Thesis writing workshop

Student Learning Center

University of Auckland
New Zealand

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Contents

n Thesis expectation
n Thesis proposals
n Audience and style
n Reading skills
n Writing research reports

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Contents - cont

n Critical thinking
n Writing literature reviews
n Pre-writing and organising ideas
n Paragraph writing
n Re-drafting
n Editing and proof reading your written
work
3
Contents - cont

n Progress evaluation
n Skills for self management

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Thesis expectation

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A good thesis - in contrast to just
a thesis
n Encompasses research that is more
original, innovative and creative
n Shows a knowledge of the general
subject area and the specific study area
at the level of a good student
n interprets the data in a way that shows
an appreciation of the wider/deeper
theoretical issues
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A good thesis - in contrast to just
a thesis - cont
n If the research is applied, may have
clear and immediate application for
practice
n Is a pleasure to read, it is concise and
the theoretical discussion is through
provoking
n Is possibly publishable in an
international journal
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 A good thesis …….
n Has an actual proposition that the author puts
forward
n Has a clearly defined issue, question or
problem
n Has an appropriate methodology
n Draws appropriate conclusions from the data
n Has an excellent standard of spelling,
referencing and presentation
n Stays on the point
n Has a clear logical flow
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Thesis Proposal

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Writing a thesis proposal: what to
include
n What will be the overalll purpose or
main aim of your research?
n What is your main research queestion
or hypothesis? Can it be answered?
n Define or explain the key terms in your
research question or hypothesis. How can
they be observed, measured and identified in your
study?

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Writing a thesis proposal: what to
include - cont
n What key research that has been
carried out in your chosen area? What
were reached in previous research, by whom and
when? Are these findings in agreement or conflict
with each other?What are the main issues or
controversies in this are? Are there any significant
gaps in previous research in this area?
n Construct a list of the main steps to be
followed in carrying out your research
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Writing a thesis proposal: what to
include - cont
n Are there any problems and/or
limitations you can foresee? How these will
be countered
n Why is your research question or
hypothesis worth investigating?
n Are there ethical issues involved in
carrying out your research?
n Construct a proposed table of contents
for the thesis or dissertation 12
Writing a thesis proposal: what to
include - cont
n What references will you need to
include in your proposal?
n Will you need to include materials in an
appendices section? If so, what?

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Details to include in a thesis
proposal:
1. A clear statement of the overall purpose or
main aim of the research
2. A clearly focused research question or
hypothesis that is worth asking and capable
of being answered
3. Precise definitions of the key terms in the
research question or hypothesis that will
allow them to be clearly observed, measured
and identified throughout the study
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Details to include in a thesis
proposal - cont
4. An awareness of key research that has been
carried out in the particular area, including:
a. What conclusions were reached in this previous
study, by whom and when
b. Whether these conclusions are in agreement or
conflict with each other
c. The main issues or controversies which surround the
problem
d. Significant gaps in previous research in this particular
area
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 Details to include in a thesis
proposal - cont
5. An appropriate choice of research approach for
the particular question or problem, incl. a well
defined list of procedures to be followed in
carrying out the research. It includes the
method of data collection and analysis. The
proposal should also include:
a. A broad description of any particular theoretical
framework to be used in this analysis and the reason(s)
for its use in the study
b. A brief statement describing how the sample population
will be selected for the study and the reason for the
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approach to selection
 Details to include in a thesis
proposal - cont
6. A section which highlights any anticipated
problems and limitations in the proposed study
including threats to reliability and validity and
how these will be countered
7. A statement which illustrates why the study is
significant, that is, why the research question or
hypothesis is worth investigating
8. Consideration of ethical issues involved in
carrying out the research

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 Details to include in a thesis
proposal - cont
9. A proposed table of contents for the thesis as a
guide to the possible scale and shape the final
piece of written work
10. A list of references which relate to the proposal
11. Appendices (if appropriate) which contain any
material will be used or adapted for the study

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Writing your research

n Are there any difficulties you anticipate

when getting down to writing your
research?
n List your main difficulties will be in
writing your research

