For more on reading critically, see Ch. 2. For more on thinking critically, see Ch. 3.
In college you will expand what you already know about writing. You may be asked not only to recall an experience but also to reflect upon its significance. Or you may go beyond summarizing positions about an issue to present your own position or propose a solution. Above all, you’ll read and think critically—not just stacking up facts but analyzing what you discover, deciding what it means, and weighing its value. As you read—and write—actively, you will engage with the ideas of others, analyzing and judging those ideas. You will use criteria—models, conventions, principles, standards—to assess or evaluate what you’re doing.
Have you achieved your purpose?
Have you considered your audience?
Have you clearly stated your point as a thesis or unmistakably implied it?
Have you supported your point with enough reliable evidence to persuade your audience?
Have you arranged your ideas logically so that each follows from, supports, or adds to the one before it?
Have you made the connections among ideas clear to a reader?
Have you established an appropriate tone?
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In large measure, learning to write well is learning what questions to ask as you write. For that reason, we include questions, suggestions, and activities to help you accomplish your writing tasks and reflect on your own processes as you write, read, and think critically.