Explaining the process of critical reading, thinking and writing for students.

1. How to do well in General Paper
Step 2:
Step 1
Critical reading
Selecting and
applying your prior
knowledge to
General Paper essay
or AQ.
© The Thinking Class by Miss Koh
Step 3:
Writing clear, logical
and persuasive
arguments with
good justification
and clear
explanation.

2. Step 1: Critical reading
• Read widely across all genres
• S: social, science, sports
• P: politics
• E: environment, education, economy
• R: race, religion
• M: media, mathematics
Others: Art, Culture, Singapore issues, General philosophy, History, geography,
population issues, terrorism , globalization, etc
• Keep up with the latest news and trends
• Understanding the meaning behind the information you read
• Identify possible dilemma/conflict/relationship between different themes
E.g. economic versus social expectations; environment versus economics
• Identify biases, tone, author’s purpose/perspective
• Identify key players
• Deduction: Identifying key arguments/conclusion in a given discussion or issue.
• Induction: Deriving or extrapolating general ideas from examples or facts
© The Thinking Class by Miss Koh

3. Step 2: Selecting and applying your prior
knowledge to General Paper
• Understand the requirements of the essay question or Application
Question
• Recall and select relevant information/argument that you know for
the question
• Remember to explain the link between your ideas (what you know)
and the question in mind
• You can organize the connection between your ideas and the
question through brainstorming
• Concept maps
• Table templates
• Mind-mapping
© The Thinking Class by Miss Koh

4. Step 3: Writing clear, logical and persuasive
arguments with good justification (apt
example/evidence) and clear explanation
Example: Writing the GP essay
Step 3:
Step 1:Analyse
the question
Step 2:
Brainstorming
Organise and
plan your
body
paragraphs
© The Thinking Class by Miss Koh
Step 4:
Plan for your
thesis
statement
Goal:
Write the
whole essay