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Audience and style

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Some criticism of student’s
writing by markers/supervisors
n Repetitive
n Lacking focus
n Failing to present a satisfactory conclusion
n Failing to present a clear stance
n Having an irrelevant literature review
n Lacking explicitness
n Failing to present material in a logical order

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Problems in writing:

n Flowery language
n Lack of clarity
n Lack of explicitness
n Organization
n Conceptual problems
n Lack of precision
n Style
n Logical development of argument
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Audience and purpose of thesis
writing
n Before you write, you need to consider
your audience. In writing a thesis, who
do you think is your audience and what
is your purpose of writing?
n Make a list of your audience
n Make a list of your purpose of writing

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Style

n Academic writers need to be sure that

their communications are written in the
appropriate style
n The style of a particular piece must be
consistent, proper for the message
being conveyed, right for the audience
n What do you consider the right style for
your writing?
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Formal grammar and style

n Avoid contractions
n Use the more appropriate formal forms.
n Limit the use of “run on” expressions
such as “and so forth” and “etc”.
n Avoid addressing the reading as “you”,
expect if you are writing a textbook.

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Summarizing and Paraphrasing

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Summarizing and Paraphrasing

n Summarizing is describing something as

briefly as possible stating the main and
important points, often done when taking
study notes from texts and other sources
n Paraphrasing is expressing what someone
has said or written in a different way (in your
own words); often done when taking notes for
assignments from texts and other sources,
and when writing the assignments
themselves. 27
 Both Summarizing and
Paraphrasing require
n Clear understanding and careful consideration
of the important point in the material concerned
n Consideration of what is important to you and
your purposes
n Some reorganization of the important points
from the material concerns
n Willingness to use your own words where and
as much as possible
n A lot of practice (to gain confidence and to get
better at it 28
 Important in Summarizing and
Paraphrasing
n YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SOUND “AS GOOD
AS” THE AUTHORS OF THE TEXTS THAT
YOU READ

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 How to Summarizing and
Paraphrasing
n Clarify to yourself your reason for summarizing
or paraphrasing
n Decide on what and how much detail you need
n Read (and if necessary, re-read) the material
or parts of the material concerned
n Without looking, explain the important point(s)
or message to yourself
n Write that down
n Check the accuracy of what you have written
against the original source
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n Write the sources
Improving your reading skills

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Important things to remember
n You don’t have to read everything
n It will save a lot of time if you know what you
are looking for
n You have to be flexible in how you read. An
effective reader is one who is able to shift
from one type of reading strategy to another
depending on the kind of reading material
and his/her purpose in reading it. Speed
reading is necessary to define the area of
your focus and slow reading is acceptable as
long as it improves your understanding. 32
Other Different types of reading
n Scanning. It is rapid concentrated search for
a particular point and ignore other subjects.
n Skimming. It is similar to scanning but it
involves looking at heading and subheadings,
identifying key words and phrases
n Light reading. When you don’t have to think
hard and criticize or access the material you
are reading.

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Most common obstacles when
reading
1. Frequent backtracking. Why?
2. Use only one speed.

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Ways to improve your reading skills:
1. Clarify your purpose for reading. What do you hope to
get out of reading this particular text, chapter, articles,
or whatever?
2. Be well-prepared. Spend a little time at the beginning
to acquaint yourself with the reading material. What is
in it and how is it structured? What parts are important
for you to read?
3. Read ONLY what you need to read
4. Do not read continuously for too long
5.. Regularly check your retention of the main points.
After each important section try to recall the main and
important points.
6. Keep active and take useful notes
7. Review to consolidate. Revise the main point you’ve
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covered at the end of your reading session.
Increasing your reading speed: The
El-Cheapo method
1. Find some reading material to practice on.
2. Start reading, but USE PENCIL to make your eyes
follow the movement across the page
3. Make the pencil go faster
4. Practice this for 15 minutes EVERY DAY, for about a
month.
5. Continue increasing the speed with which you move
the pencil.
6. Later one, you can run the pencil down the margin of
the page instead.

