Having ability to think critically is quite precious for people’s features since it prepares them to become independent lifelong learners as well as to deal with the multitude challenges in their personal and professional life (Tsui, 2002). Critical thinking is more than only thinking about individuals own thinking (Halpern, 2003). The development of critical thinking is a complex process (Choy & Cheah, 2009). There are many factors that influence this process. Education has a quite important role among these factors because one of the long terms universal goals of education is to raise individuals as critical thinkers to become independent lifelong learners (Pithers & Soden, 2000; Tsui, 2002). Education is not only improves the critical thinking skills but also helps individuals to transfer these skills to different situations and domains of knowledge. However, most of the studies’ findings display that the level of critical thinking of students in every stage of schooling is inadequate (Norris, 1985; Keeley, 1992; Neubert & Binko, 1992 as cited in Tsui, 2002; Halpern, 2003).

       Significant amount of research has been conducted on the influence of education on development of critical thinking was at the high school and undergraduate level. No matter in what discipline and at which level, it is expected from education to enable graduates to think critically (Pithers & Soden, 2000). Hence, like undergraduate education, the role of graduate education in the development of individuals of critical thinking is quite vital. However, when the literature is examined, almost no study on the development of critical thinking related to graduate education level is conducted. In addition, the research existing designs of studies on critical thinking are mostly based on quantitative approach, and it is measured by standardized multiple choice tests. Therefore, the researchers could not examine the educational factors that affect students’ critical thinking in detail. With the qualitative approach, the researchers can have deep insight in which factors are important in the development of critical thinking and how. Ubuz, Didiş, Şahin and Öçal (2010) investigated the effects of graduate courses on graduate students’ critical thinking skills with a qualitative approach. The findings of the study displayed that articles, feedbacks, learning process, instructor and personal factors had quite significant effects on improving graduate students’ critical thinking. Therefore, subsequent to Ubuz, Didiş, Şahin and Öçal’s (2010) study, we aimed to investigate the effects of articles used in graduate courses on fostering students’ critical thinking in depth. The research question was: How do students perceive the effects of articles used in graduate courses on fostering their critical thinking? For the purpose of this study, critical thinking is briefly defined as graduate students’ abilities to identify the issues bring different ideas together and synthesize them into new ideas, present convincing arguments, evaluate these ideas in order to carry out unique research (studies) in their field of interest.

Choy, S. C., & Cheah, P. K. (2009). Teacher perceptions of critical thinking among students and its influence on higher education. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 20(2), 198-206. Halpern, D. F. (2003). Thought and knowledge: An introduction to critical thinking. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Pithers, R. T., & Soden, R. (2000). Critical thinking in education: A review. Educational Research. 42(3), 239-249. Tsui, L. (2002). Fostering critical thinking through effective pedagogy: Evidence from four institutional case studies. The Journal of Higher Education, 73(6), 740-763 Ubuz, B., Didis, G. M., Şahin, Z., & Öçal, F. (2010, August). The effect of courses on the development of doctorate students’ critical thinking skills. Paper presented at the Congress 9th National Science and Mathematics Education, Izmir, TURKEY.