Throughout college and beyond, students will be expected to think, read, and write critically. Critical thinking is an important skill in conducting research. Critical thinking and reading (and ultimately writing) consist of four overlapping areas: 1) analyzing; 2) interpreting; 3) synthesizing; and 4) evaluation. Basically, the student is expected to: a) form and explain their understanding of the text; and b) judge the quality and significance.
In Higher Education, the “writing across the curriculum” revolution taught us critical thinking as well as analytical writing is improved by the increased opportunity to participate in such activity. Skill in thinking/writing is much like musical or athletic talent—it takes practice to improve. The very process of putting thoughts on paper forces clarification and seeing thoughts on paper (or on the computer screen) facilitates our own evaluation (students can learn a lot from low-stakes writing).
Write-ups are assigned for the following reasons: (1) to challenge the student to think critically; (2) to challenge the student to write in a cogent and concise manner; (3) to challenge the student to tighten wordy sentences; (4) to challenge the student to balance parallel shifts; (5) to challenge the student to untangle mixed constructions; (6) to challenge the student to analyze and evaluate data in an efficient manner; (7) to challenge the student to convey a sense of arguability in a structured setting; and (8) to challenge the student to complete this task in a reasonably measured frame (3-5 pages).
