3rd article: Schneider, S.

Thinking Skills and its Importance for Academic Writing at College and University

Acquiring thinking skills for academic writers at college and university levels is considered to be extremely relevant. Some of the most important thinking skills to acquire are argumentative, analytical and critical. There are more thinking skills to bear in mind, such as reasoning, creative thinking and information-processing, but argumentative, analytical and critical are seen as the main abilities a writer may possess since each involves several characteristics. Acquiring argumentative, analytical and critical thinking skills is implied at academic writing at college and university.

As far as argumentative thinking skill is concerned, it is highly useful to acquire such a skill since academic writers may need it to understand forms, to be active listeners and readers, to discuss alternatives and sound ideas and to persuade their readers with supportive ideas. Academic discourse means negotiating meaning, adjusting what someone said to be understood. By means of modeling academic content, writers may discuss paying close attention to transitions, turn-taking techniques and questions. Academic writers should be clear and concise and they must use language their audience can understand (Zweirs, 2004).

Analytical thinking skill means to break down a complex concept into smaller components or attributes and look and analyze each concept in detail. Analyzing also entails recognizing how the parts relate to one another and recognizing how the parts play to form the complex whole (Beyer, 2001). To acquire the ability to analyze texts is vital since it involves clarifying references and determining ambiguity or lack of information in a message. Analytical thinking is a key skill since it is a good way to solve problems by analyzing them (Rozakis, 1998).

Critical thinking is considered to be one of the essential thinking skills since it involves several essential abilities to have in mind. As Rogers (2012) stated, this skill entails “categorizing, establishing priorities, making choices, estimating, problem solving, thinking creatively and thinking logically, and identifying opportunities.” These characteristics are key skills for academic writers at college and university level since are used for organizing information into logical and usable groups, helpful for separating important from unimportant information.

The skills college and university academic writers generally acquire may not represent all the components they need to write academically, but these thinking skills will help them develop both their English language skills and be able to appreciate an alternative point of view. Academic writers should find the necessary tools to become better thinkers as well as better writers by means of acquiring thinking skills.

References

Beyer, B (2001). Teaching Thinking Skills: A Handbook for Elementary School Teachers. Allyn & Bacon Publishers.

Rogers, M. (2012). A step in the “write” direction: developing lower level learners’ IELTS writing skills. Macmillan Interactive Webinars.

Rozakis, L. (1998). 101 Fresh and Fun Critical Thinking Activities. Scholastic. USA.

Zweirs, J. (2004). Developing academic thinking skills in grades 6-12: A handbook of multiple intelligence activities. Menlo Park, California: International Reading Association.