How to Write a Critique Paper: Format, Tips, & Critique Essay Examples
A critique paper is an academic writing genre that summarizes and gives a critical evaluation of a concept or work. Or, to put it simply, it is no more than a summary and a critical analysis of a specific issue. This type of writing aims to evaluate the impact of the given work or concept in its field.
Want to learn more? Continue reading this article written by Custom-writing experts! It contains:
- best tips on how to critique an article or a literary work,
- a critique paper example with introduction, body, and conclusion.
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đ What Is a Critique Paper?
- đŁ Critical Writing Steps
đ Critical Essay Types
đ critique paper format, đ critique paper outline, đ references.
A critique is a particular academic writing genre that requires you to carefully study, summarize, and critically analyze a study or a concept. In other words, it is nothing more than a critical analysis. That is all you are doing when writing a critical essay: trying to understand the work and present an evaluation. Critical essays can be either positive or negative, as the work deserves.
đŁ How to Write a Critique Essay: Main Steps
Starting critique essays is the most challenging part. You are supposed to substantiate your opinion with quotes and paraphrases, avoiding retelling the entire text. A critical analysis aims to find out whether an article or another piece of writing is compelling. First, you need to formulate the authorâs thesis: what was the literary work supposed to convey? Then, explore the text on how this main idea was elaborated. Finally, draft your critique according to the structure given below.
![how to start a critique essay Critical Writing Steps Include: Critical Reading, Analyzing the Text, and Making the Draft.](https://custom-writing.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/critical_writing.png)
Step 1: Critical Reading
1.1. Attentively read the literary work. While reading, make notes and underline the essentials.
- Try to come into the authorâs world and think why they wrote such a piece.
- Point out which literary devices are successful. Some research in literary theory may be required.
- Find out what you dislike about the text, i.e., controversies, gaps, inconsistency, or incompleteness.
1.2. Find or formulate the authorâs thesis.Â
- What is the principal argument? In an article, it can be found in the first paragraph.
- In a literary work, formulate one of the principal themes, as the thesis is not explicit.
- If you write a critique of painting, find out what feelings, emotions, or ideas, the artist attempted to project.
1.3. Make a summary or synopsis of the analyzed text.Â
- One paragraph will suffice. You can use it in your critique essay, if necessary.
- The point is to explore the gist.
Step 2: Analyzing the Text
After the reading phase, ask yourself the following questions :
- What was your emotional response to the text? Which techniques, images, or ideas made you feel so?
- Find out the authorâs background. Which experiences made them raise such a thesis? What other significant works have they written that demonstrate the general direction of thought of this person?
- Are the concepts used correctly in the text? Are the references reliable, and do they sufficiently substantiate the authorâs opinion?
Step 3: Drafting the Essay
Finally, it is time to draft your essay. First of all, youâll need to write a brief overview of the text youâre analyzing. Then, formulate a thesis statement – one sentence that will contain your opinion of the work under scrutiny. After that, make a one-paragraph summary of the text.
You can use this simple template for the draft version of your analysis. Another thing that can help you at this step is a summary creator to make the creative process more efficient.
Critique Paper Template
- Start with an introductory phrase about the domain of the work in question.
- Tell which work you are going to analyze, its author, and year of publication.
- Specify the principal argument of the work under study.
- In the third sentence, clearly state your thesis.
- Here you can insert the summary you wrote before.
- This is the only place where you can use it. No summary can be written in the main body!
- Use one paragraph for every separate analyzed aspect of the text (style, organization, fairness/bias, etc.).
- Each paragraph should confirm your thesis (e.g., whether the text is effective or ineffective).
- Each paragraph shall start with a topic sentence, followed by evidence, and concluded with a statement referring to the thesis.
- Provide a final judgment on the effectiveness of the piece of writing.
- Summarize your main points and restate the thesis, indicating that everything you said above confirms it.
You can evaluate the chosen work or concept in several ways. Pick the one you feel more comfortable with from the following:
- Descriptive critical essays examine texts or other works. Their primary focus is usually on certain features of a work, and it is common to compare and contrast the subject of your analysis to a classic example of the genre to which it belongs.
