CRITO: a five-step method for critically assessing one's own arguments (Conclusion, Reasons, Inference, Truth, Objections)¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

CRITO is an acronymic method formed from "the logical terms Conclusion, Reasons, Inference, Truth, and Objections." Students first identify a substantive, debatable conclusion, supply sufficient reasons, test the inference connecting reasons to conclusion, test the truth of the reasons, and finally construct the strongest imaginable objections. The paper claims it "addresses both the principled reason assessment and critical attitude components of critical thinking" and works as an outline for argumentative or evaluative essays.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Only a general understanding of the nature of effective argumentation, despite the formal-logic vocabulary

Constraints¶

• The paper states CRITO does not guarantee, but only promotes and directs, critical thought and behavior

Target Learners¶

• undergraduate students

Target Learning Goals¶

• critical evaluation of one's own arguments
• argumentative essay writing

Affordances¶

• Siegel Two Component Critical Thinking

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Johnson, David Kenneth. (1995). CRITO: Informal Logic, Critical Thinking, and the Argumentative Essay. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED384062