Is critical thinking about being critical in the usual sense of being negative, or is it about thoughtful thinking?

Please explain your answer.

I believe that critical thinking is not just or always to think negatively but, instead, to be thoughtful in thinking.
By this I mean that it is easy to be negative, but it is harder to look subjectively in a way as to consider every
perspective and think about what you are going to say and the context in which it will be relayed
Although I can see why many people may believe that critical thinking is about being negative, to offer
"critique" actually means to offer advice. This in itself doesnt necessarily have to be negative advice, it can be
positive in a way as to give praise where due.
After reading Jennifer Moons chapter, has your understanding of critical thinking changed, and if yes, how?
How could you use critical thinking as a learning tool?
Yes I believe that before I started to read this chapter, my interpretation of this phrase was simple, I believed that
to think critically about a subject was to gain a higher understanding of the subject that you are learning about.
Now after reading this chapter I can see that my first belief of the meaning of this phrase was shallow and
negative by this I mean "very simple" compared to the complex nature that I now understand it to be. For
example, I can now see that to think critically is more of a frame of mind which incorporates a large and varied
base of skills. Previously I saw it as a single path in which I would look at the subject in detail, but now I can
see it is this and much more. For a start when thinking critically you are doing more than just looking in detail,
you are analysing multiple areas of the subject in order to gain an understanding.
Following on, my first belief was that you could think critically about anything, but now I can see the apparent
error in my belief. For there to be critical thinking, you must first have a subject that requires such depth and
concentration. A simple subject with relatively shallow depth would not warrant this type of thinking.
Write a short report on plagiarism based on the following quote:
Plagiarism is intellectual theft (Breach, 2009, 124). Please finish your report by including your own
knowledge/experience regarding plagiarism and using a reference system. Did you know what plagiarism was?
Were you aware of the importance of acknowledging sources?
Minimum 500 words.
In this report I will be exploring what I believe the quote plagiarism is intellectual theft is and what
significance it holds.
Plagiarism is a wide and varied subject with many sub-categories and parts to it. By definition it is the taking of
a persons work whether they know or not and submitting/claiming it as your own. The quote shows that it is
intellectual theft. This, I believe, is true as by definition any work which is written or created by someone can be
called intellectual, and as you are taking something without someones knowledge you are, by definition,
stealing which is theft.
.
Before reading this book chapter, I believed that this quote indicated that, in order for it to be plagiarism, you
must be taking work from an academic source. By this I mean someone who is considered an intellectual." So
from my very limited background knowledge, I understood that it was, in fact, stealing, but did not know/
understand how seriously it is frowned upon once you are studying at a high academic standard, such as degree
level and above.
Now that I have read this chapter I can see that plagiarism is a very serious offence with very high costs which
can greatly affect your ability as a student to study or as a professional to become recognised and believed by
others.
Moving on, from the chapter I can also now see that if someone steals and uses your work as their own, when
they get caught you will also face prosecution even though you did not play a part in the process or have prior
knowledge of this happening. This is known as collusion. Although many people believe that you are only really
plagiarising someones work if you copy from a book or journal, in fact the place that most plagiarism takes

place is on is the internet. This is because of its wide amount of information and peoples belief that if its on the
internet it cant be copyrighted or called plagiarism if copied.
Although my knowledge of plagiarism is now more extensive, before reading this I did understand the
rudiments that it consists of. Through my education in secondary school and sixth form, I have met plagiarism
rules before. For all of the GCSES and A levels I have completed, I have needed to sign a form ensuring that
none of my work was copied or taken from others. I now understand the significance of this and the
implications of finding this, if I was to be found to have plagiarised another persons work.
Regarding the use of a reference system in work, I have a very limited knowledge of this as, through my other
qualifications, I have only used basic forms of a referencing system, such as, when quoting, use quotation marks
and after quoting, ensure I say where I have found the quote. Now after reading this chapter, I can see that there
is a very high emphasis and thus importance in the way that you reference your work. The only way that you
can be sure to not be committing plagiarism is to reference all of the parts of your work that are not yours from
quotes to images, regardless of the source.