Something that really caught my attention at this weeks symposium was Adrian’s stance on evidence and critical writing. He talked about how being critical was not about being negative or opinionated, but rather making informed arguments supported by evidence. He continued to talk about how and what evidence can be used and this was the part that surprised me.
I had always thought that proper, scholarly, academic, statistical…etc evidence had to be used in these sorts of writings, but Adrian gave an example of how Homer Simpson could be used as evidence. Although he shouldn’t be quoted as an expert (for instance, Homer Simpson once said ‘blah blah’), you could say something along the lines of this issue was raised in an episode of The Simpsons, signalling its significance.
In hindsight, I’m not sure if this technique would cut it for other subjects or if I would use it myself, I guess I’m too much of a worry-wort to take the risk…