Slides: When the Critical Thinker Writes
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
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 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.
The same questions we ask the author of a piece of literature we read,
And the questions continue…