Critical Thinking: Just what the heck is it and how do you get better at it?

Fisher & Scriven define critical thinking as "Skilled, active, interpretation and evaluation of observations, communications, information, and argumentation." -- huh? In simpler terms, critical thinking generally requires the ability to recognize problems and to find workable means for meeting those problems.  To be a good critical thinker you need to:

• marshal pertinent information 
• recognize assumptions and logical fallacies
• appraise evidence and evaluate arguments
• draw warranted conclusions and generalizations
• test conclusions and generalizations 

and ultimately to render accurate judgments about specific things and qualities in everyday life. Bottom-line: critical thinking is about being both willing AND able to evaluate your own thinking and the thinking of others.