The ability to think critically is an essential skill for postgraduate students – and it will be essential in your profession. You may not be taught it explicitly but it is a skill that, with some guidelines, you can teach yourself.

The aim of this tutorial is to develop your critical thinking capacity. It will take time but you don’t need to do the activities in one session. The tutorial begins with an overview of what critical thinking involves. It then takes you through the process of critically reading an article for an assignment.
The steps in this process are:
	•	Analyse the task
	•	Begin research
	•	Pre-reading activities
	•	Make a list of questions
	•	Deep reading
	•	Make notes
	•	Evaluate article
	•	Mind map from memory
	•	Consolidate your knowledge