wHAT ARE THE HAbITS of MInd of ACAdEMIC wRITERS? 3WHAT ARE THE HABITS OF MIND
OF ACADEMIC WRITERS?
The chapters in the first part of this book introduce you to the habits of
mind and core skills of academic writing. By habits of mind, we mean the
patterns of thought that lead you to question assumptions and opinions,
explore alternative opinions, anticipate opposing arguments, compare one
type of experience to another, and identify the causes and consequences of
ideas and events. These forms of critical thinking demand an inquiring
mind that welcomes complexities and seeks out and weighs many differ-
ent points of view, a mind willing to enter complex conversations both in
and out of the academy. We discuss academic habits of mind in the rest of
Chapter 1 and refer to them throughout this book.
Such habits of mind are especially important today, when we are bom-
barded with appeals to buy this or that product and with information that
may or may not be true. For example, in “106 Science Claims and a Truck-
ful of Baloney” (The Best American Science and Nature Writing, 2005),
William Speed Weed illustrates the extent to which the claims of science
vie for our attention alongside the claims of advertising. He notes that
advertisers often package their claims as science, but wonders whether a
box of Cheerios really can reduce cholesterol.
As readers we have a responsibility to test the claims of both science
and advertising in order to decide what to believe and act upon. Weed
found that “very few of the 100 claims” he evaluated “proved completely
true” and that “a good number were patently false.” Testing the truth of
claims — learning to consider information carefully and critically and to
weigh competing points of view before making our own judgments — gives
us power over our own lives.
The habits of mind and practices valued by academic writers are prob-
ably ones you already share. You are behaving “academically” when you
comparison-shop, a process that entails learning about the product in the
media and on the Internet and then looking at the choices firsthand before
you decide which one you will purchase. You employ these same habits of
mind when you deliberate over casting a vote in an election. You inform
yourself about the issues that are most pressing; you learn about the can-
didates’ positions on these issues; you consider other arguments for and
against both issues and candidates; and you weigh those arguments and
your own understanding to determine which candidate you will support.
Fundamentally, academic habits of mind are analytical. When you
consider a variety of factors — the quality and functionality of the item you
plan to buy, how it meets your needs, how it compares to similar items
before making a shopping choice — you are conducting an analysis. That
is, you are pausing to examine the reasons why you should buy something,
instead of simply handing over your cash and saying, “I want one of those.”01_GRE_5344_Ch1_001_028.indd 3 11/19/14 11:07 AM