Critical Thinking and Critical

思辨式英文写作（南开大学）唐磊老师团队 第一课到第四课（后续继续补充）

Critical Thinking and Critical Writing

• Lesson1 Critical Thinking and Critical Writing
  • What is critical thinking?
    • a judgment that is based on good reasoning
    • a self-regulatory judgment
    • practical skills
      • interpretation:
        • clarifying meanings and understanding significance
      • analysis:
        • discovering the elements, causes, ralations, pros and cons
      • evaluation:
        • assessing arguments, reasons and evidence
      • inference:
        • drawing conclusions
      • explanation:
        • making argument
      • self-regulation:
        • examing one's own thinking
  • What is critical writing?
    • characteristics
      • • arguing for a view point
      • • analyzing reasons and providing evidence
      • • responding to conflicting ideas
    • usages in acdemic settings
      • writing tests
      • application letters
      • course papers
      • book reviews or movie reviews
      • survey reports
  • The relationship( critical thinking to critical writing)
    • quality content
  • Language workshop(word choice)
    • clarity
      • cut unnecessary words
      • use words accuratly
      • don't use slang
        • slang
          • informal
          • typical spoken
          • special words
          • used by specific groups
      • avoid cliches
        • cliches
          • unoriginal or predictable phrases
    • fomality
      • avoid phrasal verbs
      • avoid subjective words
• Lesson2 Understanding Arguments and Essay Structure
  • What is an argument?
    • issue
    • position(thesis)
    • reasons(premises)
    • logic
      • no emotion
      • no intutions
      • no personal preference
  • What is the structure of critical eaasy?
    • introduction
      • to introduce the issue
      • to present the thesis
    • body(premises)
      • an overall argument
      • contributing arguments
      • contradictory arguments
    • conclusion
      • to re-emphasize the overall arguments
  • Language workshop(effective use of verbs)
    • What are verbs?
      • verbs are action words
      • verbs describe the action that is taking place
      • action verbs show movement and help readers to imagine an activity
    • Importance of verbs
      • to show readers what action the subject is performing in the sentence
      • to deliver important information in a sentence
      • to add impact and purpose
      • to make sentences and statements more concise and persuasive
    • effective use of verbs
      • replacing forms of be verbs with action verbs
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      • considering active vs. passive voice
        • active voice
          • clear, direct and concise
        • passive voice
          • used in three situations
            • the person responsible wishes to remain unknown.
            • the one who does the acton is known
            • the writer wants to place emphasis on an important word
          • in scientific writing
            • helps to create the appearance of an objective, fact-based discourse
• Lesson3 Writing Theses and Introductions
  • Types of theses
    • theses of cause and effect
    • theses of policy
  • Thesis atatement
    • establish an issue
      • be both specific and broad
      • be not to specific nor to broad
    • take a strong position
      • interpret the facts of the issue
      • analyze the situation(be comprehensive)
      • evaluate the alternatives
      • infer from the evaluation
      • self-regulation
  • Writing introductions
    • functions: to make life easier for the reader
      • to introduce the topic
        • techniques
          • state the topic directly
          • the top-down method
          • begin with an anecdote or a brief narratiove
          • begin with an interesting description
          • ask an intriguing question
          • begin with a surprising atatistic or striking bit of history
          • dispute a common belief or defying a steretype
          • use famous quotation
      • to present the thesis
      • to provide a roadmap for the reader
  • Language workshop(periodic vs. loose sentences)
    • loose sentences
      • effect
        • easily understood
        • natural
        • direct
      • disadvantages
        • reader may refuse reading the suppplementary part
        • the main point might be forgotten
        • dull if repeatedly used
    • periodic sentences
      • effect
        • suspense, dramatic
        • literary
        • persuasive(forcing the reader to read the modifiers)
      • disadvantages
        • difficult to understand
        • requires attention
        • pompous(not natural)
• Lesson4 Reasoning and Paragraph Writing
  • what is reasoning?
    • justification of a thesis with reasons and evidence
  • Evidence
    • materials used as evidence
      • statistics and other numerical data
      • information gathered through the senses of sight
      • information collected from books, publications, the testmony of experts
    • methods to get evidence
      • to the print and electronic sources
        • books
        • j
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      • direct observation,survey, experiments, personal experiences
  • Explaining
    • tell how or why something has pahhened
    • part of reasoning as evidence
    • tips
      • ask the wh-questions: how an event has happened
      • ask why-questions for serveral times: deeper or real cause of something
  • Patterns of reasoning
    • thesis→reason→evidence
    • the reasons and the evidence are combined
    • thesis→evidence→reason
    • evidence→reason→thesis
  • Paragraph writing
    • unity
      • one main idea/ thesis(topic aentence)
    • reasoning
      • reasons, evidence, explanations
        • ways to present evidence
          • quotation: reproduce another person's words exactly
          • Paraphrasing: put others' words into your own words
          • summary: good for long texts or an entire book
          • hard facts directly: statistics, charts, photographs, examples, etc.
    • coherence
      • following the reasoning pattern
      • using transitional words)
  • Language Workshop
    • (use concrete and specific language)
      • Why?
        • to communicate effectively and precisely in critical writing
      • What is it?
        • excludes more than is includes(a dozen vs. a few)
      • How to make it?
        • use details→by asking yourself 5W+ 1H questions
        • use hyponyms( the specific words thst belong to a general category)
          • examples
            • plant
              • tree
              • flower
                • rose
                • lily
              • vegetable
                • cabbage
                • carot
            • smile/ laugh
              • chuckle: smile quietly or with restraint
              • giggle: laugh nervously or foolishly
              • grin: laugh pleasantly with the lips drawn back to show the teeth
              • guffaw: laugh loudly/ boisterously
              • titter: laugh in a half-suppressed and silly way
              • smirk: smile affectedly or derisively
              • sneer: smile contemptuously
              • snicker: laugh covertly and disrespectfully
              • beam: smile cheerfully with lips upward
              • cackle: smile over other's misfortune with mouth open, sounding like a hen