Have you received feedback suggesting you need to be more critical in your assignments? are you baffled when asked to write critically or to critically evaluate a theory or policy etc? if so, the following information/links will help you to understand how to approach this: in order to write more critically you need to develop your critical thinking skills and then apply these to your writing. contact the university writer in residence for a 1 2 1 appointment to help to develop your critical writing skills, email for an appointment at: [email protected] also see cottrell's self evaluation tool 'evaluating your writing for critical thinking' in the above book, p.196 williams, k. The ability to critically evaluate information is an essential skill for postgraduate researchers. This skill is particularly pertinent to the production of literature reviews, where a critical appraisal or analysis of the literature is required. In this section, we suggest using 'prompt', a structured approach to critical evaluation of information provenance, relevance, objectivity, method, presentation, timeliness. Who produced it? where did it come from? may provide a useful clue to its reliability.

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It represents the lsquo credentials rsquo of a piece of information that support its status and perceived value. It is, therefore, very important to be able to identify the author, sponsoring body or source of your information. Are they acknowledged experts in the subject area? are they respected and reliable sources are their views controversial? have they been frequently cited by other authors in the field to find out whether material has been frequently cited requires either prior knowledge or a citation search. Are they known to have a particular perspective on the topic? what type of organisation is it? commercial company, voluntary organisation, statutory body, research organisation? how well established is the organisation? does the organisation have any vested interests in the subject area being researched? any individual can publish anything on the world wide web or post to a discussion list. This has to be judged on its own merit and with reference to the author rsquo s credentials. What do you know of the editor and/or the editorial board and how their editorial policy influences what will be published? is the journal well regarded? does it have a high rating in the journal citation reports? does this matter? is the information peer reviewed? many electronic journals do not have a peer review process.

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There is something called the lsquo stable theory rsquo , which suggests that academic work is often valued highly just because it emanates from a prestigious research group or is published in a prestigious journal. However, provenance can be an indirect clue to the reliability of information a safety net that gives you the opportunity to check things out. Provenance can affect other people rsquo s confidence in the sources you are citing. It is not a property of the information itself, but rather of its relationship to the need you have identified.

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It may be a piece of high quality information but not relevant to the question you are asking or the scope of your search. There are a number of ways in which the information may or may not be relevant to your needs. Geographical it may relate to countries or areas which you are not interested in. Level it may be too detailed/specialised or too general/simple for the level at which you are working. Emphasis it may not contain the kind of information you are seeking this is often a question of emphasis, which may not be identifiable from the abstract. Be clear about your requirements this will help you to be ruthless in discarding things on the basis of relevance.

Try to avoid having to read things in full look at the title, abstract or summary, keywords and descriptors. If you are evaluating a large body of material, learn to skim read and/or scan information to get a quick indication of what it is about. For more details on reading techniques see the effective reading site from deakin university. Do the research results provide a unique insight into an aspect of your subject? do they confirm or refute the findings of other researchers? in an ideal world, lsquo objective rsquo or lsquo balanced rsquo information would present all the evidence and all the arguments, and leave you to weigh this up and draw conclusions. In the real world, however, we recognise that all information is presented from a position of interest, although this may not necessarily be intentional. This means that the onus is on you, the reader, to develop a critical awareness of the positions represented in what you read, and to take account of this when you interpret the information.

It is also important to recognise that your own belief systems and opinions will influence your ability to be dispassionate and objectively evaluate information. In some cases, authors may be explicitly expressing a particular viewpoint this is perfectly valid as long as they are explicit about the perspective they represent. Hidden bias or errors of omission, whether or not it is deliberate, can be misleading.

Consider the following: perspectives: do the authors state clearly the viewpoint they are taking? opinions: academic articles will often present unsubstantiated theories for debate. This does not necessarily make the research less objective but it may make its interpretation selective. Make sure that all potential vested interests are clearly identified and that the sponsors are happy to give access to the actual research data.

When producing a literature review there is a particular onus on you to recognise any selective interpretation of data. You will need to comment on any significant omissions or biases that you may encounter in other people rsquo s findings. For this aspect of prompt we do not refer to the evaluation of research methods per se, but to the information produced as a result of using particular methods. With your knowledge of the methods used in your subject area think about the following. Is it clear how the research was carried out? were the methods appropriate? ask some basic questions about sample size and nature, use of control groups, questionnaire design. Are the results produced consistent with the methods stated? are the methods suitable for your needs? do you need the methods to be the same as yours or different to yours? do not assume that because a research report has been accepted for publication, it is error free and meets a certain standard. There have been cases of fraudulent research that have successfully fooled the research establishment and been published in high profile journals.

The way in which information is presented has a profound effect on the way we receive and perceive it. There are many aspects of presentation, any of which, if badly applied, can create a barrier between the message and the audience. Choice of colour choice of font type and size use of diagrams and images lack of or illogical structure confusing layout poor use of language inappropriate or ineffectual writing style poor reproduction. Be aware that poor presentation and inappropriate or confusing use of language will hinder your ability to critically evaluate the academic content. Try not to let poor presentation stop you from using what might otherwise be good quality, relevant information. The date when information was produced or published can be an important aspect of quality.

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This is not quite as simple as saying that lsquo good rsquo information has to be up to date it depends on your information need. Is it clear when the information was produced? does the date of the information meet my requirements? is it obsolete? has it been superseded? writing an evaluation essay is a great way to size up a particular object or idea. This type of critical writing sets precise criteria for evaluation, providing fair and solid supporting evidence so that readers can form their opinions about the subject. Since there are many objects and phenomena that we are able to assess, an evaluation essay can be written on a range of topics. To evaluate an object, you will need to compare it with an example within a subject you have chosen therefore, searching for a conventional standard as a model is a sound idea. Some possible topics of an evaluation essay are listed below: a vacation spot a new restaurant an educational website foreign policy of a certain state or province deeds of a famous historical figure service quality a museum a piece of art

An evaluation essay is not about giving an unbiased point of view – you come up with an evaluative thesis and provide evidence in its defense. The more controversial the subject you have chosen for your essay, the more supporting arguments you might need. In this way, you will show that you are aware that other opinions on the topic also exist. When choosing your topic, remember that some subjects are maybe interesting for one group of people, but could be completely uninteresting for another one. The more criteria you come up with, the more exact and clear your viewpoint becomes for your readers. Your essay will look much better if you find credible arguments for each of your criterion. Avoid situations when you use one strong piece of evidence for one criterion and none for others.