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Writing research reports

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To write a research report, you need
to
1. Establish that the research question are sufficiently
INTERESTING
2. Demonstrate that the research question are, in theory,
answerable.
3. Compete against other Research Reports for
acceptance and recognition if you want your report
published

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Common research report pattern
(IMRD-pattern)
1. INTRODUCTION (I)
2. METHODS (M)
3. RESULTS (R)
4. DISCUSSION (D)

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INTRODUCTION

n The main purpose of the Introduction is

to provide the rationale for the paper,
moving from general discussion of the
topic to the particular question or
hypothesis being investigated. A
secondary purpose is to attract interest
in the topic

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INTRODUCTION - cont

n The beginning is half of the whole.

Indeed, producing a good introduction
section in the end always seems like a
battle hard won.
n Common sentence used in Introduction:
– The purpose of this paper is to….
– This paper describes and analyses …
– This study explores ………..
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INTRODUCTION - cont

n The Introduction sections typically follow

specific pattern that show competition
for research space and competition for
readers.

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 The Create-a-Research-Space (CARS)
model’s introduction pattern
n Part 1: Establishing a research territory.
– By showing that the general research area is important,
central, interesting problematic, or relevant in some
way.
– By introducing and reviewing items of previous
research in the area.
n Part 2: Establishing a nice
– By indicating a gap in the previous research, raising a
question about it, or extending previous knowledge in
some way.
n Part 3: Occupying the niche
– By announcing principal founding
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– By indicating the structure of the Research proposal
 Claiming centrality
n Recently, there has been growing interest in ……
n The possibility of … has generated wide interest in …..
n The development of … is a classic problem in …..
n The development of … has led the hope that …..
n The increasing interest in … has heightened the need for …
n The … has become a favorite topic for analysis ….
n Knowledge of … has a great importance for …..
n The study of … has become an important aspect of …..
n A central issue in …….. is…….
n The … has been extensively studied in recent years.
n Many investigators have recently turned to ……
n The relationship between ….has been investigated by
many researchers. 44
n Many recent studies have focused on ….
Methods

n The Methods section descries, in

various degrees of detail, methodology,
materials and procedures. This is the
narrowest part of the research reports

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Results

n In the Result section, the findings are

described, accompanied by variable
amounts of commentary

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Presenting your data
n Present data related to the purpose of the
study
n Do not include individual raw data, except of
single-case designs or illustrative samples (if
necessary include these in an Appendix)
n Present results in an orderly, logical fashion.
For example, according to your hypotheses
order, primary analysis then secondary
analysis)
n Be monotonously repetitive and aim for
consistency and symmetry. Write clearly and
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concisely .
 Presenting your data - cont
n Decide whether your result are best presented
as text, tables, figures or appendices
n Consider clarity, emphasis on the level of detail
and accuracy required in making your decision
n Use a table to show exact numbers or limited
verbal data and graph to show a trend or
impact
n Use a line graph or scatter plot to depict trends
or relationships.
n Use a histogram to depict frequency of
CONTINUOUS values and a bar graph to 48
depict frequency of DISCRETE values
 Presenting your data - cont
n All tables, figures and appendices must have
numbers, titles, and legends. They should all be
self-explanatory without reference to the text.
There should be three numbering systems, one
each for tables, figures, and appendices
respectively.
n Information presented in tables, figures, and
appendices must be referred to and discussed
in sufficient detail in the text. Refer to each
figure/table according to its number.

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Some useful phrases for
interpreting data from figures
n Figure …. shows / illustrates / demonstrates / reveals
/ depicts / indicates …..
n It is shown in Figure …..that…………
n The subject/topic of Figure …..is……..
n The solid/broken/dotted line shows ………..
n Figure …….represents the relationship between two
variables, namely ……..and…………
n If this trend continues/ holds we can predict/ assumes
that ……….
n By studying/examining this data we can see that
……. 50
Some useful phrases for
interpreting data from tables
n Table …. shows / illustrates / demonstrates / reveals
/ depicts / indicates …..
n The data in column ………indicates ……..
n In ascending/descending order the data shows that
the most/least ………
n One trend that is apparent/clear/evident from Table
……is……..
n A number of implications become evident/apparent/
obvious from studying this data. First, …….Second
…….
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Discussion

n The Discussion section offers an

increasingly generalized account of
what has been learned in the study.
This is usually done through a series of
“points”, at least some of which refer
back to statements made in the
Introductions

