1. Critical thinking is the careful, deliberate determination of whether one should accept, reject, or suspend judgment about a claim and the degree of confidence with which one accept or reject it. It is a purposeful and reflective judgment about what to believe or what to do in response to observations, experience, verbal or written expressions, or arguments. It involves determining the meaning and significance of what is observed or expressed, or, concerning a given inference or argument, determining whether there is adequate justification to accept the conclusion as true. 

2. Critical thinking gives due consideration to the evidence, the context of judgment, the relevant criteria for making the judgment well, the applicable methods or techniques for forming the judgment, and the applicable theoretical constructs for understanding the nature of the problem and the question at hand. Critical thinking employs not only logic but broad intellectual criteria such as clarity, credibility, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, significance and fairness.
3. Critical thinking becomes necessary when ordinary thinking, which is often casual or routine, is not up to the task that arises as part of the problems of life. It follows that critical thinking is not based on hard and fast, or step-by-step, procedures. Rather, it needs to be developed by means of learning because it is critical or reflective thinking that enables us to direct our intelligence and to deal with the problems that we face whether they are concrete and practical or theoretical and abstract.
4. Critical thinking proceeds open-mindedly while considering alternative or even opposing points of view. It is aware of, and evaluates, their assumptions, implications, and practical consequences. Moreover, it comes to well-reasoned, defendable conclusions and solutions that included testing them against relevant criteria and standards. These characteristics allows effective communication with others.
5. Critical thinking operates at a higher level of awareness than common sense and intuition, but like it, it too seeks to detect what follows from what. It is affirmative and in unison with impartial truth. Moreover, its reasoning can be intuitively recognized as valid; hence, it improves logical intuition and advances commonsense.
6. Critical thinking, with a noticeable effort of concentration or deliberation, selects and evaluates relevant knowledge and processes it with the applicable intellectual skills. In proceeding this way, it enhances one's ability to understand and learn, to make sound decisions, to solve problems, to be creative, and in general cope with new situations.
7. Critical thinking enables one to get to the hard of a problem, to see what is at issue. Then, in trying to solve it, one ponders, speculates, studies, examines, experiments, asks pointed questions, seeks answers, defends a position, detects faults. One does all this and if necessary starts all over again or calls on third party help.
8. Critical thinking, when logic and facts are applied with transparency and precision, defines the task, raises vital questions, describes connected problems, processes all, and eventually states its findings. The clear veracity of the process allows one to declare and test warranted conclusions and generalizations. One can then improve one's patterns of thought on the basis of this wider experience, and arrive at more accurate judgments about specific things and qualities in everyday life.
9. Critical thinking can occur whenever one evaluates, judges, decides, or solves a problem. Broadly speaking, whenever one must figure out what to believe or what to do, and do so in a reasonable and reflective way. It follows that critical thinking is an integral part of lifelong learning.
10. Critical thinking enables correct reading, writing, speaking, and listening. For instance, without it, the ability to interpret texts is incomplete because one is not trained to read inferentially (reading between the lines) or evaluative (reading beyond the lines). For "none are more hopelessly illiterate than those who falsely belief they can read and write." Lastly, with the ability to read  comes the ability to master language and the content of various branches of knowledge known as disciplines.   
11. Critical thinking goes beyond the ability to interpret, analyze, evaluate and infer, for good critical thinkers can do two more things. They can explain 1. what they think, and 2. how they arrive at conclusions. This facilitates self-assessment, for they can apply their powers of critical thinking to themselves and improve on their previous findings, that is, explanatory ability facilitates self-correction.
12. Critical thinking, like science, is normally a healthy, self-correcting process. As new, better information becomes available, and as the thinker's intellectual skills improve, findings, conclusions, decisions, solutions, etc., will be corrected. In complex cases such as forming a life plan, ultimate belief, or best-life philosophy, this can be a never-ending process due to ever changing circumstances and personal development.

