Reading for academic purposes requires more energy and often time, than reading for pleasure. As you read a source you need to be thinking critically about the source itself to determine its relevance, credibility and suitability. Equally, you need to think critically about the information within the source too.
Critical thinking is about questioning the information, ideas and arguments you come across in order to form your own rational and logical conclusions about them. We use critical thinking in everyday life and it is fundamental to success at university.
Watch this short video to discover more about critical thinking:
When reading, thinking critically might involve analysing the evidence and arguments, identifying strengths and limitations and the significance of these; asking questions to gain a deeper understanding; and coming to your own conclusions about the information.
Why not check out the video below which includes tips about using critical thinking
You are not expected to use every source you find when writing your literature review. Part of your task is to be selective and identify the most appropriate sources by critically evaluating them.
The CRAAP Test looks at Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose.
The poster below covers the CRAAP test in more detail:
Once you’ve selected the sources you will include in your literature review, you will do a close or in-depth reading where you actively ask critical questions and aim to understand the source, how it sits within the rest of the literature, and what you can take away from it.
We recommend using the Plymouth Model of Critical Thinking to promote critically reading a source.
Discover more about models of critical thinking in the video and exploring the documents below.
Note taking is an important part of academic practice. Not only is it where you summarise the argument or main ideas, and record what you’ve read, but it’s where you can ask (and try to answer) your questions, make comparisons to other sources and identify quotes that may be of use. There’s no right way to take notes but one method that many students find useful is the Cornell method.
Try the Cornell method out in the activity below:
When you start reading note down the date and bibliographic details (such as author, title, name of the journal, date of publication, publisher, page range or a specific page) – it’s very annoying when you lose the details of something you later decide to include in your assignment.
Check out the document below to support you with notetaking:
You don’t need to read every source you find in depth to make a decision on whether you will use it. You can start by keeping the evaluation criteria in your mind while reading the abstract or when you skim read the discussion or conclusion. This should help you decide what sources are or are not important for your assessment.
See the document below to support you with reading critically.
Manchester Metropolitan University (ND) Evaluating sources of information. Available at: https://www.mmu.ac.uk/library/referencing-and-study-support/evaluating-information#tab-33917-4 (Accessed: 14 July 2023).
Plymouth University (ND) Critical thinking. Available at: https://archive.learnhigher.ac.uk/resources/files/Critical%20thinking/8%20Critical%20Thinking.pdf (Accessed: 2 August 2023).
Simmons University (ND) Evaluating sources: evaluating resources. Available at:https://simmons.libguides.com/evaluatingsources (Accessed: 2 August 2023).
University of Hull (2021) Models of critical thinking. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmqTnRq03dA (Accessed: 2 August 2023).
Western University (2012) Evaluating sources. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyMT08mD7Ds (Accessed:2 August 2023).
Wireless Philosophy (2014) Fundamentals: an introduction to critical thinking. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cum3k-Wglfw&t=2s (Accessed: 2 August 2023).