1. Narrative: The purpose of narration is to tell a story.

2. Report: Reports should be objective and should describe an event.

3. Argument: Argumentative writing should be based on appealing to the reader's emotions on logical analysis. An effective argument should always refute the opposing argument. It is important to understand all sides of an argument.

4. Evaluation: Evaluation involves judgment. We make judgments every day when we eat out at a restaurant or enjoy a college class. To evaluate effectively, we must describe our criteria for evaluating a particular issue or event, and we must describe our reasons for our feelings towards that topic by being as specific as possible.

5. Causal Analysis: Causal analysis is an important activity. For instance, when discussing terrorism in the Middle East, expercts concluded that it was important to understand the psychological reasons why terrorism would be attractive to a certain segment of Middle Eastern populations. Sometimes, there are multiple causes for a particular problem. For instance, obesity can be partly caused by genetic factors as well as environmental factors.

6. Proposal: Proposing a solution is an important task and is necessary for critical thinking. How many times have you heard someone say: "I don't like President Obama's approach to the economy...", and then when you ask that individual what he or she would do better, that person doesn't have any better solutions. We need to be creative, insightful, and logical in investigating solutions to a particular problem. For instance, perhaps President Obama should have paid more attention to the Americans who lost jobs rather than on bailing the banks out. It is important to realize that any solution proposed must be defended. For instance, a critical reader might say that if  Obama hadn't bailed the banks out, perhaps the entire financial system would have collapsed. You should be able to rebut this point and defend your proposed solution.

7. Literary Analysis: Writing about literature involves more than summary. You can analyze plot, theme, character, style, mood, setting, symbolism, imagery, and point of view when discussing a literary work. Most often, you should emphasize a particular topic rather than writing about all of these points at once. You should develop a clear thesis statement that defends your interpretation of the literary work. You should aim at being original and support your argument with references to particular passages in the literary work. Do not merely summarize the work. You should interpret the literary work and discuss its significance.

8. Rhetorical Analysis:

There are many questions rhetorical analysis involves. First, assess the rhetorical situation. What is the occasion of the writing/speech/literary work you are writing about? What is the historical occasion? Who is the speaker? How credible is the speaker? What is the speaker's intention? Is the text meant to persuade, blame, instruct, etc.? Who is the audience? How does the writer appeal to emotions and to logic? What is the main idea of the text? What is the genre of the text? Is the style appropriate for the particular context? How does the text reflect particular cultural and historical ideals?