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LESSON 2: APPLYING CRITICAL THINKING

IN PLANNING ACADEMIC WRITING TASKS

Planning your Writing Task/Assignment

through Initial Reflection

To Recall: What is theological writing and what

distinguishes it from other kinds of writing?
(Yaghjian 2015, 15–16)
• The subject matter is God. You are expected to write a
theological discourse.
• To whom and for whom is being written? As seminary
students, you are writing for your professor and the wider
theological audience.
• The context of your writing task is the academe, specifically
your specific programs and specializations.
• And what can be the subject of your writing task? It depends
on your specific disciplines, programs or course you are
enrolled in.

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What is theological writing and what distinguishes

it from other kinds of writing?
• The theological genre and purpose of your writing tasks
or projects will depend again on your specific disciplines,
programs or course you are enrolled in.
• So beyond the subject matter, readers, and kinds of
writing tasks, Is there a common element or
characteristic that distinguishes theological academic
writing from other forms?

What is theological writing and what distinguishes

it from other kinds of writing?
• For Richard Newton, since the readers or receivers are
theological scholars, your written work must be in the
“critical mode,” meaning it “involves shaping another
person’s perspective on an issue.” That you the writer is
expected to defend “a position in a persuasive fashion—
that is, a manner that convinces the reader of the
argument’s validity.” (Newton 2015, 9)

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What is theological writing and what distinguishes

it from other kinds of writing?
• Similarly, for Taylor, in theological writing, the writer’s
“own point of view must emerge, not as a mere opinion
but as a justified judgment.” (Taylor 2009, 3)
• What is theological writing and what distinguishes it from
other kinds of writing, in addition to being a “justified
judgment”?

Taylor’s Characteristics of Good Academic Writing:

• Comprehensive treatment of the subject matter that

creates a unified view
• Presented in the conventions of academic writing
• Composed as a coherent unity (Taylor 2009, 3)

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What is theological writing and what distinguishes

it from other kinds of writing?
With all the essential characteritic elements already
mentioned,
• How does one start theological writing, then?

Planning your Writing Task through Initial

Reflection
First essential step:
• Identify a topic delineated enough with a “justified
judgment” that is size of the course or program
requirement

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Taylor has important reminders as you select a

topic. (Taylor 2009, 8–9)
• Your professor does not expect you to produce the
“right” or “correct” answer. The expectation is that you
produce, from the documents and sources, your best
answer, one that is clearly and reasonably argued.
• Identify a topic delineated enough with a “justified
judgment” that is size of the course or program
requirement

Taylor has important reminders as you select a

topic. (Taylor 2009, 8–9)
• Your topic must not be too narrow or to broad that you
cannot adequately analyze the subject matter and discuss
the reasons for your conclusions.
• As a “justified judgment” your conclusions must be
supported by critical thinking skills.
• So the first step in writing is to reflect on the “size” of
your topic, of the breadth and depth so your
conclusion(s) can be a “justified judgment.”

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Planning your Writing Task through Initial

Reflection
You cannot gauge the width or depth needed for your
own adequately argued point of view unless you begin
reading about the topic.
Let’s take the “size” of a course term paper. Seminaries require
for each concentration course a research paper, usually 16-25
pages, double-spaced, excluding bibliography. The parts of a 25-
page paper would be
• Introduction 10-15% (2 pages)
• Body 80% (22 pages of the main argument)
• Summary and Conclusion 10% (1 page)

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Planning your Writing Task through Initial

Reflection
• Reflect and imagine what you can discuss in 22-25 pages
of the research paper.
• A written work that can evidence critical thinking or
judgment, with each of the claims supported or discussed
through evidencing or argumentation.

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Planning your Writing Task through Initial

Reflection
• Follow the suggestions of Taylor on using reflection based
on your readings as you decide on the topic of your
paper.

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Reflection: Asking Questions and Proposing

Answers (Taylor 2009, 21–52)
Overview: Speculative thinking and writing
• The purpose of this step is to arrive at a speculative or
tentative shape of your answer to the questions you will
pose. The configuration or shape of your answer, its
scope or width should be determined by the depth
needed by your discussion of the evidences that will
support your claims and general answer/thesis
statement.

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Taylor’s summary description of the EXPLORATORY

PROCEDURE as you reflect on your questions and
possible answers (Taylor 2009, 22–23).
1. Choose an essay topic because it interests you.
2. Ask questions of the topic.
3. Propose to yourself a few likely answers to the question
raised by the topic and write them down in no more
than a sentence or two. Then choose which seems to be
the best.
4. Develop this answer into a paragraph as far as you can.
5. Regard this paragraph as no more than a hypothesis.

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1. Choosing a topic (Taylor)

• Choose a topic in the area of the course written for or in

the case of thesis and dissertations, a specific area of
study in your specialization
Practical considerations in choosing a topic
1. Availability of sources
2. Narrow enough so can be answered within the
limitation of pages

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2. Reflecting on the Kinds of Questions to Pose

• As previously mentioned, the research topic does not have to

be new, that is, nothing has been written about it. What is
expected to be “new” is the research question you will pose
and its resulting answers.
• In your statement of the research problem, identify the main
question and also state the subsidiary questions or tasks you
will answer to support the main research question. Continue to
shape the direction and boundaries of your research as you
brainstorm on your research question.

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Exploring what your main research or critical thinking

mode, and the accompanying subsidiary questions will be
helpful at this point.
• To recall, academic research is a “justified judgment.”
• The quality of the judgment is indicated by the criticality
of the writer, whether your writing indicate critical
thinking skills.

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Critical thinking is defined by Michael Scriven and

Richard Paul (2003):
“Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process
of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying,
analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating
information
gathered from, or generated by, observation,
experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication,
as a guide to belief and action.”

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Reflecting on the Kinds of Questions to Pose

To conceptualize
the actions related
to your research
topic, use Blooms
revised Taxonomy
of Thinking Skills
(2001) to decide
on the dominant
thinking mode of
your study.

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Reflecting on the Kinds of Questions to Pose

1. Determine which thinking
skills, or a combination,
will you primarily use in
your research.
2. The Statement of the
Problem should refer to
the main research
discovery mode:
understanding, applying,
analyzing, evaluating, or
creating.
3. Later you would need to
break down the thinking
domain/kind into specific
verbs.

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To be more specific, use Blooms Taxonomy

Verbs under each Thinking Level and state
them in the methodology.

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Reflecting on the Kinds of Questions to Pose

• There are several charts in the Internet that gives a

longer list of verbs under each Level. Blooms Taxonomy
and Verb Chart
• Formulate the questions you will pose about the research
topic, and adjust what actions (using the taxonomy verbs)
will be needed
• Determine if you can accomplish the stated purpose of
the research or answer the research question
comprehensively and adequately.

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• Understand what reasoning pattern or the critical

thinking path will be the used in the study.
• The structure based on the reasoning of the research as a
whole and of the specific supporting parts will help focus
the study and help anticipate the major parts of the
argument.

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