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How To Write A Critique

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How to write a critique writing

It's essential to develop critical reading and analysis skills while you're at
university to demonstrate higher-level thinking.

Rather than just accepting and summarising what you read, you should aim
to:

 evaluate the relevance and quality of a text


 identify links between authors, arguments and texts and your existing
knowledge
 form opinions, and critique and comment on what you've read.

 Reading critically
 Writing critically

As a critical reader, you need to be able to develop your own ideas about
what you read. Don't just accept that everything you read is completely
accurate or the only way of discussing an idea.

Here are some ways you can improve your critical reading skills:

Question as you read

Approach reading with a list of questions you can use to evaluate the
information.

Questions you can ask include:

 Is the research objective? Is there any evidence of bias?


 What do the numbers that are quoted actually mean? Consider
absolute numbers as percentages and vice versa (e.g. does 8 out of 10
sound as impressive as 80%?).
 Are the results meaningful and useful, or is it difficult to see how the
results could be used or applied?
 Have other writers or researchers found similar patterns? Have the
results of research been replicated?
 Did the study look at long-term effects or were only short-term results
reported?
 Could there be other reasons for the findings other than those the
researcher states?
 Are there any parts of the research process that were not well
described or were not considered? Are there any omissions or gaps in
the research process or thinking?

Critical reading questions: Find more example questions for critical reading on
the Learning Co-Op website.

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Look for links

Think about how the information you're reading relates to:

 your existing knowledge, or


 other texts or authors.

This will help you to:

 identify similar ideas even when they sound different


 contextualise the information so you're better able to form opinions on
what you've read.

Evaluate the argument

To critically evaluate the content of an argument, you can:

 assess the strengths and weaknesses of the argument


 analyse the components of the argument (e.g. facts, ideas and claims)
 evaluate how the text has been organised
 examine the credibility of the evidence used to develop the arguments,
how the author has analysed the material, and whether their
conclusions are logical
 consider how the ideas can be applied in practice or what the problems
may be.

Assess the source of the information

To evaluate the text's appropriateness and quality as a research source


consider the:

 author's credentials, such as their institutional affiliations, educational


background, past work and experience
 publication date, including whether there are more recent editions of
the text, or other texts that provide more up-to-date information
 scope
 intended audience
 writing style and general quality.

Information essentials: UQ Library's guide to how to find and evaluate


information.

Identify gaps and bias

To help identify gaps and bias in a text, identify information that is presented
with little or no explanation or evidence. Look out for:

 generalisations
 assumptions

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 opinions (even from experts)
 selective inclusion of evidence that only supports a particular point of
view
 words that may indicate the author is overstating or making unjustified
assumptions (e.g. plainly, obviously, undeniably, naturally, as you will
agree, there is no doubt, it has to be admitted, clearly).

___________________________________________________________________________

Critical Reading Towards Critical


Writing
Written by Deborah Knott, New College Writing Centre
 Printable PDF Version
 Fair-Use Policy

Critical writing depends on critical reading. Most of the papers you write will involve
reflection on written texts – the thinking and research that has already been done on your
subject. In order to write your own analysis of this subject, you will need to do careful
critical reading of sources and to use them critically to make your own argument. The
judgments and interpretations you make of the texts you read are the first steps towards
formulating your own approach.

Critical Reading: What is It?


To read critically is to make judgements about how a text is argued. This is a highly
reflective skill requiring you to “stand back” and gain some distance from the text you are
reading. (You might have to read a text through once to get a basic grasp of content
before you launch into an intensive critical reading.) THE KEY IS THIS:

 don’t read looking only or primarily for information


 do read looking for ways of thinking about the subject matter

When you are reading, highlighting, or taking notes, avoid extracting and compiling lists
of evidence, lists of facts and examples. Avoid approaching a text by asking “What
information can I get out of it?” Rather ask “How does this text work? How is it argued?
How is the evidence (the facts, examples, etc.) used and interpreted? How does the text
reach its conclusions?

How Do I Read Looking for Ways of


Thinking?
1. First determine the central claims or purpose of the text (its thesis). A critical
reading attempts to assess how these central claims are developed or argued.
2. Begin to make some judgements about context . What audience is the text written
for? Who is it in dialogue with? (This will probably be other scholars or authors with
differing viewpoints.) In what historical context is it written? All these matters of
context can contribute to your assessment of what is going on in a text.
3. Distinguish the kinds of reasoning the text employs. What concepts are defined
and used? Does the text appeal to a theory or theories? Is any specific

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methodology laid out? If there is an appeal to a particular concept, theory, or
method, how is that concept, theory, or method then used to organize and interpret
the data? You might also examine how the text is organized: how has the author
analyzed (broken down) the material? Be aware that different disciplines (i.e.
history, sociology, philosophy, biology) will have different ways of arguing.
4. Examine the evidence (the supporting facts, examples, etc) the text employs.
Supporting evidence is indispensable to an argument. Having worked through Steps
1-3, you are now in a position to grasp how the evidence is used to develop the
argument and its controlling claims and concepts. Steps 1-3 allow you to see
evidence in its context. Consider the kinds of evidence that are used. What counts
as evidence in this argument? Is the evidence statistical? literary? historical? etc.
From what sources is the evidence taken? Are these sources primary or
secondary?
5. Critical reading may involve evaluation. Your reading of a text is already critical if it
accounts for and makes a series of judgments about how a text is argued. However,
some essays may also require you to assess the strengths and weaknesses of an
argument. If the argument is strong, why? Could it be better or differently
supported? Are there gaps, leaps, or inconsistencies in the argument? Is the
method of analysis problematic? Could the evidence be interpreted differently? Are
the conclusions warranted by the evidence presented? What are the unargued
assumptions? Are they problematic? What might an opposing argument be?

Some Practical Tips


1. Critical reading occurs after some preliminary processes of reading. Begin by
skimming research materials, especially introductions and conclusions, in order to
strategically choose where to focus your critical efforts.
2. When highlighting a text or taking notes from it, teach yourself to highlight
argument: those places in a text where an author explains her analytical moves, the
concepts she uses, how she uses them, how she arrives at conclusions. Don’t let
yourself foreground and isolate facts and examples, no matter how interesting they
may be. First, look for the large patterns that give purpose, order, and meaning to
those examples. The opening sentences of paragraphs can be important to this
task.
3. When you begin to think about how you might use a portion of a text in the
argument you are forging in your own paper, try to remain aware of how this portion
fits into the whole argument from which it is taken. Paying attention to context is a
fundamental critical move.
4. When you quote directly from a source, use the quotation critically. This means that
you should not substitute the quotation for your own articulation of a point. Rather,
introduce the quotation by laying out the judgments you are making about it, and the
reasons why you are using it. Often a quotation is followed by some further
analysis.
5. Critical reading skills are also critical listening skills. In your lectures, listen not only
for information but also for ways of thinking. Your instructor will often explicate and
model ways of thinking appropriate to a discipline.

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