Critical Thinking

Critical thinking, the key to being able to create something.

One has to be able to think critically about what they are trying to say with what is being created. An argument has to be argued and supported. How does one begin to develop an argument? The process contains three categories "statement of purpose, production, and testing." Each of these categories has its own steps, it own process'.

"If you do not have a clear purpose for communicating, then there is no reason to communicate." Why are you communicating? Whom are you communicating to? The process' for "statement of purpose" are:

• sense of purpose
• audience
• context

Each of these requires individual thought, when creating the statement of purpose, actually determining why this is being done, for whom, judged by whom, when? The whole Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How; to be able to really explain the purpose all these have to be taken into account.

Being able to produce the argument, not just have an idea is key. What is it going to take to be able to create the argument. To be able to produce something, another three topics have to be reviewed:

• strategies
• medium
• arrangement

To be able to produce the argument, brainstorming is key. All three of the topics for producing require brainstorming. It is something that needs to be done to figure out what the best option is. Often times the first option that pops into your head is not the best one. Adding restrictions and knowing what needs to be accomplished changes the process.

The last thing required to create an  argument that is powerful is testing. I believe that testing may be the most important part of the whole operation. All of the work done up to this point can be moot if it isn't executed properly. An perfect example of this is video games. The game company does all the planing and producing, but releases a faulty game then the whole argument is ruined, no one will take the work serious or buy it. This is why it is common for companies to release "Alpha" and "Beta" tests for free, before they release the finished product because many times the games are changed completely. It increases the respect and the confidence that the real release will be worth buying or at least listening to the argument given. The more testing and correcting that is done, the greater chance there is for it to be successful. The testing face can truly make or break a product/argument, if it is/isn't done properly.

Critical thinking is required in all steps, it allows for greater insight on what should happen and how it should happen.