From Critical

Thinking
to
Critical Writing
• Clicked the “like” button on Facebook.

• Posted a comment on internet.

• Argued with a friend over the good and bad points of a film.

• Pointed out the flaws in a coach’s strategy while watching

basketball.
 Critical Thinking

 Is an evaluative thinking

 To evaluate means to carefully weigh any idea,

action, decision or a piece of work

 To criticize and to evaluate both mean to judge

 To judge properly, you should know the

standards or criteria to use
 Critical Reading

 To apply critical thinking skills upon the

things that we read- which includes
many types of materials.

Ex. correct dosage for medicine

Reading cafeteria menu
 Critical Writing

 Is a product of critical thinking and

reading.
 Judgment presented in a written form.
 Common forms are reaction
papers and critiques
 CRITIQUES
• Papers that assess or evaluate the merits of a
piece of work.
• Positive or negative judgment on the work , or a
combination of both.
• Judges an assigned subject objectively, using
criteria.
 REACTION PAPER
• Papers that present a writer’s evaluation
of the work, as well as his or her
experiences and feelings in relation to
the work being evaluated.

• Subjective critique – allows to talk about

personal experiences.
Critiques
are papers that assess or
evaluated the merits of a
piece of work. Thus, a
critique judges an assigned
subject objectively, using
criteria. Common examples
of critiques are film and
book reviews.
Reaction Paper
are papers that presents a writer’s
evaluation of the work, as well as
his or her experiences and
feelings in relation to the work
being evaluated
Thus it is more like a critique but is
more subjective as it allows the
students to talk about how a
particular work affected him or her.
 Reaction
Critiques
Papers

Teachers use these as a Teachers use these to determine

way of judging a student’s how students felt about the
critical thinking ability. assigned subject for the paper.
 FACTS
AND
OPINION
3rd Quarter – Week 4 – Lesson 3
English for Academic and Professional Purposes
Facts and Opinion
Because critiques and reaction papers are
evaluative, we expect to find many opinions in
these kinds of writing. However, presenting
opinions is not enough; for our critiques and
reaction papers to be successful, we need
carefully selected facts to support our opinion.
Facts and Opinion
Facts and opinion are two types of statements
that are greatly used in writing critiques and
reaction papers. Facts and opinions have to work
together in order to present a convincing
evaluation of an idea or a piece of work.
Opinion
An opinion is a statement that cannot be proved
or checked. It tells what someone thinks, feels, or
believes. The clue words for opinion statements
are think, feel, believe, seem, always, never, all,
none, most, least, best, greatest, worst.
Opinion
An expression of a person's feelings, attitudes,
or beliefs that are neither true nor false. Opinion
leaves much room for disagreements.
To recognize an opinion, ask yourself “Does
this statement tell what someone thinks, feels, or
believes?”
Facts
The truth of the fact is beyond argument if one
can assume that measuring devices or records or
memories are correct. Facts provide crucial
support for the assertion of an argument.
However, facts by themselves are worthless
unless we put them in context, draw conclusions,
and, thus, give them meaning.
Facts
Facts are statements that can be checked or
proved. We can check facts by conducting some sort
of experiment, observation, or by verifying
(checking) the fact with a source document.
Facts often contain numbers, dates, or age. Facts
might include specific information about a person,
place or thing.
1. Last year there was a horrible outbreak of flu.

2. Babies generally start to talk between 18 and 24 months of

age.

3. Italian is an easier language to learn than Spanish.

4. The average temperature in Wyoming in January is 35°F.

 THE CONTENT AND STRUCTURE OF
THE CRITIQUE AND REACTION PAPER

1.Accurate –
2.Evaluative-
3.Balanced-
 Accurate
Provides accurate description of the work being
evaluated by giving its summary and/or
background details, like the answers to the basic
who, where, when and how.
 Evaluative
It gives the writer’s overall judgment of the work.
 Balanced
The writer shows balance by pointing out weakness of
a work and recognizing strong points of a work.
 PARTS OF THE REACTION AND
CRITIQUE PAPER
• INTRODUCTION
• BODY
• CONCLUSION
 INTRODUCTION
• Summary of the work being evaluated

• Background information

• The reviewer’s overall judgment of the subject of the

work.
• The thesis of the critique/reaction paper.
 BODY
•Supporting opinions to the overall
judgment

•Support to these opinions: details about

the work being evaluated
 CONCLUSION
• A restatement of the overall judgment