Critical Thinking Essay

    ‘We stopped checking for monsters under the bed when we realised they were inside of us.’ (Charles Darwin)   Use the above quotation as the stimulus for a piece of critical and creative writing     ESSAY Discuss how Joseph Conrad’s novella, Heart of Darkness, explores the dark side of humanity.   Essay Structure   Intro   Thesis + Question Decide whether or not you agree with the statement and why. Are you going to look at personal or collective experiences or both? Decideon the key ideas you will use and how you will divide your discussion throughout the essay. You may even want to include an external quote that encapsulates your ideas, as long as it will be relevant to your discussion.   Body:   Body should include coherent and cohesive arguments that both overtly and implicitly answer the question. Paragraphing is driven by your own common sense – too long and they are less inviting to read – don’t think you must write ONE paragraph for ONE key idea. You might need several paragraphs. You need substantial quotes and techniques but they should all be embedded into sentences UNLESS you have a stand-alone quote that is long and encapsulates EVERYTHING you want to say. You don’t need a technique for EVERY example. You SHOULD embed key single word quotes into your sentences where appropriate. AVOID phrases such as ‘this quote shows that’ and ‘the use of…’ and ‘evidently’ and I also don’t like the phrase ‘prime example’ so don’t say that either. Try to establish a strong personal voice from the beginning – use strong verbs to show that you are convinced by your own ideas and so too should be your reader. However, keep the language formal and academic. Use ‘we’ rather than ‘I’ or ‘one’. You CAN sit on the fence a little when there are two perspectives that you want to discuss, but for the most part, be definite.   Context MUST be embedded throughout – you have to show that you KNOW what is going on in this time period and how the text is a reflection of this. Look at Conrad’s personal context and the context of the time period, values and ideologies. Context should be consciously and seamlessly linked to your ideas – do NOT write about it as a stand-alone paragraph and then forget about it. Conclude on a note that suggests you have completely proven your thesis. You can include another quote here from anyone else that ENCAPULATES what has been said but does NOT introduce new ideas. NOTE: EDIT and PROOFREAD your work before sending it through. Do the colouring exercise if you are worried that there is an imbalance between argument, evidence and context.Don’t be too wordy, stick to the point concisely and precisely and try to be a bit engaging. All the notes you have taken, the readings you have deconstructed and the class discussions so far should be informing your analysis and thesis.