What is critical thinking? Critical thinking is a tool that can be used in all aspects of life, a thought process that develops through careful reasoning. Critical thinking is a mental process that must be learned in order to effectively understand and interpret information. The ability to read is just as important as the ability to understand what is being read. Critical thinking is used to fully understand what is being read and can also be used with spoken words. Understanding whether the information is accurate and understanding the purpose of the argument are two major elements of critical thinking. The first step in understanding whether the information presented is accurate is to discover whether the source is reliable and scientific. The next step would be to understand the fallacies of the reasoning. Understanding the types of fallacies will also help understand the point of the argument. Argumentation fallacies are false limitations of argumentation and may be deliberately stated to facilitate argumentation or they may simply be an error on the part of the author. Deliberate errors, if detected, automatically reduce the ability to argue effectively. Once one part of an argument is shown to be deliberately falsified, the rest of the argument lacks credibility. Erroneous errors can have the same impact on credibility as deliberate errors, but they are more forgiving. Errors can occur when facts are used in the wrong context, conclusions are drawn without the correct flow of events, or the arguer simply does not have enough evidence to support their argument. Errors occur in oral and written communication because it would be impossible to know everything and correctly articulate all the information...... middle of paper ...... becomes especially true when the information comes from a professional who should know what they claim. There is a lack of thinking for oneself with the abundance of information available at the touch of a button that technology has provided. Personal opinion has taken the place of once held fact in society and scholarly information is hidden beneath the mountains of non-scholarly information available at any time. Society is faster and lazier than any previous generation, and it is easier to believe the facts given to someone than to spend time researching facts for clarity and truth. If critical thinking is used correctly, argumentation fallacies would not work because the listener or reader would be aware of the existence of the fallacies, and the writer or speaker would have the determination to configure the thought and l information in an appropriate and thorough manner..