Writing is important and can help you think critically successfully. Writing requires you to do two things: write out your thoughts completely and make them readable to a varied audience. Thinking critically is like speaking proper English to someone who learned it as a second language. You may be introducing a concept completely new to your audience. This requires you to be extremely thorough, and you must know your topic completely. Your awareness of a topic will increase when you write it out, and complex problems can be worked through and solved.
Here are five steps that will aid you in the process of gathering evidence:
● Question everything and actively try to find new information. Examine, parse, and validate every piece of information you plan to utilize in your argument.
● Don’t jump to conclusions or make assumptions. Come to a conclusion based on the evidence you have and not the evidence you don’t have. In addition, you should determine whether or not your argument is too general. Are there other explanations?
● Keep your writing from repeating itself. When making an argument, redundancy can take over and weaken your argument. This is why it is so important to find as much information as you can. In addition, avoid truisms or self-evident truths.
● Do not oversimplify things. Use detailed explanations that go into depth.
● Find the holes in all arguments, including your own.
How do you determine if your writing is poor?
● The thesis is repetitive and does not indicate where the rest of the writing will lead. You are trying to write an informative, argumentative piece, not a mystery. Keep it clear all the way through.
● If you rely on simple summaries instead of explanations that have a lot of details, it is likely that there is not enough evidence to support your argument. This makes for a weak argument that is vague and lacks readability because things are not thoroughly explained. When talking about relationships between concepts, explain why they exist instead of stating that they exist.
● If your argument is disorganized, the reader will be able to tell. Disorganization is bad. It muddies the purpose and makes the argument unclear. Make sure everything is well-ordered. If you are explaining a step-by-step process, you need to make sure the steps are in order. If you utilize historical references, make sure that they are ordered chronologically.
● If you present ideas but not their relation to the argument, you are doing it wrong. Explanations are important! People are reading this so that they can understand your point of view!
● If your conclusions are not supported by your premises, your writing is not only bad, but your argument is also invalid. If your premises are incorrect, your conclusions are invalid.
● You use several sources and attempt to string their ideas together without actually analyzing what is being said. You must analyze what is being said instead of accepting it to be true.
Another important part of critical writing is the revision process. Revisions will not only refine your writing but are also intended to make your piece clearer. To make your argument better, play the devil’s advocate. Present the article to yourself and decide what you would say to combat your own argument. Then, fill in the holes in your own argument. Repeat the revision process as many times as you can.
You can also look at your argument in different forms. This will help you see different strengths and weakness along with more ways to expand your argument. Review the evidence you found, depending on the argument. New evidence will likely come up. Using new evidence will strengthen your argument if it supports it. If a new argument that counters yours is discovered, you need to be able to combat this evidence and figure out how it will affect your point of view. The revision process will help you add to your argument, sure, but it will also help you remove the clutter or arguments that are no longer valid. If this argument is being made over a long period of time, you must constantly be revising your article. Pay attention to the start and end dates of your project to make sure you are as accurate as possible.
Find someone who has the opposing argument. Sometimes, in school, your instructor will assign someone to an opposing viewpoint. If possible, collaborate and use each other to strengthen your argument. This will also save you both some time because you can do your own research and come together. Hearing a voice other than your own can help you in several different ways. They can push your arguments to the limit, which will require you to re-evaluate your argument. You can also see if your words make sense coming from someone else or if your point of view has any cognitive biases present.
Lastly, in a best-case scenario, the critical thinker you shared your piece with reaches the same conclusions you did base on the premises you provided, and your argument is solid. During this process, always be as aware as possible and stay open-minded. Being faithful to your position in an argument is important and so is being open to other possibilities.