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Your discussion section should

n Interpret your findings

n Place your findings in the context of
your hypotheses and the literature you
have reviewed
n Critically examine the implications and
limitations of your findings

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Summarize your findings
n Organize your summary around
whether findings did or did not support
each of your hypotheses or research
questions
n Present major findings together
(e.g.look at dependent variables in turn)
n Remember to comment on adventitious
findings - one that you did not plan for
originally
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Interpret your findings
n What do the results mean?
n What do your results tell you about the
relationship between the independent
variables and the dependent variables?
n Were there relationships?
n Did they apply to several or only
selected dependent variables?
n Were there confounds or mediators that
accounted for the findings? 55
Place your findings in context
n How do your findings fit with the previous
ones?
n Does your study converge with others? If so,
how do differences between your methods
and those of others indicate how your study
extends earlier findings?
n Do your results clarify contradictions in the
literature?
n If you failed to find what other have, why?
n What does your research contribute to the
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existing literature?
Consider the implications of your
findings
n What do your findings imply?
n How do they improve our understanding of
the phenomenon you investigated?
n How should they alter the way we think about
the issues you have researched?

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Consider the implications of your
findings - cont
In thinking about the implications of
your findings, consider how they might
speak to theory, research and practice.
n What do your results imply in terms of design
and measurement?
n What do your findings have to say in terms of
clinical, educational, industrial or
organizational practice?
n Are your findings generalisable ?
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Include a “humility” section
Point out the limitations of your study.
Consider:
n Internal validity
n External validity
n Measurement issues
n Statistical problems

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Include Comments about future
directions
Often a study raises more questions
than it answers

The more we know, the more we don’t

know.

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Critical thinking skills

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What is critical thinking

n Questioning
n Evaluating arguments
n Making connections
n Looking for the subject from different
perspectives

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Critical thinking is

n Analyzing and evaluating the

information
n Examining the significance of the facts
n Thinking through to the alternative
conclusions that maybe drawn from
those facts
n Arriving at an opinion based upon the
facts / conclusions
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Critical thinking

n It is NOT IMPORTANT whether you are

right or wrong, but HOW YOU ARGUE
and SUPPORT your arguments

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How to be a Critical Thinker
n Ask questions
n Make connections
n Define the problem
n Examine the evidence
n Analyze assumptions and biases
n Consider other interpretations
n Resist manipulation
n Avoid EMOTIONAL reasoning
n Don’t oversimplify 65
Strategies for critical reading

n SQ3R: an active reading method

n Questioning approach
n Four levels of questioning

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SQ3R
n Survey: skim through the book/chapter to get
the general drift. Read introductions,
conclusions and headings.
n Questions. Ask yourself some questions
about the subject and try to answer them as
you read.
n Read the text
n Recall. Write down the main points and
answer your questions.
n Review. Go back over the text and assess
how you have picked up the main points. 67
A Questioning approach to your
reading
n Understanding of the sources
– What is in this book/experiments/ article /
interview that I can use in my argument?
– Why should I use this source?
– Under what conditions was the information
in this source produced?
– Who is it being written for?
– Does it tell me more about the author or
about the topic?
– How does the context of this source affect
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the information within it?
 A Questioning approach to your
reading - cont
n Analyzing what you have read (about arguments,
viewpoints or perspectives)
– How is the text argued?
– How does it arrive at its conclusions?
– Do we agree or disagree with his/her argument? Why?
– Can we thin of another question that would highlight a
different dimension of this issue?
– On what assumptions are they based?
– Where does the information come from and might it be
biased?
– What opposing views might there be?
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– In what way might the information be inaccurate?
Four levels of questioning

n Summary and definition Questions

n Analysis Questions
n Hypothesis Questions
n Evaluation Questions

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Summary and Definition
Questions
n What is (are) …….?
n Who ……….? When ………..? How
much ………?
n What is an example of ………?

