1. Critical Thinking Matters
2. Personal Essays vs. Academic Writing
3. Summary vs. Original Ideas
4. Filler: “There Are Many Reasons to Avoid the Filler Phrase ‘There Are'”
5. Bloom’s Taxonomy: Hierarchy of Critical Thinking Skills

1. Critical Thinking Matters.

What is critical thinking, in the context of writing a college writing paper? How does it differ from “being critical”? Covers the confirmation bias.

2. Personal Essays vs. Academic Writing

The goal of a personal essay is to engage the reader by telling a good story. The goal of an academic research paper is to present an evidence-backed argument for the truth. The two genres require different skills.

3. Summary vs. Original Ideas

Sentences and whole paragraphs that exist merely to summarize widely accepted facts won’t help you demonstrate your ability to defend an original argument. Restricting your summary to brief subordinate clauses will help you focus your sentences on developing your original thoughts.

4. Filler: “There Are Many Reasons to Avoid The Filler Phrase ‘There Are'”

Which version is better?

A) Filler buries original thoughts.
B) It being that many people share my personal opinion against wordiness, there are many reasons to avoid filler. For instance, it is important to note that using filler when writing makes it hard for people find your original thoughts.

This lecture walks you through the why and how. (At about 4:43 you’ll find what I have to say about the filler phrase “there are.”)

5. Bloom’s Taxonomy

An overview of the six levels of critical thinking, commonly known as “Bloom’s Taxonomy” — remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating.