Critical writing or Argumentative writing

When you write critically, you need to justify and give evidence for your ideas, suggest
what other points of view there are and evaluate them.

Writing critically involves analysis and evaluating your own and other’s work and
presenting a point of view which you can support.

Arguing and discussing (argument and explanations)

In academic writing, arguing and discussing is often part of a larger piece of writing. In
arguing and discussing, you are expected to consider different points of view and
discuss the positive and negative aspects of each case.

On the basis of your discussion, you can choose one point of view and persuade your
readers’ that you are correct. You give opinions (positive and negative) on the work of
others and your opinions based on what you have learned or found.

Analysis Evaluation Presenting your point of

view
Examines and breaks Makes judgement about the Involves giving your
information inti parts: value of information , ideas opinion:
or materials for a given
context:
 It identifies causes  It investigates to  It provides reasoned
and effects what extent evidence to support
 It draws conclusions something true your point of view
 It finds evidence and  It investigates  It deals with other
examples to support importance people’s p[point of
generalizations  It interprets and view
 It makes justifies
connections,
comparisons and
contrasts
 It distinguishes
between facts and
inferences
 It tries to provide
reasons
Example:  Do you agree with  What is your opinion
 How is …. Related the of…?
to…? actions/outcomes…?  Provide a solution
 Can you show a  How important is…?
connection
between… and …?
 Why…?
  How would you
prove/ disprove…?

As always, all your opinions must be supported

(You should provide evidence and explain why this evidence support your point of view)

Model of argument

Claim evidence reasons

(Proposition, thesis) (Support or grounds) (Warrant or argument)

There are two methods of presenting an argument

1. The inductive or balanced approach

In this case you present both sides of an argument, without necessarily committing
yourself to any options, which should always be based on evidence until the final
sentences.

At its simplest your plan will be as follows:

 Introduce the argument to the reader ( e.g. why it is particularly relevant)

 Reasons against the argument (state the position, the evidence and reasons)
 Reasons in favour of the argument( state the position, evidence and reasons)
 After summarizing the two sides, state your own point of view and state your
point of view and explain why you think as you do.

2. The deductive or persuasive approach

This second type of argumentative text involves stating your own point of view
immediately, and trying to convince the reader by reasoned argument that you are right.

The form of text will be in outline as follows:

 Introduce the topic briefly in general terms, and then state your own point of view.
 Explain what you plan to prove
 Reasons against the argument
 Dispose briefly of the main objections to your case, providing evidence and your
reasons.
  Reasons for your argument (the arguments to support your own view, with
evidence, reasons and examples.)
 Conclusion one restates your claim and explains why it is important.

Providing reasons and explanations

 Being critical includes making connections between ideas of your subject and
trying to explain why things happen as they do.
 You need to give reasons and provide explanation

Look at the following situation:

Pollution is increasing

You might want to ask why this is happening and want the reason or explanation for
this. One reason is that people are burning more fossil fuels.

So pollution is increasing------ that is the situation

People are burning more fossil fuels----- is the reason and example.

You can also emphasize the reason or explanation as follows:

Pollution is increasing Because owing to the fact People are burning more
that fossil fuels.

Pollution is increasing. This is because / one People are burning more

reason for this is that fossil fuels

The one Reason for The increase in Is that / could People are
cause of pollution be that burning more
fuel fossils

Finally, you can emphasize the present situation as follows:

As People are burning more Pollution is increasing.

Because fossil fuel
Since

People are burning more Therefore, Pollution is increasing

fossil fuels Consequently
For this reason
 As a result

One Effect of People burning Is that Pollution is

Result of more fuel Or increasing
The Consequence fossils Is to
of Increase
pollution

Arguing a point of view and generalizations

An argument is a statement of your claim (your point of view) supported by your

evidence along with reasons why you believe that your evidence supports your claim.

Your statement will most likely be debatable in that you will believe in it but other people
may disagree. The objective of the argument is to show your reader that you are
correct. The statement of your claim will usually be a general declaration of a fact but in
academic it is then stated cautiously.

With generalization usually the claims you make will be quite general. They apply to a
wide range of situations and contexts, not your own. Generalizations are often written in
the present (there is) as in the example below:

Example: there seems to be a clear, obvious and important link between intelligence
and nutrition.

Plural nouns are often used for broad generalization (school children who received
vitamin and mineral supplements. You can be specific about the degree of of
generalization that you are making by the use of modal verbs, adjectives and adverbs
such as the following:

Degree of Quantity Frequency Certainty Verbs

generalization All/every/each Always Certain(ly) Will
100% Most Usual(ly) Definite(ly) Is/are
Majority of Normal(ly) Clearly Must
Many/much As a rule Likely Have to
Some On the whole probably Should
A number of Frequent(ly) Could
several May
might
Degree of Few/little Rare(ly) Uncertain Could not
generalization No/none/ not Seldom Unlikely Will not
0% Any Hardly ever cannot
 never

You can also modify the strength of your claim that something is true by using phrase
like those given below:

It is fairly / very quiet/ Certain/likely/possible/ that

rather/quite unlikely

Sometimes you may want to qualify your generalizations in the following way:

In The (vast) majority Of cases

Large number
In Most cases
Some
A few

Evaluating a point of view (advantages and disadvantages)

As well as stating your own point of view, you will probably need to comment on and
evaluate ideas that you have learned and read about as well as work of others. As
Always, all your opinions must be supported. You should produce evidence and explain
why this evidence supports your point of view. When evaluating a point of view or a
conclusion, you may want to:

 Present a point of view

 Comment on it positively or negatively

Here are some examples one can use to present peoples point of view

 Some people, those, according to smith and jones

Other language you might want to use to introduce other people’s argument is as
follows:
Some people Maintain(s) That
Argue(s)
Believe(s)
Claim(s)
Point(s) out

In a study of y, x Seem(s) to believe that

It is the view of x
It can be argued
It might be said

Here are some examples of the kind of language you could use to show your positive/
negative evaluation of other people’s ideas.

Positive evaluation

X is certainly correct when he says that…..

X may be right in saying that…..

One advantage of x is….

One of the main arguments in favour of x is….

Negative evaluation

They are somewhat mistaken

This seems to be rather wrong, rigid or inadequate

One main disadvantage of x is

Another point against x is

One objection of the argument is

Comparing and contrasting

When writing, you need to do so much than just give information; you should always be
trying to do something with your writing.

The one common function in academic writing is comparing and contrasting, writing
about similarities and differences. There are many ways of expressing comparison and
contrast in English. First you need to decide which features of the items or ideas you
want to compare and then organize the comparison.

The information in the text can be summarized in the following table

The public offers shares to the general The private does not
public.

Public signals its status with public Private signals its status with Ltd

Public is owned by general public Private- small business, ownership is

Public only 0,5 % divided between the few.
Private 99,5%