The purpose for writing a critique is to evaluate somebody's work a book, an essay, a movie, a painting. A critical analysis is subjective writing because it expresses the writer's opinion or evaluation of a text. Writing a critical paper requires two steps: critical reading and critical writing. Background information to help your readers understand the nature of the work a.

Discussion of appeal to a particular audience avoid introducing your ideas by stating i think or in my opinion. Do not assume that because your reader knows what you are writing about, you do not need to mention the work's title. Other questions to consider: is there a controversy surrounding either the passage or the subject which it concerns? what about the subject matter is of current interest? what is the overall value of the passage? what are its strengths and weaknesses? support your thesis with detailed evidence from the text examined.

Remember that the purpose of a critical analysis is not merely to inform, but also to evaluate the worth, utility, excellence, distinction, truth, validity, beauty, or goodness of something. Even though as a writer you set the standards, you should be open minded, well informed, and fair. The information will help your reader understand the nature of the work under analysis.

The interpretation will explain the meaning of the work, therefore requiring your correct understanding of it. The evaluation will discuss your opinions of the work and present valid justification for them. for a printer friendly pdf version of this guide, click here it is common for feedback on student writing to focus on the need to engage more critically with the source material. Typical comments from tutors are: ‘too descriptive’, or ‘not enough critical analysis’. This study guide gives ideas for how to improve the level of critical analysis you demonstrate in your writing. Other study guides you may find useful are: what is critical reading? using paragraphs and the art of editing. The most characteristic features of descriptive writing are that it will describe something, but will not go beyond an account of what appears to be there.

A certain amount of descriptive writing is needed to establish for example: the setting of the research a general description of a piece of literature, or art the list of measurements taken the timing of the research an account of the biographical details of a key figure in the discipline or a brief summary of the history leading up to an event or decision. With descriptive writing you are not developing argument you are merely setting the background within which an argument can be developed. You are representing the situation as it stands, without presenting any analysis or discussion. There is also the trap that it can be easy to use many, many words from your word limit, simply providing description. In providing only description, you are presenting but not transforming information you are reporting ideas but not taking them forward in any way. an assignment using only descriptive writing would therefore gain few marks. You need to weigh up the evidence and arguments of others, and to contribute your own.

You will need to: consider the quality of the evidence and argument you have read identify key positive and negative aspects you can comment upon assess their relevance and usefulness to the debate that you are engaging in for your assignment and identify how best they can be woven into the argument that you are developing. A much higher level of skill is clearly needed for critical writing than for descriptive writing, and this is reflected in the higher marks it is given. When you engage in critical writing you are developing your own academic voice within your subject.

2005 p.84 offer some suggestions for distinguishing between the academic and the non academic voice. Try to get into the habit of writing critically, by making sure that you read critically, and that you include critique in your writing. It can be tempting to string together quotes to support an argument, feeling that the more quotes you include, the stronger your argument. It is important, however, to remember that you also need to interpret the quotes to the reader, and to explain their relevance, discuss their validity, and show how they relate to other evidence. There are several ways in which you can use the paragraph to enhance your critical writing. You can use paragraphs to make a clear and visual separation between descriptive writing and critical analysis, by switching to a new paragraph when you move from description to critical writing, and vice versa.

This can help in: emphasising to the reader that you are including both description and critical analysis, by providing a visual representation of their separation and pushing you to produce the necessary critical writing, especially if you find that your description paragraphs are always longer, or more frequent, than your critical analysis paragraphs. A paragraph break can provide a brief pause for your readers within a longer argument giving them the opportunity to make sure they are keeping up with your reasoning. Paragraphs that are overly long can require readers to hold too much in their mind at once, resulting in their having to re read the material until they can identify the point you are making.

You can also use paragraphs to push yourself to include critical writing alongside descriptive writing or referencing, by considering each paragraph almost as an essay in miniature. Within each paragraph you would: introduce the point you want to make make the point, with supporting evidence reflect critically on the point. A certain amount of descriptive writing is essential, particularly in the earlier parts of the essay or assignment or dissertation. Beyond that, however, there is a danger that too much descriptive writing will use up valuable words from your word limit, and reduce the space you have for the critical writing that will get you higher marks. A useful habit to get into is to make sure that, if you describe some evidence relevant to your argument, you need then to explain to the reader why it is relevant.

How to Write a Science Essay

The logic of your explanation contributes to the critical component of your writing. So, a sentence or two might describe and reference the evidence, but this is not enough in itself. The next few sentences need to explain what this evidence contributes to the argument you are making. This may feel like duplication at first, or that you are explaining something that is obvious, but it is your responsibility to ensure that the relevance of the evidence is explained to the reader you should not simply assume that the reader will be following the same logic as you, or will just work out the relevance of the quote or data you have described. The other key element in critical writing is the overall structure of your piece of writing. For maximum effectiveness, your writing needs to have a line, or lines of argument running through it from the introduction to the conclusion. Just as you have used paragraphs on a micro scale to present your critical writing, so you need to consider the ordering of those paragraphs within the overall structure.

The aim is to lead your readers carefully through the thread of your argument, to a well supported conclusion. The text below is an example of good critical writing, and is based on essay material supplied by university of leicester’s school of psychology. The author refers to the available evidence, but also evaluates the validity of that evidence, and assesses what contribution it can realistically make to the debate.

There are a number of inherent methodological difficulties in evaluating treatment efficacy in this area, and this has contributed to controversy within the research literature surrounding treatment outcomes for this group of offenders marshall, 1997. Firstly, while there is no doubt that the primary criterion of treatment success is a reduction in the rate of re offending marshall et al. 19 , reconviction data does not, in isolation, provide a realistic representation of actual levels of re offending by this group. It is well established that there is a discrepancy between re offending and reconviction rates: the latter underestimating the number of offences committed grubin, 19. Indeed, a significant proportion of offences committed by offenders are either unreported, or do not result in the offender being convicted abel et al.

You can see how the author is considering the available evidence, but also the limitations on that evidence, and will be taking all of this into account in drawing conclusions. It is always worth taking a critical look at your own writing before submitting it for assessment. The kinds of questions that might be useful to ask at that stage are: while a certain amount of description is necessary to set the context for your analysis, the main characteristic of academic writing is its critical element. A useful way to check this balance in your own writing is to use two coloured pens and to mark in the margin whether the lines are descriptive or critical. The balance will change at different points, but you need to make sure there is enough of the colour that represents critical writing.