Critical thinking encourages people to be more attentive to the details and message of what they are reading or writing. When reacting to persuasive or argumentative messages, readers who practice critical thinking are not easily swayed by the rhetoric of the argument. They do not take anything at face value nor do they decide until their need for definition and clarity of message is given. On the other hand, writers are careful of what they put to paper.
To protect the writers’ credibility and assure that their readers understand their purpose clearly, care must be taken to ensure that there are not any confusing paragraph structures, ambiguous sentences, incomprehensible jargons, or unintentional discrimination against any gender, religion, race, or any other attribute. People who practice critical thinking expect and aim to provide others their clear, unbiased, and logical opinions. Discussion Question 2 Read the following discussion question response written by Owen, a fictional Asian student.
Identify areas of vagueness and ambiguity and discuss how you could clarify the email’s message using the writing principles addressed in the text. Owen’s response failed to adhere to the principles of critical writing. First, he wasted his opportunity to state his topic and his position regarding it by writing an introduction that is neither relevant nor engaging. Owen should have gone straight to the point and inform readers what they should expect in the paper (Moore & Parker, 2007).
The Term Paper on Critical and Creative Thinking 4
INTRODUCTION What is thinking? Basically, thinking is one way for human to practice the act or exercise their intellectual or process of thought. In other way, thinking can also mean as a way of reasoning and judgment. In easier words, thinking is the active process by which human develops by understandings of us, others and our world. The process of thinking enables us to solve problems, ...
Second, Owen obviously did not proofread his work when he should have.
This mistake resulted in the paper having ambiguous sentences and misspelled or misused words, and lacking necessary punctuation marks. Owen interchanged report and rapport, or maybe he just did not bother clarifying the definitions of the two words. Further, he also repeatedly used the word “clear” as if there are not any synonyms for it. Third, Owen relied on fallacies and generalizations to support his comparison of critical and business writing. Lastly, Owen had poor paragraph organization. His writing did not have any flow or direction.
His response was an example of both the “Stream-of-Consciousness Ramble” and the “Let the Reader Do the Work” essays (Moore & Parker, 2007).
For the former essay type, there is a lack of structure in Owen’s thoughts and this resulted in the absence of focus and depth in his discussion. For the latter one, Owen assumed readers would understand and follow his shifting mindset, non sequiturs, and random ideas (Moore & Parker, 2007).
Reference Moore, B. N. & Parker, R. (2007).
Critical Thinking (8th ed. ).
New York: McGraw-Hill.
