Critical+Thinking+Discussion+Forum

Colour: Valentina Sorti Isabella Melano Larissa Monteiro Marcela de Oliveira Carolina Rocha **Thais El Malih**
 * Bruna Luiza **


 * Write about the difficulties of transforming the critical thinking into academic writing and how we can overcome them.

When it comes to reading and writing, there is only one method that I follow. First of all I try to do a quick reading os a scan reading, afterwards I read the text carefully while making notes and hilighting the main information, by the end of the reading I have a summary of the text and my own thoughts about it at that point I am ready to start my writing and organizing my ideas. To write I consult my notes, the summary, my thougts on the text and the text itself. I consider it a good method because it makes you pay attention to what you are reading, to collect the main points of what you read and your thoughts on it, therefore helping you organizing your ideas throughout your writing.
 * What are the best methods of reading and writing that you use and why do you consider them the best?

My method is similar to Isabella`s one. When I have to read a text, I start with a quick reading to understand the mains ideas. After that, I read again the text, underlining the most important parts and making some notes to summarize each period. At this point I am ready to start writing: I consult my notes and make a scheme with the points that I will eplain (introduction, main period, conclusion). Finally, I start writing. I think this method is a good one because helps you in understanding the main ideas of the text and allows you to organize your own ideas since the beginning of the reading.

The methods I use vary according to the text I have to read. For academic texts, they are pretty similar to the ones described above: I try to follow the sequence predicting, scanning and skimming. This way, after making assumptions, I read the text to get its main ideas, and then repeat the process aiming at specific information. I believe this is the best method because it helps me build ideas about the text, and later check whether they were accurate or not. Reading this way also helps me during tests, in way that I better search for the information required.

The methods I use to read a text depend on the kind of the text I am reading and why I am reading it. If I am studying for a test, for example, I will start by taking a look at the text. Then, I will read it again highlighting the most important parts and making notes on a separate sheet. If I am going to write a text, the first two steps are the same as the reading one's. But after I have taken notes I will start organizing my ideas into sentences, periods and paragraphs. After that, I will read it again, carefully, to look for any mistakes. If it is necessary I will correct and rewrite some sentences. I believe a good writing depends on a good previous reading.
 * How do you choose quotes for a presentation? Do you choose them because they are really good or because they summarize the whole article.

Before preparing the presentation, I read the whole article. After that, I summarize the important ideas that I think will be useful to be on the slides. While reading the article, I sometimes think that a quote can help me to explain a topic or even summarize what I will explain. I choose quotes that play both functions, I mean, they really have to be good (what's the purpose of choosing bad quotes for the presentation?) and at the same time, summarize an idea. Besides, it is really important to explain the quotes with your own words, instead of just reading them. In my opinion, using quotes can be a very powerful technique because they can support your points and they can also link information during the presentation.

I do agree with Larissa: qute can be very helpfull when it comes to support an argument and make it reliable. I choose quotes that both can summerize and idea or can explain it better that I can. However, using quotes is not enough. We have to remeber that paraphrase the information we find with our own words is the first step to write a good text. For this reason, quotes are an important part of the text, but we have to explain as well what these quotes say with our own words.

First of all, in order to make a good presentation using the appropriate quotes, it is necessary a good and detailed reading of the text. This reading has to be focused on getting the main point of the text and the most important ideas that might be good to explain the topic. The quotes chosen have to be well explained by the one who is presenting, otherwise it can be very confusing for who is listening. Also, the quotes have to be connected to the topic that is being discussed. Finally, the speaker has to be able to explain it with his/hers own words, instead of just reading it.


 * Are you against critical thinking and its use in academic writing?

Not at all. Critical thinking is a fundamental process in any discipline. Academic writing is mainly based on somebody's opinion about subject, or on a perspective about another writer's ideas, and it goes beyond this personal view to express more abstract ideas. It is exactly through critical thinking that you transform this personal vision in an universal proposition, arriving at some compelling conclusions that will be discussed on your essay or other academic text.


 * I agree with Carolina, Critical Thinking is fundamental. Using Critical Thinking you can evaluate different points of view and build your own opinion. It is not easy think critically, it is also a question of practice. You have to see things from a different perspective and judge what is important and relevant for you.Critical Thinking is essentially a way to have your own ideas and know yourself. **


 * How do you define the terms //critical thinking// and //criticism// in your own words?

//Critical thinking// is the process of understanding and analizing deeply whether a text (and the ideas explained in it) is reliable or not; if this text can convince us about its veracity and what kind of opinion we have about it: if we agree or desagre and why. //Criticism//, is about judging strenghts and weaknesses of this text.


 * Please, post here the link to the final version of your PPT slides.
 * []