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Grammar / sentence structure / paragraph organization - all these things take a backseat to insightful thinking. Sure, where you put your comma matters - but it's your ideas that make or break your grade. You're not going to fail an essay for misplacing a comma. But, you will if you don't say what you're thinking.
Ohhh, did you catch that last line? Read it again. You ALREADY have ideas and thoughts of your own! In this tutorial, I show you how to dig 'em up, shake 'em out and shine 'em up.
Let's get into the details. In this tutorial, you'll learn...
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2.
5 mindset shifts you need to make to read like a critic
and make sure you're ready to write like a grad
7 differences between critical and creative thinking
and why you need to use both kinds of thinking in your academic writing (and, if you want to learn how to apply these kinds of thinking, that's the main focus of my Make It Persuasive Video Tutorial)
3.
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my homemade 4 step process to discover your most insightful ideas...and reveal your own authentic voice
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3 practical ways to improve the clarity of your content and communicate your ideas more effectively
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probing questions to ask yourself before, during and after you read to think & write more critically
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visualization strategies to give your writing an author's edge and develop your inner critic
how to use language to establish credibility and sound scholarly so you (and your ideas!) are taken seriously
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the most effective ways to spark a conversation with an author and have a ready-to-use set of notes that will actually help you when you sit down to begin writing
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BONUS! what to look for in an author's use of language, writing style, form/structure and overall content to dive beneath the surface of a text
- and into those elusive places where top grades resides
It's a nice looking tutorial, too. Take a look...
Full Tutorial - 23 pgs.
easy to read format
simple & clean organization
Full Tutorial - 23 pgs.
1/6
But, good looks don't make the grade.
Good ideas do.
In this digital tutorial, I break down critical thinking & creative thinking. Then, I teach you my personal 4 step plan - that's worked for 1000s of students from high school to grad school - to discover your most insightful ideas. The best part? This tutorial wasn't made for writers or teachers. It was made for students. No jargon, no guesswork, no confusion.
That's why...
I love how you organized the information. It looks amazing! Thank you for creating this. It's extremely helpful.
Not sure if this is the right tutorial for you? Let's find out.
you're often told by your teachers & profs you have some good ideas, but you need to explain them more
your notes are filled with quotes, page numbers, definitions, key dates and lots of dot jots summarizing what you've read
after you've finished reading a text, you move onto the next one hoping it text will spark your ideas
you're not really sure what the difference is between summarizing, explaining and critical thinking
you keep being told to engage with the text and you wish everyone would stop using that word and just tell you what it means
you're often told to be more specific in your writing and to choose your words more carefully
You want to....
explain your ideas with greater clarity
create a set of notes that will help you begin your assignment and give you direction as you write
be able to identify the difference between summary and analysis so you can write more critically and evaluate your writing more effectively
use language with more accuracy and precision
you want to see what critical and creative thinking look like so you can recognize them in your own writing
Now, let's tackle the big question.
How can you be sure this tutorial will improve the quality of your ideas and the clarity of your writing?
layered approach
Critical writing begins with critical thinking. In this tutorial, you're not just given examples of critical writing, you're given a front row seat to the thoughts in my head so you hear the critical writing thought process.
I set you up with a list of ways to dive beneath the surface of a text and reveal your insightful ideas. And, I give you 100+ word-for-word sentence starters to make sure your ideas find their way out of your head and onto the paper.
idea generators
The best way to take your writing from vague and repetitive to specific and concise is to learn how to tell the difference between the two. That's why I have you study examples of good and bad writing - because knowing what not to do is just as important as knowing what to do.
the good & the bad
Knowing how to choose the right word in academic writing is paramount. That's why a big chunk of this tutorial teaches you how to think about your use of language and how small changes in your word choice can have a big impact on your final grade.
word analysis
By the end of this tutorial, you'll be able to...
ask yourself a set of questions that will unlock your own insightful ideas
know when you're summarizing and when you're analyzing in your writing
use language more accurately to write more compelling arguments
open any text and know how to make critical observations about it
express your ideas more like a scholar and less like a student
communicating your ideas more clearly when speaking
using your time more effectively while reading
creating a set of notes that will save you time while writing your first draft
feeling more confident in your critical thinking and writing skills
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