How to Write Better Essays

processing. Splitting up our reading and note-taking into the three

levels of processing helps, but so does a more flexible note-taking strat-

egy that will allow us to inject more of our own ideas and criticisms

into the structure of the notes.

Therefore experiment, particularly with your pattern notes. If you still

feel that linear notes are more appropriate for a particular piece of

work, set time aside later to sit down with a blank sheet of paper and

tap into your own ideas and criticisms, which will have been self-

organising in your own mind since you finished reading. As you know,

it won’t take long. The ideas will come tumbling out and you will be

surprised at just how good they are and how much you have to say

about it.

Playing devil’s advocate

Even so, there are many students who still believe they don’t see as

much to criticise in a passage as other students do. If this is your

problem, the following four-step technique will help you think more

critically about what you read.

An argument may be weak or fallacious for one of three reasons:

that the authors have misstated the facts (material fallacies); that

they have wrongly used words (verbal fallacies); or that they have

drawn the wrong inferences (logical fallacies). In Chapter 12, I listed

ten of the most common fallacies, to guide you in what to look for.

To help you use these more systematically, try working through the

following steps:

Step 1: Are there exceptions?

When authors make claims that are important to their arguments, even

though you might agree with them, play devil’s advocate: ask yourself,

are there exceptions to these?

For example, an author might argue that ‘All criminals come from

socially deprived backgrounds.’ However, you can probably think of

convicted criminals that you’ve read about in the newspapers, who, on

the contrary, come from quite privileged backgrounds.

Step 2: If there are exceptions, are they general or specific?

2.1 Specific exceptions If they are specific, then while an author

can still retain his or her claim, you’ve found sufficient grounds to

110 Research

HTW15 7/26/01 9:10 PM Page 110