Questions of Clarification

• What do you mean by ______? • Could you give me an example?

• What is your main point? • Would this be an example: ___?
• How does _____ relate to ____? • Could you explain that further?
• Could you put that another way? • Would you say more about that?
• Is your basic point _____ or _____? • Why do you say that?
• What do you think is the main issue here?
• Let me see if I understand you; do you mean ________ or _______?
• How does this relate to our discussion (problem, issue)?
• What do you think John meant by his remark? What did you take John to mean?
• Jack, would you summarize in your own words what Jill has said? ... Jill, is that what you meant?

Questions that Probe Assumptions

• What are you assuming?

• What is Karen assuming?
• What could we assume instead?
• You seem to be assuming ______. Do I understand you correctly?
• All of your reasoning depends on the idea that ____. Why have you based your reasoning on
  ______ rather than ______?
• You seem to be assuming ____. How would you justify taking this for granted?
• Is it always the case? Why do you think the assumption holds here?
• Why would someone make this assumption?

Questions that Probe Reasons and Evidence

• Could you give us an example of that? • Are these reasons adequate?

• How do you know? • Why did you say that?
• Why do you think that is true? • What led you to that belief?
• Do you have any evidence for that? • How does that apply to this case?
• What difference does that make? • What would change your mind?
• What are your reasons for saying that?
• What other information do we need?
• Could you explain your reasons to us?
• But is that good evidence to believe that?
• Is there reason to doubt that evidence?
• Who is in a position to know if that is so?
• What would you say to someone who said ____?
• Can someone else give evidence to support that response?
• By what reasoning did you come to that conclusion?
• How could we find out whether that is true?

Questions About Viewpoints or Perspectives

• You seem to be approaching this issue from _____ perspective. Why have you chosen this rather
  than that perspective?

• How would other groups/types of people respond? Why? What would influence them?
• How could you answer the objection that ______ would make?
• What might someone who believed ___ think?
• Can/did anyone see this another way?
• What would someone who disagrees say?
• What is an alternative?
• How are Ken’s and Roxanne’s ideas alike? Different?

Questions that Probe Implications and Consequences

• What are you implying by that?

• When you say ______, are you implying _______?
• But if that happened, what else would happen as a result? Why?
• What effect would that have?
• Would that necessarily happen or only probably happen?
• If this and this are the case, then what else must also be true?

1. One perceives a situation that requires an important decision. For example, one that has long term consequences such as choosing an education, profession, mate, life plan, ultimate belief, diet, place to reside, etc. Or one identifies a problem by asking: What is the problem? What is wrong with the current situation.
2. One defines a goal, a clear description of one's objective. This includes selecting key criteria that must be satisfied by the goals of the final decision.
3. One gets informed about relevant facts and data. What are the restraining and helping forces?
4. One thinks of alternatives or possible courses of action.
5. One evaluates and compares the most promising possibilities. This step is the most important one, and one models of how to go about it is outlined below.
6. One acts on the best choice or alternative, that is, one implements it.

1. Make a "Pros" and "Cons" list as above. Fill in the reasons as instructed above.
2. Evaluate the reasons by assigning a number between 1 and 10. Use 10 for the most important reasons and 1 for the least important ones.
3. Add the numbers for each column. The "Pros" or "Cons" column with the greater number is the decision you should go with. If roughly equal use the Freud coin-toss method or let your feelings decide.
4. Follow the steps 1-3 for all the significant alternatives you have.
5. Summarize your experience and feelings about each of the options you have evaluated.
6. Evaluate each summary by assigning a numerical value as above, e.g., 1-10. The one with the highest numerical value should be your choice.
7. Write your justification referring to factors, the "Pros," other than the numerical score.
8. Finally, if it is a major decision, always sleep on it and let the unconscious go to work. In the end, you may not have made the right decision but you should have no regrets, or worse, guilt feelings because you were prudent und made the best decision based on what you knew at the time--you could not have done any better.