Checklist for Writing and Critical Thinking 
Grateful acknowledgments to Wes Chapman for this checklist
A: required in formal assignment(s)
B: Not required in formal assignment(s) but covered in class discussion or required in informal assignment(s)
C: Addressed indirectly in paper comments, conferences, discussion questions
Critical Thinking & Logic	A	B 	C	
formulating a claim or hypothesis	 	 	 	
supporting a claim with evidence	 	 	 	
rebutting counterarguments	 	 	 	
avoiding logical fallacies	 	 	 	
cohesion between logical subpoints or premises	 	 	 	
description skills	 	 	 	
definition skills	 	 	 	
comparing and contrasting ideas/concepts/arguments	 	 	 	
identifying implicit assumptions	 	 	 	
making connections between ideas across writers & texts	 	 	 	
analyzing: breaking down a topic	 	 	 	
placing ideas in broader (e.g., social, historical, economic) contexts	 	 	 	
drawing generalizations from particulars	 	 	 	
balancing generalization and specific application/example	 	 	 	
applying a theory or generalization to a specific circumstance	 	 	 	
identifying cause and effect	 	 	 	
other:	 	 	 	

 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	
Working with Sources	 	 	 	
Identifying main thesis of a text	 	 	 	
Identifying secondary claims and supporting premises	 	 	 	
Active reading: taking notes, responding to text, marking text	 	 	 	
quoting and paraphrasing	 	 	 	
summarizing	 	 	 	
synthesizing multiple sources	 	 	 	
reading sympathetically & reading skeptically	 	 	 	
identifying assumptions	 	 	 	
locating the scholarly context of a resource	 	 	 	
other:	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	
Writing	A	B	C	
understanding the needs and knowledge of an audience	 	 	 	
having a clear sense of the writer’s role/standpoint	 	 	 	
knowing genre, discipline, format, occasion contexts and conventions	 	 	 	
finding an appropriate voice and tone	 	 	 	
crafting a clear, specific, significant, contestable thesis	 	 	 	
coordinating thesis and structure	 	 	 	
creating a coherent, logically connected structure	 	 	 	
using effective logical and syntactical transitions	 	 	 	
integrating supporting material into prose	 	 	 	
using supporting material to buttress claims	 	 	 	
writing effective introductions and conclusions	 	 	 	
presenting a consistent, lucid style appropriate to writing context	 	 	 	
avoiding grammar, punctuation, and mechanics errors	 	 	 	
mastering invention, global-revision, and local-revision strategies	 	 	 	
other:	 	 	 	

 	 	 	 	
Research and Scholarly Skills	 	 	 	
knowing how to use indexes, databases, bibliographies	 	 	 	
preparing a bibliography	 	 	 	
annotating a bibliography	 	 	 	
evaluating the relevance of sources	 	 	 	
identifying and evaluating the reliability/credentials of sources	 	 	 	
knowing primary vs. secondary sources	 	 	 	
mastering a documentation style (MLA, APA, CMS, etc.)	 	 	 	
knowing and avoiding plagiarism	 	 	 	
controlling quotation, paraphrase, and summary in the paper	 	 	 	
appropriate collaboration with others during the writing process	 	 	 	
appropriate discussion/communication styles	 	 	 	
respecting diversity of opinion	 	 	 	
avoiding relativism (all opinions are equally valid); demanding evidence	 	 	 	
analyzing pedagogy	 	 	 	
other: