tomales, CA: Foundations for Critical Thinking Press. p. 11.
1. The main purpose of this article is ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(State the author’s/presenter’s purpose for the article, blog, video, webpage, or other source)

2. The key question that the author is addressing is ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(Figure out the key question in the author’s/presenter’s mind when he or she wrote the article, script, etc.)

3. The most important information in this article is ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(Determine the facts, experiences, and/or other data the author used to support his or her claims)

4. The main inferences/conclusions in this article are ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(Identify the main conclusions that are presented)

5. The key concept(s )we need to understand from this article or other source is(are)