TALKING THE TALK

“Are criticizing and thinking critically the same thing?” Criticize can sometimes mean “find fault with,” and you certainly don’t have to be relentlessly negative to think critically. Instead, critical thinking means, first and foremost, asking good questions—and not simply accepting what you see at face value. By asking not only what words and images mean, but also how meaning gets across, critical thinkers consider why a text makes a particular claim, what writers may be leaving out or ignoring, and how to tell whether evidence is accurate and believable. If you’re considering questions like these, then you’re thinking critically.