CT310523: Critical Writing: Using Critical Thinking to Write an Academic Paper
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Critical Writing: Using Critical Thinking to Write an Academic Paper

 

This workshop will address the major challenges students face in writing a well-reasoned and well-written academic paper. The workshop will be largely based on Dr Nosich's newest book: Critical Writing: A Guide to Writing a Paper using the Concepts and Processes of Critical Thinking (Rowman & Littlefield, 2022).

The structure and organization of the paper: How students can use their best critical thinking to create and organize the main points that will constitute the structure of the paper, including a clear, crisp, plausible, relevant thesis statement and the main points that will be used to support or explain it.

Turning the structure of the paper into actual paragraphs: Even with an outline in hand, students often have serious difficulties turning that outline into well-reasoned, carefully stated written paragraphs. We will address how to do this. In the process, we will address using concepts of critical thinking in a way that expands the paper in ways that go deeper and are directly relevant to what the paper is saying.

Revising and improving the paper: At any stage in the writing process (not just at the end), students face the challenge of making the paper better, of revising and improving it: Making the paper clearer, more supported, more precise, fuller, deeper, and more comprehensive.

Identifying and addressing the weak points in the paper: In critical thinking, it is often vitally important to identify and address the main weak points in a paper. This is a major challenge, especially so if the writer identifies strongly with the thesis or the research position being advocated or explained. Yet any piece of substantive writing will have "weak points": aspects of the paper that a reasoner may disagree with, find insufficient support, or find gaps that need to be addressed.

In a more abbreviated way, we will also address some of the issues of doing the relevant research necessary, first, to have a firm foundation for constructing an evidence-based foundation for the paper, and, second, to back up key points they are making.

The workshop is strongly participatory:

Participants will:

  1. Use central concepts and processes of critical thinking—the elements of reasoning in particular—to map out the structure (or outline) of a paper as one of their students would, including a crisp, clear, plausible, significant thesis and the main points to explain or support it.
  2. State, elaborate, exemplify and illustrate the main points in the paper, again as their students might, as a means of writing the body of the paper.
  3. Practice using the questions from the standards of critical thinking to expand, enrich and improve the paper.
  4. Identify weak points, the "other side" of the issues in the paper, what others may object to or find missing.

 

Target Audience: Teachers teaching General Paper at GCE "A" Level and IB Theory of Knowledge (TOK) as well as lecturers from Institutes of Higher Learning. 


 

About the Presenter: Dr. Gerald Nosich

Gerald NoischDr. Gerald Nosich is a noted authority on critical thinking and has given more than 250 workshops on all aspects of teaching critical thinking. Since the mid-1980s he has become committed to teaching critical thinking across the curriculum. He is convinced that the only way for students to learn a subject matter is to think their way through it. He is the author of Reasons and Arguments (Wadsworth, 1982).  His second book, Learning to Think Things Through: A Guide to Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum, has been translated into Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic.

Dr. Nosich has given workshops for instructors at all levels of education in Singapore, the U.S., Canada, Thailand, Lithuania, Austria, and Germany.  He has worked with the U.S. Department of Education on a project for National Assessment of Higher Order Thinking Skills; given teleconferences sponsored by PBS and Starlink on teaching critical thinking within subject-matter courses; served as a consultant/evaluator for SACS Accreditation of programs at various colleges and universities emphasizing critical thinking; and has been featured as a Noted Scholar at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of numerous articles, audio and video tapes on critical thinking. He has been Assistant Director at the Center for Critical Thinking at Sonoma State University, and is an associate of the Center and the Foundation for Critical Thinking.  Dr. Nosich is Professor Emeritus at Buffalo State College in NY, and Professor Emeritus at the University of New Orleans.

Dr. Nosich has not only focused on teaching critical thinking skills in subject-specific areas, but is also adept at teaching critical thinking across the curriculum.  Dr. Nosich is a witty presenter whose down-to-earth sense of humor adds spice to his practical insights.

Click here to watch Dr Nosich in action

 



Course Code: CT310523

Topic: Critical Writing

Presenter: Professor Gerald Nosich

Date: 31 May 2023, Wednesday

Time: 9.00 am to 5.00 pm

Mode of Delivery: Face to Face

Venue: To be confirmed

Closing date: 24 March 2023, Friday

Click Here to Register

Workshop Fee: S$650.00 per participant. If two or more participants from the same school/organization attend the same course, the discounted fee will be S$585.00 per participant for that particular course. The fee includes two tea breaks and one lunch. The fee is subject to GST.

Other Information: Registration is on a first-come-first-serve basis. No refunds will be made for cancellations or in the case of absentees. The Academy accepts replacements for registered participants who are unable to attend for whatever reasons.

School/Cluster-Based Workshop Registration
Please contact Joseph Loy by email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or tel: 6363 0330 on the cost of conducting the workshop.