How to Write a Critical Thinking Paper

HOW TO WRITE A CRITICAL THINKING PAPER

FOR YOUR PAPER:

TYPE three or four paragraphs double or 1.5 spaced on the given subject in the voice of the given point of view. This is approx.1 to 1 & 1/2 pages when double spaced or spaced at 1.5. DO NOT WRITE MORE THAN 2 PAGES.).

This is a college essay exam. I am asking you Critical Thinking questions. Apply the information and concepts you have learned from the text, guidelines and lectures to the films you've seen. Don't repeat the information from the text. Repeating information is not college level work. Analytical critical thinking is required at the college level. It is what you are being tested on to see if you understand the course material and can apply it to the films you've seen.

. FOR ALL YOUR ASSIGNMENTS - INCLUDING YOUR DISCUSSION FORUM POST:

The key in critical thinking writing is getting to the point. Be specific with your answer; don't talk around it. If you are asked to use an example to illustrate your answer use it from the film(s) we've seen or are discussing in the question to which you are responding. If, for example we are studying silent films in module one, yet you respond to the Teleweb question about the characteristics that differentiated slapstick chase scenes from melodrama chase scenes with examples from television shows and current films - this response would not show ciritical thinking but "fuzzy" unclear thinking. Stay focused and on topic.This will serve you well in your coming assignments.

When we think, as we are doing when we write these papers and respond in the Discussion Forums and Papers, we do so for a purpose and with a point of view that is based on assumptions leading to implications and consequences. . We use data, facts and experiences to make inferences and judgments based on concepts and theories in attempting to answer a question. . These are the elements of reasoning:

 POINT OF VIEW is a frame of reference, perspective, orientation. (The instructor will give you this.)  THE GOAL or Objective is the purpose of thinking.  THE PROBLEM is the question at issue. (The instructor will give you this.)  INFORMATION is the data, facts, observations and experiences you obtain.  CONCLUSIONS and Solutions are your interpretations and inferences.  CONCEPTS are the theories, definitions, axioms, laws, principles and models.  ASSUMPTIONS are presuppositions, things you take for granted.

1.When you write do so with clear thinking. Be accurate, precise and relevant. Be deep in your thinking and do so with breadth. You are asked to express your reasoning in these papers. All reasoning has a purpose. Before you write take time to clearly think through and state your purpose. Distinguish your purpose from related purposes. Check periodically to be sure you are still on target. 2. All reasoning is an attempt to figure something out, to settle some question, solve some problem. Before you write, take time to clearly and precisely state the question at issue. (Express the question in several ways to clarify its meaning and scope. Break the question into sub- questions. Identify if the question has one right answer, is a matter of mere opinion, or requires reasoning from more than one point of view. Do this before you write your paper. 3. All reasoning is based on data, information and evidence. Restrict your claims to those supported by the data you have. Search for information that opposes your position as well as information that supports. Make sure that all information used is clear, accurate and relevant to the question at issue. Make sure you have gathered sufficient information. 4. All reasoning is expressed through and shaped by concepts and ideas. Identify key concepts and explain them clearly. Consider alternative concepts or alternative definitions to concepts. Make sure you are using concepts with care and precision. 5. All reasoning contains inferences or interpretations by which we draw conclusions and give meaning to data. Infer only what the evidence implies. Check inferences for their consistency with each other. Identify assumptions which lead you to your inferences. 6. All reasoning leads somewhere or has implications and consequences. Trace the implications and consequences that follow from your reasoning. Search for negative as well as positive implications. consider all possible consequences.

N.B.(Note Well):

I am NOT asking you to review the film! Avoid writing "In my opinion..." "I think..." "I Believe..." This is your paper, exam, or post and it is assumed it is your opinion and beliefs. Don't be redundant. Also do not repeat the question for filler. Just get to the point of the question at hand right away. Solid critical thinking writing answers the question using the steps of reasoning noted above. That is your goal. I want to see your thinking process. It can easily be done with compact, concise writing that gets to the point and is 3 or 4 paragraphs in length; writing a strong beginning, a full body and an engaging conclusion in your Paper and 1 to 2 paragraphs in length in your Discussion Forum post.

 Please do not go to the internet searching for the answer to the very specific questions I have asked you to respond to in your paper.  I am not asking you to write a review and that is primarily what you will find - not responses to the questions at hand.You will only waste your time and not get your assignment done.  If you do find information that you think is pertinent to the questions asked then make certain you give credit to the writer of those ideas - if it is not you and if they are the exact or very similar words of another make certain you put them in quotation marks and give credit to the source/writer.