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Critical Writing

Opportunities to build your critical writing skills and use of argument.

Introduction to critical thinking

In order to write critically, you need to be able to think critically. Critical thinking skills are useful in many aspects of your life. The world of work expects employees to be objective, critical thinkers. Assessment tasks at university aim to help students develop critical abilities. There are many tests that employers use to measure thinking skills. The Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (W-GCTA) (Pearson TalentLens (2019) is one such test often used for graduate recruitment. The domains it tests are also useful in academic writing at university; for example, academic writing values critical skills that present ideas in a clear, structured, well-reasoned way, communicate a certain point of view and convince others of your argument.

Effective critical thinkers can:

1. Make correct inferences

When you make inferences from writing, it involves forming an opinion from information that you have which often requires reading between the lines. Ideas may not be fully stated and ideas may be implied subtly, therefore this involves interpretation.
2. Recognise assumptions

Assumptions are often embedded in writing. Journal articles and chapters you read may contain taken for granted ideas which may need challenging. Assumptions could involve particular biases of the writer or relate to known theories, although they may  not be openly stated. It may imply viewing ideas through a particular lens. There could be other explanations which could be explored, which is why identifying assumptions is important. Does the writing  give a complex understanding or a simple understanding?
3. Make deductions

When making deductions, you are looking for cohesion and strong logic in arguments presented, To make deductions you need to identify strong and weak arguments which flow from fact and opinion and identify where deductions can and cannot effectively be drawn from ideas presented.
4. Come to conclusions

When you read widely, you need to interpret and consider what it means for action, behaviour or implementation in your setting. What do you conclude in relation to your developing perspective and argument? How does this contribute to your presentation of ideas or help you answer your assignment or research question? Is the evidence-base strong enough to make you adapt your behaviour and practice? Can you make recommendations from what you have read?

Ask: 'So what?'  How is the information relevant and significant?
5. Interpret and evaluate arguments

You can view arguments as presenting chains of logic based on propositions. You need to identify robust and insubstantial arguments. Stronger arguments are more likely to persuade the reader and weaker arguments could be flawed, meaning you may not be able to draw conclusions.

Weak arguments could arise from missing information and gaps in logical presentation of ideas, under-claiming or over-claiming, fuzzy logic (where there is no clarity on what is true or false), ignorance or minimization of alternative explanations, inappropriate emphasis on certain cherished ideas, bias and hidden agendas, poor application of ideas to a setting or particular context.

Are all facts and opinions equal from your reading? Should you give more weight and heed some messages from reading or arguments more than others?

Adsetts Library
Collegiate Library


Sheffield Hallam University
City Campus, Howard Street
Sheffield S1 1WB


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