Becoming a Critical Thinker For your university studies and beyond

Becoming a critical thinker is a straight-forward, reassuring, and complete guide to critical thinking - one that helps you to understand critical thinking and develop the skills needed to employ it. This book supports the reader to not only think critically, but to do so independently, as a student, professional, and global citizen. The book has a clear three-part structure: firstly, examining what critical thinking is; secondly, exploring the three overarching aims of critical thinking; and finally, focussing on how to develop the essential tools to support those aims. This text assumes no prior knowledge or understanding: it has been developed to gently guide the reader from school-level education to university-level thinking in a clear and engaging manner. This is the only critical thinking skills text to offer insights and advice from professionals and students, helping the reader learn from the experiences of others in a range of contexts. Each chapter also offers guided exercises, checklists, and further reading to encourage the reader to apply techniques learnt to real situations. It is also the only text to offer chapters dedicated to listening and speaking, which are often overlooked, but are vitally important skills. This is the ideal introduction to critical thinking for students across all disciplines. Digital formats and resources Becoming a Critical Thinker is available for students and institutions to purchase in a variety of formats, and is supported by online resources. - The e-book offers a mobile experience and convenient access along with functionality tools, navigation features, and links that offer extra learning support: www.oxfordtextbooks.co.uk/ebooks - The book's online resources include: For students: - Additional 'student say' features - Links to additional resources - Downloadable Tools Matrix - Downloadable checklists - Fully-customisable argument map - MCQs - Flashcard glossary For lecturers: - Tutorial suggestions - PowerPoint slides

1 - Why go to university?
2 - What is critical thinking?
3 - How to become a critical thinker
4 - Quality of argument
5 - Strength of evidence
6 - Clarity of communication
7 - Writing
8 - Reading
9 - Listening
10 - Speaking
11 - Thinking

Dr Sarah Birrell Ivory is a Lecturer in Climate Change and Business Strategy at the University of Edinburgh Business School (UEBS). Dr Ivory established the undergraduate Global Challenges for Business course, which in 2019 won one of the prestigious Aspen Institute's 'Ideas Worth Teaching' awards. This course is centred around critical thinking, understood through the lens of global challenges. Dr Ivory has taken this award-winning approach to offer students and educators a fresh way of learning and teaching critical thinking. In addition, Dr Ivory is Director of the Centre for Business, Climate Change and Sustainability (CBCCS) and has an established research career in sustainability, social enterprise, and critical thinking pedagogy. In the past, Dr Ivory has taught study skills for business, strategy, organisational behaviour, leadership, sustainability, and climate and environmental policy.