The Critical Thinker


When critical thinkers write,
they become better critical thinkers.
Writing is the transportation that leads us to the destination of being true critical thinkers.  
That’s the first aim of college papers.

Slide 2


The same questions we ask the author of a piece of literature we read,

now we ask ourselves as authors who are presenting information in an academic paper:

• How reliable are my sources of information?

• Are my sources truthful?

• Can I back up my argument?

• Is my evidence relevant, accurate, up-to-date?

• Is my view based on false premises/false logic?

• Is my idea/argument a good or a bad one?

• Is my idea/argument valid and defensible? Or is it invalid and indefensible?

• Is my position on the issue rational and reasonable?

• Is my implication presenting alternatives?

• Is my reasoning presenting other aspects of the position?

• Do I deal with the complexity of the situation?

• Do I use clichés and stereotypes to get points across?

• Do I delve deep into the topic or only touch upon surface issues?

• Do I address other points of view properly?

• Do I address potential weaknesses and limitations?

• Do I question my own ideas and test them for validity?

• Do I have specific goals in mind with this writing? Are they valid?


Slide 3


And the questions continue…

·What is the purpose of my thinking and writing?
·What precise questions am I answering, or trying to answer or explore?
·What perspective am I using?
·What resources am I using and what sort of information am I presenting?
·How am I interpreting the information? Are there other, equally valid interpretations?
·What concepts are central in my line of thinking?
·What conclusions am I coming to? What are the premises to those conclusions?
·What assumptions am I making? Should I be making them?


Slide 4

•The purpose of all these questions is to write with integrity.
We are not talking merely about plagiarism, although it is important to say…


The Critical Thinker writes with Integrity

When we inquire about the validity, precision and accuracy of our own paper we are engaging in a state of self-assessment and self-improvement.

So, not only our paper has integrity in its constituents and as a whole, we have it as well.

Such integrity gives us peace and confidence that any reader will find in our written piece of work premises and conclusions that were solid, valid, founded, well-reasoned and predicted throughout our paper.

Such integrity gives us the satisfaction that our piece of writing is valid and truth-preserving. 

What a wonderful opportunity to be the critical thinker and the writer that writes a piece of paper with logical argument that stimulates and cultivates the critical thinking in others who eventually might address complex problems and work through their solutions.

Thus, when a critical thinker writes, he or she writes with integrity.




最后修改: 2020年08月14日 星期五 11:04