The Role of Critical Thinking in Writing an Extended Essay

What is an extended essay? It’s a massive project all students are involved in during their last year of high school studies. The project involves massive research on the given topic to help trainees write a well-structured, fundamental piece of work to prove their point. 

Why is it important to develop critical thinking to present the writing? Without the ability to analyze the information properly, one can get lost in the flow of data online. An uncontrolled flow of ideas, thoughts, and assumptions can jeopardize the clarity of the project. 

You will hardly be able to produce a decent extended essay without the ability to think critically. Information analysis, evaluation, and synthesis are crucial for providing a well-built and reasonable text. If you don’t want the amount of work to lead you to burnout, please read on. 

Let’s see how to develop critical thinking and how to apply it to extended essay writing. After reading this, you should be able to answer the main question. 

The Power of Critical Thinking: Top 5 Ways to Use It in an Extended Essay

As an essential component of the studying process, essay writing practice can sometimes be tedious. It mostly happens because of the inability to tame the amount of information available online. It’s important to approach each task with the correct approach to keep your mental health in place. Not every student finds it easy to process the data, sift through it and get only valuable information. 

However, it’s a critical skill one can master and apply in various theoretical or practical tasks during studies. How can critical thinking help when it comes to writing an extended essay? There are a couple of ways to use this primary skill for writing purposes. 

Research Question Development 

What is an extended essay? It’s a massive research project where a student has to pose a question to give an answer. It takes a lot of attention, so one has to be psychologically ready to work. And posing a question is what makes the process so tedious. It may seem like an easy task. However, if posed incorrectly, the whole research can lead to unfavorable results. 

In this case, it’s best to use a critical thinking approach to stay focused and provide a clear, relevant question. To ask the correct things, a student has to critically analyze the literature, research previously written works, and estimate the frequency of specific questions posed and their relevance.

Source Evaluation

Is the source credible? How do you know if the source’s relevance is enough for you to present the paper in the end? Critical thinking helps analyze if the source is valid enough to take the information from it and use it in the final work. What steps does it include? 

  • First of all, each student needs to consider the author’s choice. If it’s a reliable writer, the chances are high that the writing can be trusted. 
  • The second step is to see if the publication has a good reputation. Otherwise, it can fail to pass the norms of the educational institution. 
  • The third practical thing to check is the methodology used. 

With the help of critical thinking, it’s way easier to find the relevant source where one can grab only the information needed. 

Data Analysis 

Posing questions and looking for the authors are important. However, there’s something every student should devote to. It’s data analysis and conclusion drawing. It may be hard at the very beginning to look outside the scope, but the skills and understanding come with practice. 

This is what some people may call reading between the lines. You don’t only read the text to prepare for your extended essay but also define the overall tendencies in the topic, track the trends, or feature the inconsistencies. 

One more important thing that critical thinking can give is the ability to use counterarguments. You can’t agree with every statement, but to disagree, there has to be a convincing set of arguments. 

Information Synthesis 

On the Internet, you will find a lot of sources leading you to the answer. But how do you put all the pieces of data into one coherent piece of work? It’s a tedious process unless you make use of your critical thinking and compare the sources or make use of the IB writing service for help. The ability to contrast and compare the points of view, identify commonalities, and make connections will make the essay readable and fundamental. 

Argument Evaluation 

One of the last reasons to use critical thinking to its fullest while writing an essay is to evaluate which arguments are more powerful and meaningful than others. Your text shouldn’t have tons of arguments of the same strengths. Some of them have to contrast in their power to make the reading dynamic. This is where critical thinking comes to the fore and helps make the text clear. 

How to Develop Critical Thinking for a Successful Extended Essay Writing? 

Everyone is talking about critical thinking, but not every student knows how to develop the ability to think critically. There’s no single way to pursue the goal. However, there are certain tips to help become more aware of your critical thinking acumen. 

Reading and discussion help a lot. The more you read, question, and discuss the topics, the better understanding of the issues you will gain. Listening to the experts, evaluating your daily situations, and considering various options are what can enhance your skills. It’s a long process, but it brings its fruits. With the help of critical thinking, your essays will hit the right point, impress the readers, and lead you to the desired results.

by Abdullah Sam
I’m a teacher, researcher and writer. I write about study subjects to improve the learning of college and university students. I write top Quality study notes Mostly, Tech, Games, Education, And Solutions/Tips and Tricks. I am a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence or virtue.

Leave a Comment