Good writing is not just about presenting information in an organized way such as an essay or research paper with an introduction, body paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph. It is about persuading your reader that you are right. In the case of an academic paper, the body paragraphs each must have a proof point (a topic sentence), and the content of each of the body paragraphs must include information that shows that the proof point is accurate. There are several ways to achieve this goal.
This section covers how to critically evaluate your writing with some general information in Proving the Thesis - General Principles and then goes on to explain logical thinking in Proving the Thesis - Logic and problems with logic in Proving the Thesis - Logical Fallacies and Appeals. Rhetorical modes such as description, definition, cause and/or effect, and compare/contrast can be used to help prove the thesis.
The same principles are applied when you're evaluating someone else's presentation whether it is a potential source for a paper or simply reading a news article. Even what is called a documentary - which presumably is the truth - should be critically evaluated.