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Analysis Questions
n How ……..? Why………..?
n What are the reason for ………?
n What the types of …….?
n What are the function of ………..?
n What the process of ………..?
n What are causes/result of ………?
n How is this argument developed …….?
n What evidence or proof is offered ……?
n What are other theories from other
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authors?
Evaluation Questions
n ……..effective or ineffective …….?
n ………clear or unclear ……….?
n ……..applicable or not applicable……..?
n …….relevant or irrelevant………?
n Do I agree or disagree……..?
n What should or should not happen…….?
n What is my opinion…….?
n What is my support for opinion……..?
n What is the best solution to the problem?
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Critical reading strategies

n Previewing
n Contextualizing
n Questioning to understand and remember
n Reflecting on challenges to your beliefs and
values
n Outlining and summarizing
n Evaluating an argument
n Comparing and contrasting related reading
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Previewing

n Learning about a text before really

reading it:
– to get a sense of what the text is about and
how it is organized
– to see what you can learn from the head
notes or other introductory material
– to identifying the rhetorical situation

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Contextualizing

n Placing a text in its historical,

biographical, and cultural context
– to read critically, you need to contextualize
– to recognize the differences between your
contemporary values and attitudes and
those represented in the text

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Questioning to understand and
remember
n Asking questions about the content
– write down the questions as you read the
text for the first time
– ask questions only focusing on a main
idea, not on illustrations or details

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Reflecting on challenges to your
beliefs and values
n Examining your personal responses
– make a brief note about what you feel or
about what in the text created the
challenge
– look again at the places you marked in the
text where you felt personally challenged.
What patterns do you see?

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Outlining and summarizing

n Identifying the main ideas and restating

them in your own words
– Outlining revels the basic structure of the
text
– Summarizing synopsizes a selection’s
main argument/idea in brief

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Evaluating an argument
n Testing the logic of a text as well as its
credibility and emotional impact
– To assess an argument, you are
concerned with the process of reasoning
as well as its truthfulness.
– At the most basic level, to make an
argument acceptable, the support (reasons
& evidence) must be appropriate to the
claim (a conclusion) and the statement
must be consistent with one another.
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Comparing and contrasting
related readings
n Exploring likeness and differences
between texts to understand them
better
– Many of the authors are concerned with
the same issues or questions, but
approach it differently.
– Fitting a text into an ongoing dialectic helps
increase understanding of why an author
approached a particular issue or question
in the way he/she did.
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Writing a Literature Review

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Organize information Identify Controversy
and relate it to the when it appears in the
thesis/research question literature
you are developing

literature review

Synthesize Results
Develop questions for
into a summary of what
further research
is and is not known
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 What is the literature
n Journal articles: offer a concise, up to date format
for research
n Books: tend to be less up to date. Offer
good starting point
n Conference proceedings: Useful in providing
latest research/or research that has not been published
yet. Find researchers working in the same area
n Government/corporate report: these
organisation carry out a lot of research
n Newspapers: useful in depicting recent trends,
discoveries or changes 84
 What is the literature - cont
n Theses & dissertation: treat these works with
caution
n Internet: fastest growing source of information.
Consider reliability and information may be for a
general audience. Refereed e-journal are more reliable
n Magazines: More for a general audience unless
these are specialized magazines

85
The literature review

n What is the literature?

– The works you consulted in order to
understand and investigate your research
problem
– A literature review is therefore an
extensive, detailed survey of relevant
research and/or theory in a specific area

86
Purpose of the literature review
n To identify key issues and concepts within
your research topic
n To clarify current thinking and relevant
research in the area
n To demonstrate your understanding of the
important issues and recent development in
your field of study

87
Purpose of the literature review -
cont
n To show your analytical and evaluative skills;
the review does not just describe previous
research that has influenced your field of
study
n To contextualize your own research in
relation to previous research finding and
research approaches
n To support the significant of your study
and the claim made
88
The literature review is

n A critical look at the existing research

that is significant to your research
n It is NOT a summary
n It is vital that you evaluate the literature:
– show the relationship between different
work and
– how it relates to your research

