Greg Koukl gives a “crash course” on critical thinking in particular when responding to the New Atheists.  Click here to read the whole article.

Excerpt:

The primary purpose of reason is to help us discover what is true. The primary tool
of reason is argument. An argument is a specific kind of thing. Think of it like a simple
house, a roof supported by walls. The roof is the conclusion, and the walls are the
supporting ideas. If the walls are solid, the conclusion rests securely on its supporting
structure. If the walls collapse, the roof comes down, and the argument is defeated.

The task of critical thinking is to weed out distracting or irrelevant details so you
have an unobstructed view of the structure of the core argument and can assess its
strength. This involves a simple, four-step plan.

(HT: JT)