According to The National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking (a non-profit organisation based in the U.S.) critical thinking is defined as the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skilfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.

Critical thinking especially in the areas of academic learning is a difficult and tedious task. With the many sources of academic references, putting an argument in context can be confusing. Fitting the pieces together to make a viable argument is especially complex if the subject matter is conceptual and comprise of may forms of answers e.g. for subjects such as strategic management and consumer behaviours, organisational behaviour and information system.