89
You cannot simply give a concise
description of a reading, you
need to
n Select what parts of the research to
discuss (eg. the methodology)
n Show how it relates to the other work
(eg. what other methodologies have
been used? How are they similar? How
are they different?) and
n Show how it relates to your work (What
is its relationship to your methodology?)
90
 Here are the questions that a
literature review should answer
n What do we already know in the immediate area
concerned?
n What are the main issues in my area of interest?
n Where did the problem/issue(s) come from?
n What are the key concept or the main factors or
variables?
n What are the relationships between these key
concepts, factors, or variables?
n What is known already? What are the existing
theories?
n Where are the inconsistencies/shortcoming in our
91
knowledge and understanding?
Here are the questions that a
literature review should answer -
cont
n What other methods have been tried to solve the
issue/problem?
n How much of what is known is relevant for my
research? What views need to be (further) tested?
n What evidence is lacking, inconclusive, contradictory
or too limited?
n Why study (further) the research problem?
n What contribution can the present study be expected
to make? In what way is my research important?
n What research designs or methods seem
unsatisfactory? 92
How can I write a good literature
review?
n Remember the purpose
n Read with a purpose
n Write with a purpose

93
Remember the purpose

n It should answer the questions you posed

n Look at how published writers review the
literature
n Your aims is to show why your research
needs to be carried out, how you came to
choose certain methodologies or theories to
work with, how your works adds to the
research already carried out, etc

94
Read with a purpose

n You need to summarize the work you read

and DECIDE which ideas or information are
IMPORTANT to your research
n Look for the major concepts, conclusions,
theories, arguments, etc that underlie the
work and look for similarities and differences
with closely related work
n This is difficult when you first start reading,
but it becomes EASIER the more you read in
your area 95
Write with a purpose
n Your aims is to evaluate and show
relationships between the work already done
and between this work and your own.
n Carefully plan how you are going to organize
your work.
– Chronologically. This system is not an effective way to
organise your work, unless developments over time are
crucial to explain the context of your research problem
– Alphabetically by author name. This system will not allow
you to show the relationship between the work of different
researcher and your work. Avoid this system!!
– Grouping by similar perspectives. Allow you to see the
similarity and differences between authors. 96
Guidelines to get started

n Writing a literature review can be slow,

difficult and troublesome.Selection of
what is important can be a painful
process
n CARS method can help you in creating
a research space

97
 The Create-a-Research-Space (CARS)
model
n Part 1: Establishing a research territory - claiming
centrality.
– By showing that the general research area is important,
central, interesting problematic, or relevant in some way.
– By introducing and reviewing items of previous research
in the area.
n Part 2: Establishing a nice
– By indicating a gap in the previous research, raising a
question about it, or extending previous knowledge in
some way.
n Part 3: Occupying the niche
– By outlining purpose or stating the nature of present
research
98
– By indicating the structure of your literature review
 Claiming centrality
Some examples of opening statement
n Recently, there has been growing interest in ……
n The possibility of … has generated wide interest in …..
n The development of … is a classic problem in …..
n The development of … has led the hope that …..
n The increasing interest in … has heightened the need for …
n The … has become a favorite topic for analysis ….
n Knowledge of … has a great importance for …..
n The study of … has become an important aspect of …..
n A central issue in …….. is…….
n The … has been extensively studied in recent years.
n Many investigators have recently turned to ……
n The relationship between ….has been investigated by
99
many researchers.
Establishing a niche
n Is key part in literature review
n The most common way to indicate a gap is to
use negative openings.
– Eg. Previous studies have not established firm
outcomes ………
n Not all literature review express a niche by
indicating an obvious gap. You can use
contrastive statements.
– Eg. The research has tended to focus on ….. Rather
than on ………..

