A thinking and self-directed person one must learn to develop own responses to other people’s ideas. Accepting other people’s ideas is a careless way of handling things and one must learn to be a critical thinker. Often students make judgements on first impressions or gut feelings but always remember there is a consequence to each and every reaction of yours. Thinking before acting by practice is a way to learn to become a critical thinker.
Often as research scholars, your supervisor, would never want you to be uninvolved in writing a research paper. It becomes a perpetual task in your doctoral journey. Papers often require analysis of an issue and putting down your perspective. This calls for critical thinking skills and you can surely work upon them. Here are the ways:
Have conclusive thoughts about what you are thinking and why you are thinking so. Having clarity of your primitive ideas is useful for clarifying your thought process
Try to gather the views and opinions of other people, ensure to get a holistic perspective, some that support your idea and some that do not. Taking expert opinions is further useful.
Organise the different views you have gathered, constructing chart with points that go forth as well as against the thought. Compare them with your initial opinion
This would help you to make additions or revisions in the existing idea of yours, with opinions and views from diverse sources. A good critical thinker is someone who can develop the most reasonable response here, from all different ideas.
Train yourself to work in the above mentioned thought process as it is imperative. Know that academic research is all about new ideas, perspectives and arguments. The researcher is majorly expected to seek information from up teen number of sources and then develop an informed point of view that is completely innovative in its own way. It has to be a process of enquiry, asking intellectual and inquisitive questions and answering them after a thoughtful and critical reflection. You must take research as a recursive process where you have to time and again go to revisit ideas and information, wherever necessary and keep refining your question and approach with perpetual and consistent reflection and revision.
Because research requires you to be a critical thinker and not just be straightforward but do not get confused about it. Use your anxiety as eustress so that you can get into that mode of good critical thinking and generate a high quality research paper.