critical thinking

I found Halpern's idea that critical thinking is "used to describe thinking that is purposeful, reasoned and goal directed" to be related to my experience writing my hypertext essay. While making my hypertext, I not only had to review the information I read, analyze it and organize it into a cohesive essay, but I had to plan how to spread this essay across multiple web pages. I found this a little challenging at first but by planning and directing my ideas towards my goal, a series of webpages, i was able to create my hypertext. I had to think critically about how to lay out and organize my hypertext before I began writing, which I actually found made writing my paper more easy than the way I would traditionally write a research paper. I also used this concept to predict whether my site would be a successful site for the reader and if it would promote interest.
Moore and Parker's definition of critical thinking, "careful and deliberate determination of whether to accept, reject, or suspend judgment", related to the topic of my hypertext. While researching and writing my essay I had to be careful not to include my own opinions of whether or not I felt prostitution was right. It was difficult to set aside my judgments and opinions when writing but I realized that I had to in order to effectively analyze the topic. I found at some points that my opinion was beneficial to my writing, however, for the most part I had to set aside my own views.
I related to Kurland's definition of critical thinking similarly to that of Moore and Parker. With Kurland's definition, I did find myself "following evidence where it lea[d]; considering all possibilities; relying on reason rather than emotion (...) considering a variety of possible viewpoints and explanations; [and] weighing the effects of motives and biases". I found all of this necessary in order to effectively create a hypertext essay on prostitution. My topic, prostitution is very controversial, especially considering arguments for and against the legalization of it. I found that I had to set my own judgments aside and "consider all possibilities" as well as "rely on reason rather than emotion". I also examined "the effects of motives and biases" and because I remained so openminded, my opinions on some aspects of prostitution did change, however, I did not include my opinions in my paper. I found the part of the definition "being precise" as related to my organization of my hypertext.