Sometimes it is hard to understand what being critical means, let alone how to ensure you are doing it in your writing.  Here are five ways in which you can begin to demonstrate your critical thinking in written assignments.

1. Take a position 

For writing to be critical you need to decide what position you are taking within your essay/assignment. There is no point providing different points of view on a subject if you never actually tell the reader to what extent you agree with them.  After your initial reading, you should be able to establish your position and this will become the overall mega-argument of your essay.

2. Persuade don’t inform 

If you are being told your writing is too descriptive then you need to think about this rule. When you read one of your own essays/paragraphs, can you genuinely say it is not simply informing the reader of stuff you have read? For it to be critical you need to make clear your position (see above) and persuade the reader of why you think that position is the right one.

3. Analyse and explain every main point you make 

Each main point you make should be the subject of a paragraph of its own.  This gives you the chance to explain to the reader why it is relevant to your mega-argument.  Just how is the point helping you answer the question/reach your conclusion/justify your position?

4. Show that you are sceptical/open minded/balanced

At university a lot of what you are studying is contested knowledge – not fact.  When you read a book or a journal article you are reading someone’s opinion on the subject at hand not ‘God’s Own Truth’. Show in your writing that you are not just considering one side of an argument, that other opinions also exist and explain why, on balance, you have decided to take the position you have.  It is perfectly OK for this position to be relatively neutral if you can show that there are equally persuasive arguments from different perspectives. Sometimes it is good to consider “How would I write this essay if I chose to take the opposite position?”.  How well you evaluate the different points of view will be what your tutor is assessing.

5. Use phrases that scream criticality

The Academic Phrasebank created by the
University of Manchester has over 100 ‘starter phrases’ which force you to show that you are considering different points of view. Some examples from this excellent resource are:

The main weakness with this theory is that …
Perhaps the most serious disadvantage of this method is that …
However, Jones fails to acknowledge the significance of …
In this important study (of X), Jones et al. (2012) were able to show that …
The idea that … was first challenged by Smith (1992).

All these phrases simply scream criticality and you will soon get to a stage where you do not need to refer constantly back to the phrasebank to get your critical head on!

Next post from the Skills Team: 5 ways to use social media academically (without losing all credibility with your friends)