1. How to get started with critical writing
Presentation by
Learning Services: UWE Library
2017/2018

2. Lecturer feedback Not enough analysis Your writing is too descriptive
You make some good points but you don’t develop your argument

3. Learning Objectives
At the end of the session we hope that you’ll feel more confident about:
What it means to be a critical thinker
Distinguishing between descriptive and critical writing
Identifying the language of evaluation used in critical writing
Academic skills are real world skills:
Making sound decisions
Seeing the bigger picture

4. What is Critical Thinking?
What is it not?
Image from:

5. Asking questions
- the right questions
Taking a step back – not believing everything, but not disbelieving everything
Being curious and reflective
Going in search of evidence and assessing what you find
Not just finding flaws
Constructing your own independent point of view

6. Using Facebook extensively can diminish a person’s intellectual ability.

7. What do you think?
Task 1 :
Why argue about something as ridiculous as this?
It’s definitely true/definitely false.
It’s true! A friend of mine spent all day on Facebook and ended up dropping out of college.
Who cares?
I agree/disagree for a number of reasons but I’d need more information before I gave a definitive answer.
I don’t know.
I’d say it’s 50% true and 50% false.

8. Critical Thinkers need to….
….ask lots of questions, use a variety of sources, consider different perspectives and think of different possibilities (“I agree/disagree for a number of reasons but I’d need more information before I gave a definitive answer.”)
Green tick image from Pixabay

9. critical reading
critical writing
critical thinking

10. Question mark image from Pixabay
The CRAAP method
Guide to CRAAP in your handout
Currency
Relevance
Authority
Accuracy
Purpose
Question mark image from Pixabay

11. Why is critical reading important?
The Independent
Task 1b

12. Descriptive or critical?
In pairs, discuss what you think are the differences between descriptive and critical writing.
Task 2 : Look at the 12 statements on the coloured cards. 6 refer to descriptive writing and 6 refer to critical writing. In pairs, sort them into 2 groups
Task 3: Read the 2 extracts from academic texts. Which one goes beyond pure description?

13. Descriptive Critical States what happened Identifies the significance
States what something is like
Evaluates (judges the value) strengths and weaknesses
Gives the story so far
Weighs one piece of information against another
States the order in which things happened
Makes reasoned judgements
Explains what a theory says
Shows why something is relevant or suitable
Explains how something works
Indicates why something will work (best)

14. Developing critical writing
“However, the main weakness of the theory is that it fails to acknowledge the significance of other wider influences. Many writers have challenged Bowlby’s theory on the grounds that it has limitations and that child development is affected by more than just that of a mother-child relationship. Harris (1998) argues that parents do not shape their child’s personality or character, and that it is in fact their peers who have the greatest influence over their development.”
(Cox, 2016, p.10)

15. Evaluative language is useful for …
“…and it is established that the method provides the most accurate measure of X”
Introducing general criticism (positive and negative)
Introducing the critical position of particular writers
Offering constructive suggestions
Introducing questions, problems and limitations in an argument/theory
Phrasebank: Manchester University
“However, Smith has questioned this hypothesis...”
“A qualitative approach may be required in order to…”
“This stance has since been challenged…”

16. Evaluative Language - Exercise
Identify the evaluative language in the following sentences….
A ground-breaking discovery has been made in research into ageing and death.
Their conclusion is mistaken and lacks hard evidence.
The search for a unified theory of the human mind is misguided, says Hargreaves (2015).
Current responses to the global energy crisis are inadequate, Juarez (2013) has warned.
In 1997, Irkan published a significant piece of research on open structures in bridges.
In his seminal work, Abaka challenges current techniques, revealing flaws in data interpretation.

17. Critical Writing
Critical thinking when writing your own work can be difficult as it involves stepping back from it in order to analyse it and to recognise its strengths and weaknesses.
(Skills4Study 2017)
Task 5: Using evaluative language from the previous slides or Manchester Phrasebank, write a sentence or two evaluating the article you read in Task 1b.

18. Finally...
We hope that you are now feeling more confident about:
What it means to be a critical thinker
Distinguishing between descriptive and critical writing
Identifying the language of evaluation used in critical writing
More will be covered in the “How to improve your critical writing” session.

19. Further help Writing for university workbook
Skills4Study: Writing skills
Skills4Study: Critical thinking skills
Books and eBooks: Writing critically
Books and ebooks: Critical thinking
Ask a Librarian

20. Other workshops