7.8 Critical writing 301
7.8 Critical writing
In the previous chapter you studied a single
document and answered some specific
questions on it. These tested your skills in
analysis and evaluation.
In this unit we introduce a further skill that
you need to develop for more advanced levels
of critical thinking. It is the skill of bringing
together information, evidence and opinion
from a range of different sources to support an
argument or conclusion. This is known as
synthesis. In higher-level thinking skills
examinations it is assessed by means of an
extended piece of writing that you have to
plan and construct yourself.
Synthesis requires first selecting and
organising material that is relevant to a
particular task. In the activity that follows, the
task is to extend the debate on the Olympic
Games that arises from Janet Sender’s article
on page 296 (Doc 1). The questions she was
addressing were fairly narrow ones: ‘Whose are
the Olympics?’ and ‘Where should the
Olympics take place?’ Her conclusion was that
they should be held permanently in Athens,
and her reasoning was largely historical and
political. Among its weaknesses was the fact
that she gave little in the way of factual
information, examples or evidence to support
her claims.
The three new documents that follow are
largely informative. Not every part of them is
directly relevant to the debate, and there is
more information in them than you would
need for an argument on the specific question
of where the Olympic Games should be held.
Nor do the additional documents enter directly
into the debate, although they contribute to it.
Read the new documents now, and if
necessary reread Janet Sender’s argument too.
Do this quickly, to get an overview of the
material, rather than trying to take in every
detail. Look out for the parts of the texts that
are most relevant to the debate. Then move on
to the activity that follows.