Reflective Writing 3: Finding Out More about Descriptive Writing and Critical Writing

The third meeting of the Academic Writing course applied the synchronous method via Google Meet. In this meeting, we had a discussion regarding descriptive writing and critical writing. Before we go to the discussion, we were required to do an online research regarding descriptive and critical writing, then put the results into the chatbox. 

After doing the online research, I found that descriptive writing is writing which describes a person, place, or thing in such a way that a picture is formed in the reader's mind. The characteristics of descriptive writing are states what happened, states what something is like, lists details, states the order of how things happened, and states how to do something. Meanwhile, critical writing is writing that analyses and evaluates information, usually from multiple sources, to develop an argument. The characteristics of critical writing are identifies the topic’s significance, evaluates the strengths and weaknesses, evaluates the relative significance of details, and makes reasoned judgments.

After finding out about the definition and the characteristic of descriptive and critical writing, we had a further discussion regarding critical writing. As stated by Mr. Udi, good academic writing is critical writing. In the academic writing context, the writer should put down their critical thinking into their writing because a writing is considered to be good when it is written critically, not descriptively. A writing is considered to be critical when it has an argument. The common structure of an argument: 1) claim; 2) reason/justification; 3) example/evidence; 4) elaboration/justification of the evidence; 5) conclusion. The example/evidence part is optional, it helps to strengthen your claim. The minimum structure of an argument: 1) claim; 2) reason/s. 

What I gained from this meeting is that I need to improve my writing skills, especially in the critical context. I should learn more of how to find good reasons and examples/evidence that relates to the claim in order to make a strong argument. I should read more critical writing examples, analyze their structure, and practice writing them myself to improve my critical writing skills. I hope that I could write good critical writing in the future by understanding the concept of critical writing.

References

https://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/descriptive_writing

https://www.eapfoundation.com/writing/critical/#:~:text=Critical%20writing%20is%20writing%20which,an%20academic%20text%20or%20journal.