Crucial connections: an exploration of critical thinking and scholarly writing

Academic writing in the context of producing quality research articles is something which all academics engage in and there is evidence of increased attention to supporting the development of the writing and subsequent outputs of academics and research students. However, while scholarly writing is learnt in complex ways, critical thinking is an intrinsic part of such writing. In practice the teaching of critical thinking is difficult and there is a lack of discussion about what it means within the context of the writing process. Critical thinking can only be acquired with practice and this study describes a pedagogic intervention with a group of academic staff support the participants not only to explore critical thinking in their own writing, but to consider in depth how they would apply this learning to their work with students in higher education. An exploratory model is proposed for the the teaching of scholarly writing.