Key skills: critical viewing

View things in three scales The object itself, how it is made, and how it relates to its environment

• The sections that the physical properties determine, and their interaction with high-level internal sections
• The details of the making of the object, and the construction of meaning

Place the object

• In the cultural, financial, geographic, technological, and personal context
• Within a genre of objects [and describe across, not serially]
• Along a narrative of making and using

Build connections between the object and

• Wider patterns of action
• Systems of ideas that develop in its context
• Trends (the history of the many) and exceptional narratives (personal decisions)

Expand from the object into wider meaning

• What does it tell us about its time/place/industry/society?
• How does it connect to themes, and general ideas?
• What does it teach us for our practice and our thinking about our discipline?

Key skills: critical reading

Locate the coordinates of the source
- Author(s), publication medium/channel, contributors, location, time

• Genre and any relevant classification

Place the source in its context (perspective and bias)

• Identify the genre, and means of evaluating the source within this
• Cultural, historical, social, material, financial, technological, and personal contexts
• FR criteria: Relevance | Validity | Reliability | Provenance | Context

Note key points

• Facts
• Ideas and arguments
• Interpretations
• Connections to wider themes

Kinds of sources to keep in mind:

• Primary
• Secondary
• Descriptions of artifacts
• Reportage
• Analysis
• Extrapolation
• Opinion

Key skills: writing

What does critical writing mean?
The ability to ask questions about contexts, motivations, and perspectives in any source or action one comes across, then apply a similar interrogation to one’s own thinking and output — with an awareness that this process is constant, and may lead to fundamental revisions.
What challenges does it pose?
It questions two premises that have roots in their prior educational experience: that knowledge is linear, with elements of study building up in a neat manner towards a defined set of learning outcomes; and that learning happens through clearly expressed questions with definitive answers (that can be found in a marking scheme or past paper).

• use active voice, with a verb and a subject
• discipline in terminology / vocabulary
• one (at most two) sentences per paragraph of 300/400 words
• filter by evidence
• do not expect audience to read linearly, start with main point (conclusion, abstract)
• store digitally in free-retrieval system

Key skills: constructing a research paper in typography

This is a set of prompts for building a medium-length research-based text that defines a topic clearly, and reveals the relevant arguments in the discipline. Such a text identifies questions, places arguments in their context, and discusses them in a manner that leaves the reader with new knowledge and understanding.
Checklist
Is structured well Has clear sections, in one or two levels
Has section numbering
Uses paragraphs to identify key points or stages in an argument
Is well-written Has plain, clear language which avoids jargon
Avoids repetition, the passive voice, and an overly personal tone
Distinguishes between fact, report, analysis, speculation, and opinion
Uses punctuation with confidence
Uses images to help the reader (bring in section from Medium article 3) Uses images that are targeted to the point discussed
Places images next to the relevant text
Annotates images to help the reader’s understanding
Focuses on explanation Progresses the argument in steps that seem obvious and connected
Moves the argument to a clear conclusion
Enriches the primary sources with secondary and contextual information
Uses footnotes to add detail or extensions
and… Is typeset with respect for the genre, and sensitivity to the content