Critical Thinking - Graduate Writing Center

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Critical Thinking


Growing up, we all had that one shady friend who was always trying to pull a fast one. "You should trade me your ratty old Honus Wagner card for this super-rare G.I. Joe. My dad says it's going to be way more valuable, plus it comes with this awesome hang glider. What do you say?"

Now, we're not suggesting that your fellow scholars are trying to trick anyone, but we are suggesting that you've already practiced the skepticism that is the essence of critical thinking. "Why are you calling my baseball card 'ratty'? How do you know your toy is more valuable? Is it really that rare? Who cares what your dad thinks? What does the hang glider have to do with anything?"

In the same way, asking questions about the arguments you encounter during your academic career is essential to figuring out where you stand on various issues—where you think the truth lies. Critical thinking is therefore critical in both senses: it's important—the very core of academic work—and it involves critiquing ideas, both your own and those of others, figuring out what's convincing about them, what isn't, and why. 

Just as the natural world shapes living things, discarding adaptations that don't work and elaborating on those that do, critical thinking shapes and refines our body of knowledge. Those ideas that can withstand continuous scrutiny endure.

To get some practice with critical thinking, be sure to catch our "Strategic Reading II" workshop. Workshops are offered in the first four weeks of each quarter; you can sign up during workshop season through WCOnline. Alternatively, view this video of the workshop.

Need even more convincing? Check out these links—and, whatever else you do, for the love of Pete, don't trade the Honus.

Critical Thinking Links

A–Z content heading

Writing Topics A–Z


This index links to the most relevant page for each item. Please email us at writingcenter@nps.edu if we're missing something!

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A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

A

abbreviations

abstracts

academic writing

acronyms

active voice

adjectives, compound

advisor, selecting and working with

AI

apostrophes

appointment with GWC coaches, how to schedule

argument

article usage

artificial intelligence

assignments, understanding them

audience

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B

body paragraphs

booking an appointment with a GWC coach

brackets, square

brainstorming

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C

capitalization

citations

charts

ChatGPT

citation software

citation styles

clauses

clarity

clustering

coaching, about

coaching, how to schedule

colons

comma splices

commas, FANBOYS

commas, introductory

commas, list

commas, nonessential / nonrestrictive information

commas, Oxford

commas, serial

common knowledge

commonly confused words

compare-and-contrast papers

compound adjectives / modifiers

concision

conclusions

conference presentations

conjunctive adverbs

coordinating conjunctions

copyright and fair use

critical thinking

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D

dangling modifiers

dashes

dependent clauses

dependent marker words

display equations

distance learning

double submission of coursework

drafting

Dudley Knox Library

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E

editing your own work

editing: outside editors

em dash

en dash

equations

exclamation points

executive summary

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F

FANBOYS

FAQs

figures

first person, use of in academic writing

footnotes

fragments

free-writing

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G

generative artificial intelligence (AI)

gerunds

grammar

graphics

graphs

group writing

GWC appointment, how to schedule

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H

homophones

Honor Code, NPS

human subjects research

hyphens

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I

ibid.

incomplete sentences

independent clauses

Institutional Review Board

interviews, conducting

introductions

IRB

iThenticate

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J

Joining the Academic Conversation

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L

LaTeX

library liaisons

lists, syntax of

literature reviews

logic and analysis

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M

M dash

making a GWC appointment

mathematics

memos

methodology

modifiers, compound

modifiers, misplaced

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N

N dash

nominalizations

note-taking

noun clusters

numbers

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O

organization

outlining

Oxford comma

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P

paragraph development

parallelism

paraphrasing

parentheses

parts of speech

passive voice

periods

persuasion

phrases vs. clauses

plagiarism, how to avoid

plagiarism-detection software

plain language

polishing

prepositional phrases

prepositions

pronouns, clarity with

pronouns, grammar of

proofreading

publishing

punctuation

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Q

questionnaires, administering

questions

quotation marks

quoting

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R

Reading with Intent I

Reading with Intent II

redundancies

reference software

reflection papers

research

research guides, discipline-specific

research questions

restrictive vs. nonrestrictive information

reusing papers

reverse outlining

revision

roadmaps

run-on sentences

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S

scheduling a GWC appointment

self-citing

semicolons

sentence fragments

serial comma

signal phrases

significance

so what?

source blending

sources, engaging with / critiquing

sources, evaluating the reliability of

sources, citing

spelling

standard essay structure

STEM / technical writing

Strategic Reading I

Strategic Reading II

style

subject–verb agreement

subjects, grammatical

subordinating conjunctions

summarizing

surveys, administering

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T

tables

teams, writing in

technical writing

tense

that vs. which

thesis advisor, selecting and working with

thesis process overview

Thesis Processing Office (TPO)

thesis proposals: common elements

thesis statements

thesis writing

this, that, these, those

tone, professional

topic sentences

transitions

types of papers

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U

United States or U.S.?

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V

verbs and verb tense

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W

which vs. that

why write?

writer’s block

writing in groups / teams

writing process

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Z

Zotero

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