Writing Critically (self-study version)

1. Writing Critically
(Self-study version)

2. Writing Critically
Writing critically means:
• Analyzing your own work and others’
– Examining and breaking information into
parts
• Evaluating
– Making judgements about the value of
information, ideas or materials for a given
purpose in a given context

3. Writing Critically
• Presenting your point of view
– Giving your opinion
• Supporting your point of view
– Supplying arguments and reasons for
your opinion

4. Writing Critically
In other words, you need to:
• Consider different points of view and
discuss their positive and negative aspects
• On the basis of this discussion you choose a
point of view and persuade the reader that
your point of view is the correct one.

5. Support
• Your opinions need to be supported
• You need to provide evidence
• You need to explain why the evidence
supports your point of view

6. Your point of view
• Make sure you clearly distinguish between:
• Your point of view
• Your evidence
• Your reasons for believing what you do.

7. Your point of view
Be sure that the evidence that you are
providing leads to the claim you are making
Evidence Reasons
Claim (support or (warrant or
(thesis) grounds) argument)

8. Presenting your argument
• You can present your argument in two ways:
• The inductive or balanced approach
• The deductive or persuasive approach

9. Presenting your argument
• The inductive or balanced approach
You present both sides of the argument
without giving your opinion until the last
few sentences. You do need to provide
evidence for your opinion.

10. Presenting your argument
When using the inductive/balanced approach,
your plan could look as follows:
1. Introduction of the argument (Why it is
relevant)
2. Reasons against the argument. (Mention the
position, the evidence and the reasons)
3. Reasons in favor of your argument.
(Mention the position, the evidence and the
reasons)
4. Summarize the two sides, state your own
point of view and explain it.

11. Presenting your argument
• The deductive or persuasive approach
In this type of approach you state your point
of view immediately and you try to convince
your reader that your are right by presenting
reasoned arguments.

12. Presenting your argument
When using the deductive/persuasive approach,
your plan could look as follows:
1. Introduction of the topic in general terms
and your own point of view.
2. Explanation of what your are trying to
prove.
3. Reasons against the argument

13. Presenting your argument
4. Disposing of the above-mentioned reasons
(Provide evidence and your reasons)
5. Reasons for your argument (Provide
evidence and your reasons and examples)
6. Conclusion (Restate your claim and explain
its importance)

14. Giving reasons and explanations
Writing critically means that you have to
make connections between the ideas that
you are presenting. You need to explain why
things happen the way they do, giving
reasons and examples.

15. Giving reasons and explanations
The situation: Pollution is increasing
One reason for this might be the fact that
people burn more fossil fuels
So:
Pollution is increasing (situation)
People are burning more fossil fuels (reason
or explanation)

16. • Please do exercises 1,2 and 3 from
‘Writing Critically Exercises’ and check
your answers with the answer key.

17. Arguing a point of view
Arguing means stating your claim (your
point of view). You need to support this by
giving evidence and reasons why you think
your evidence supports your claim. It is
likely that your claim is debatable. You may
believe in it, but other people may disagree
with you. The objective of your argument is
to prove to your reader that you are correct.

18. • Please do exercise 4 from ‘Writing
Critically Exercises’ and check your
answers with the answer key.

19. Arguing a point of view
Generalizations
The claim that you make will be quite
general and it is likely that it will apply to
other contexts and situations as well, not
just your own. Usually these generalizations
are written in the present tense.
The seems to be a important link between
nutrition and heart disease.

20. Arguing a point of view
Cautious language
It is important that you are careful about the
strength of your claims.
Obesity during childhood may lead to an
increase chance of becoming obese in later
life.
Most traffic accidents occur because of
fatigue or excessive alcohol consumption.

21. • Please do exercises 5 and 6 from
‘Writing Critically Exercises’ and check
your answers with the answer key.

22. Evaluating a point of view
Besides stating your own point of view, you
need to comment and evaluate other
people’s ideas as well. For example, you may
want to use a point of view you have read
about in a scientific journal. It is important
that you explain why this point of view
supports, or doesn’t support your own.

23. Evaluating a point of view
When evaluating a point of view or a
conclusion, you need to:
• Present the point of view
• Comment on it positively or negatively.

24. • Please do exercises 7 and 8 from
‘Writing Critically Exercises’ and check
your answers with the answer key.

25. Advantages and disadvantages
One important way to evaluate a proposal or
an idea is to look at its advantages and
disadvantages.

26. • Please do exercises 9,10, and 11 from
‘Writing Critically Exercises’ and check
your answers with the answer key.

27. Comparing and contrasting
When you are writing you do a lot more
than just give information. A common
function in writing is comparing and
contrasting, or writing about similarities
and differences. It is important that before
you start writing you decide which features,
items, or ideas you are going to compare
and organize them accordingly.

28. • Please do exercises 12,13, and 14 from
‘Writing Critically Exercises’ and check
your answers with the answer key.

29. Providing support
The claims that you make in your
discussions need to be quite general. You
need to draw general conclusions that will
be valuable in solving problems in the
future. Again, these generalizations need to
be supported by examples, details, and
evidence.

30. • Please do exercises 15,16,17, and 18
from ‘Writing Critically Exercises’ and
check your answers with the answer
key.

31. Drawing conclusions
After presenting your point of view,
evaluating the possible choices (all
supported with evidence), you need to come
to a conclusion. The main fuction of the
conclusion is to show that the main purpose
of the text has been achieved.

32. Drawing conclusions
A concluding section should:
• Repeat the issues raised in the introduction
• Summarize the points made in the main
body of your text
• Come to a clear conclusion

33. Drawing conclusions
Many conclusions, especially in reports,
finish with recommendations or
suggestions. For example:
Further research is needed to determine
whether ….

34. • Please do exercise 19 from ‘Writing
Critically Exercises’ and check your
answers with the answer key.