100
Occupying the niche
n The final step in a literature review is to make an
offer to fill the gap or answer the question/s
raised that has been created in previous part
n There are two types of writing:
– Purposive: the author/s indicate their main purpose/s
• The aim of the present research is to give ………..
• This study was designed to evaluate ……...
– Descriptive: the author/s describe the main feature of
their research
• This research reports on the results obtained ……….
• The present research focuses on …………..
• The present research extend the use of the last model by
……..
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The Critical Writing Process
n Critical thinking is a technical term for
REASONING
n Reasoning is the process of understanding
and exploring the relationships between the
many events, objects and ideas in the world.
n All the separate items are interconnected and
what we know about one item depends on
our knowledge of another event, object or
idea.
n Reasoning involves finding and expressing
the connections or relationships so that each
individual event or idea is explicable in terms
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of other events or ideas
In academic environment, being
critical means
n To be open minded
n To be intellectually skeptical about
ideas, claims and arguments
n Not accepting things at face value

103
Principles of critical thinking

n Active searching for meaning

n Based on arguments assumptions and
premises
n Understanding arguments-what
argument is the author making
n Evaluating the argument - is the
argument valid or invalid, true or false,
fact or opinion.
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Five steps to better critical
thinking
1. Identify and clarify the problem
2. Gather information. Learn more about the
problem situation. Look for possible causes and
solution.
3. Evaluate the evidence. Where did the
information come from? Does it represent various
point of view? What biases could be expected from
each source? How accurate is the information
gathered? Is it fact or opinion

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Five steps to better critical
thinking - cont
4. Consider alternatives and implications.
Draw conclusions from the gathered evidence and
pose solution. Weight the advantage and
disadvantage of each alternative. What are the cost,
benefits, and consequences? What are the obstacles
and how can they be handled? Important: What
solution best serves your goal?
5. Choose and implement best
alternative. Select an alternative and put it into
action. Then follow through on your decision by
monitoring the result of implementing your plan 106
The critical Writing Process
1. Decide what the issue is
– Invest some thinking about the issue
– Define the issue clearly and precisely
– Identify specific sub-questions
– Work out the purpose of the piece of writing
2. Think about where you’re coming from
– What do you already know about the topic
– What do you know you don’t know?
– What is your frame of reference (your own
experiences, assumptions, values, way of
thinking….)
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The critical Writing Process -cont
3. Research
– Keep your purpose in mind
– Gather relevant information
– Search for a variety of possible answers
4. Come to a conclusion

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What is an argument?

n In academic writing an argument can be

a main idea - CLAIM, ASSUMPTION,,
CONCLUSION - supported by evidence
- PREMISE
n Your writing will be more convincing if it
shows evidence of Critical Thought

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Critical Thought

n Is your position clearly stated? Is it in

focus throughout the paper?
n Is your position well informed?
n Are your sources identified? Are they
credible?
n Does your reasoning lead to logic?
n Are your definitions clearly explained?
Are they reasonable?
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Critical Thought - cont

n Is your writing clear and concise?

n Are your generalisations reasonable?
n Are your predictions and hypotheses
sound?
n Have you covered alternative views?
n Are you being fair and open minded?
n Will your paper convince your reader
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 Assessing the argument

n Being critical would involve asking

questions about the information, eg.
– Who is making the claim ?
– What evidence is there to support the claim ?
– What other evidence might there be?
n Being critical involves assessing the
strength and weaknesses of any given
viewpoint
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 Tools for evaluation

n Is it correct or incorrect?
n IS it true of false?
n Is it fact or opinion?
n Are there unstated assumption?

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 The truth can be established by:

n Personal experience
n Reference to an established authority
n Consistency with the body of established
facts

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Four strategies to present an
argument
1. Support the argument
– Cite facts and statistics that support your claim
– Explain logically (why your argument make sense)
– Quote experts or other research that support your
conclusions
2. Concede its weaknesses
– Be critical of supporting authors ideas and those
belonging to the opposition

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Four strategies to present an
argument - cont
3. Defend the argument
– Present both sides of the debate and play off one
against the other
4. Refute the opposition
– Challenge the opposition’s argument by pointing
out where the faulty logic and inadequate or
inconclusive evidence has been used
– Demonstrate how they are untrue, invalid or
unreasonable

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Common mistakes in making
arguments
n Not backing up statements with
sufficient evident or examples
n Unstated or unexamined assumptions
n Over generalization
n Inadequate or non representative
sampling
n Assuming causation
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Common mistakes in making
arguments - cont
n Selecting convenient examples
n Exceeding your evidence
n Making unsupported value judgement
n Carelessness or vagueness with use of
words
n Using cliches
n Being ambiguous
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