constructing a critical essay the first thing to note about constructing a critical essay, is that it is not synonymous with doing a close reading , though the two tasks are similar. The distinction is simply that while a close reading is meant to generate ideas and possible interpretations, a critical essay must utilize those ideas and interpretations to make an argument about the text as whole. Any good critical essay should arise out of one or more close readings of particular passages from the text which can then be organized into a coherent argument. A critical essay usually consists of the following elements, each of which is explained in more detail below: 1. A basic statement of the overall argument of the paper, usually contained within the first paragraph and sometimes re stated later in the paper. topic sentences: each paragraph should contain a statement of the main idea of that paragraph.

Essay About The Importance of Reading Newspaper

Taken together, these topic sentences should lay out the reasoning for the overall thesis of the paper. evidence and illustration: usually details uncovered in a close reading that lend support to each part of the argument. Every paragraph should contain both reasoning topic sentences and evidence or illustration. Used sparingly, and at critical moments in your argument, asking and answering potentially challenging questions can lend credibility to your paper. It lets the reader know that you aren't ignoring obvious complications or contradictions in the text. conclusion: the conclusion brings together the evidence collected and explains how your thesis has evolved through the preceding paragraphs.

It should explain the implications of your argument for further thinking about the text or issue. The thesis is the single most important element of your paper, so make sure you understand what a good thesis is. A good thesis must make an argument about the text that is original, complex, and arguable. That is to say, it cannot be a simple statement of fact, an argument drawn from another source, or an argument that is obvious from a surface reading of a text.

It must be complex enough to require further elaboration in the body of the paper. 1 frederick douglass's narrative is a heart wrenching account of the cruelties and hardships of slavery. The body of such a paper would likely just recount the events in the narrative, which is unnecessary. 2 learning to read and write becomes douglass's way out of slavery and its oppression of the mind. This is not an original argument, and is fairly obvious from douglass's own statements in the text. Here's a thesis that might hold up: 3 frederick douglass's pursuit of knowledge and his physical resistance to his overseers arise out of his own notions of 'manhood' and his perception of the psychological sources of the master's power over the slave. This thesis is a statement of opinion, and one that might be intelligently argued by another reader i.e.

I might say that douglass's resistance is driven by cultural or literary definitions of 'manhood' and that there are other more important sources of the masters' power like economics, religious authority, or access to technology, etc. While perhaps not completely original, it does allow for some original combination of evidence and illustration as well as individual reasoning. It requires further elaboration in the body of the paper see below if you list your topic sentences in order this is called a skeleton outline they should lay out the reasoning needed to support your thesis. You might try organizing possible topic sentences before you start writing. For example, here are some possible topic sentences for the good thesis number 3 given above:

Douglass realizes that once his mind has been set free, he can only suffer all the more acutely unless he can also free himself from the physical oppression.

note: there would need to be more topic sentences and paragraphs than this in the final paper, but these can serve as examples. They are, in effect, sub theses that are needed in order to fully explain the larger argument. evidence and illustration to support each topic sentence, you will want to utilize the details uncovered during your close reading: images, metaphors, allusions, the use of language and multiple meanings, interpretations of mood, tone, etc. These may come from a single passage which has the benefit of unifying the paper into a tight, rich reading or from several passages which allows for larger patterns of meaning that run throughout the text.

Organizing your evidence will require culling out things that don't add to your argument, taking a stance on particular interpretations, and explaining to your reader why you interpret the passage the way that you do. Don't assume that the reader agrees with you convince them! i can't provide a full listing of possible evidence and illustrations for the topic sentences above, but here are some suggestions as to where you might look:

So in these passages, being a man becomes a matter not only of communicating but also physically resisting cite passage.

make sure that in citing passages, you make proper use of quotations and in text citations. questions or counter arguments while you don't want to waste a lot of time going off on tangents unrelated to your topic, you should be prepared to answer potential questions or challenges to your thesis. Read over your paper with a critical eye, asking yourself if you've covered all the bases. Often, allowing a peer to read over the paper will also help identify these potential problems. Once you've identified possible questions or counter arguments, try to answer them in your paper. You can even include the question and then answer it, to show your reader that you're aware of the alternate possibilities and have thought it out.

Your conclusion should remind the reader of what your original thesis was and show how you've proven it. You want to restate it, but in a way that elaborates it with the evidence that you've provided. Here's a possible beginning to the conclusion of the hypothesized paper above: i have argued that douglass's discovery of 'the white man's power to enslave the black man' is both a realization of the mental oppression inherent in slavery and a recognition of the physical subjugation that is needed to enforce it. His quest for 'manhood' involves freeing both his mind and his body from captivity, and one cannot happen without the other. The conclusion may also suggest why this argument is important to our understanding of the text as a whole, or point out further topics or questions that might now be important to pursue. For example: understanding the interdependence of mental and physical in douglass's narrative allows us to see the true depth and extent of slavery's effect on the individuals who suffered it. It can also help us to recognize the importance of various forms of 'resistance' that may have been less dramatic than douglass's fight with covey, but no less necessary or effective.

2 analysis / reflection usually further broken down: comparison, classification, definition, cause, effect, etc. These categories can be helpful, especially when identifying the ways essays balance narration and analysis. But to appreciate how writers transform simple accounts into compelling stories and essays mdash what we sometimes call literary writing mdash we can approach essays like we do stories and understand them as always being first and foremost a story of some kind, and then consider how the essay gets some of its strength from manipulating the usual way of telling a story.