What is critical thinking

Critical thinking is our ability as humans to come to a conclusion without relying on mere natural instincts, but using thought and reason based on evidence instead.

I have heard this term used throughout my childhood in school. In my math book there were small text boxes with word problems labeled "Critical Thinking". And 'thinking critically' was something my mom always drilled into my head. I also took philosophy 194-critical reasoning, which talked a lot about thinking critically.

St Cloud State University professor, Dr. Shaffer, defines Critical thinking as:

"...critical thinking/good scientific methodology can be simply defined as the methods of belief formation, evaluation, and maintenance that ground beliefs in objective (observational) evidence and argument so that the chances of generating all and only true beliefs are maximized."

https://stcloudstate.ims.mnscu.edu/d2l/common/viewFile.d2lfile/Database/MjMxNjY1MzY/Critical%20Thinking%20Introductory%20Lecture%20AU.doc?ou=1527434

As you can see in the definition, and also by clicking on the link and reading further into Dr Shaffer's definition, Shaffer says that beliefs must be ground in 'objective' truths, and we must form a belief, evaluate the belief's objective validity, then maintain it's accuracy by judging it against common known facts and current science.

The connection between IM 204 and critical thinking is that to successfully complete research, we as researchers must be constantly thinking critically and use reason and facts when reviewing data. Then, we use these facts in our writings in order to find truth. Because that is what research is all about, finding the truth.