- Evaluative critical essays provide an estimate of the value of the work. Was it as good as you expected based on the recommendations, or do you feel your time would have been better spent on something else?
- Interpretive essays provide your readers with answers that relate to the meaning of the work in question. To do this, you must select a method of determining the meaning, read/watch/observe your analysis subject using this method, and put forth an argument.
There are also different types of critiques. The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, in the article â Writing critiques ,â discusses them as well as the appropriate critique language.
Critique Paper Topics
- Critique of the article Is Google Making Us Stupid? by Nicholas Carr .
- Interpret the symbolism of Edgar Alan Poeâs The Black Cat . Â
- Examine the topicality of the article Impact of Racial/Ethnic Differences on Child Mental Health Care .
- Critical essay on Alice Walkerâs short story Everyday Use .
- Discuss the value of the essay The Hanging by George Orwell. Â
- A critique on the article Stocks Versus Bonds: Explaining the Equity Risk Premium .Â
- Explore the themes Tennessee Williams reveals in The Glass Menagerie. Â Â
- Analyze the relevance of the article Leadership Characteristics and Digital Transformation .
- Critical evaluation of Jonathan Harveyâs play Beautiful Thing . Â
- Analyze and critique Derek Raymondâs story He Died with His Eyes Open .
- Discuss the techniques author uses to present the problem of choice in The Plague .
- Examine and evaluate the research article Using Evidence-Based Practice to Prevent Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia .
- Explore the scientific value of the article Our Future: A Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing .
- Describe the ideas E. Hemingway put into his A Clean, Well-Lighted Place . Â
- Analyze the literary qualities of Always Running La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L. A .
- Critical writing on The Incarnation of Power by Wright Mills.
- Explain the strengths and shortcomings of Tim Kreiderâs article The Busy Trap .
- Critical response to Woolfâs novel Mrs. Dalloway .Â
- Examine the main idea of Richard Godbeerâs book Escaping Salem .
- The strong and weak points of the article The Confusion of Tongues by William G. Bellshaw .
- Critical review of Gulliverâs Travels .
- Analyze the stylistic devices Anthony Lewis uses in Gideonâs Trumpet. Â
- Examine the techniques Elie Wiesel uses to show relationship transformation in the book Night .
- Critique of the play Fences by August Wilson.Â
- The role of exposition in Achebeâs novel Things Fall Apart. Â
- The main themes John Maxwell discusses in his book Disgrace .
- Critical evaluation of Ray Bradburyâs Fahrenheit 451 .
- The ideas and concept of the book The Vegetarian Imperative .
- Different points of view on one historical figure in the book Two Lives of Charlemagne .
Since the APA critique paper format is one of the most common, let’s discuss it in more detail. Check out the information below to learn more:
The APA Manual recommends using the following fonts:
- 11-point Calibri,
- 11-point Arial,
- 10-point Lucida Sans Unicode,
- 12-point Times New Roman,
- 11-point Georgia,
- 10-point Computer Modern.
Add 1-inch margins on all sides.
đ Page numbers
Page numbers should appear at the top right-hand corner, starting with the title page.
đ Line spacing
The entire document, including the title page and reference list, should be double-spaced.
đ Title page
The title page should include the following information:
- page number 1 in the top right-hand corner of the page header,
- paper title,
- the studentâs name,
- the name of the department and the college or university,
- course number and name,
- the instructorâs name,
- due date (the date format used in your country).
đ Critique paper title
The title of your critique paper should be no more than 12 words. In addition, it should be centered and typed in bold using title case.
đ In-text citations
For the in-text citation, provide the author’s last name and publication year in brackets. If you are using direct citation, add the page number after the year.
đ References
The last page of your paper should include a list of all sources cited in your essay. Hereâs a general format of book and journal article citations you should use:
Book: Last name, First initial. Middle initial. (Year). Book title: Subtitle . Publisher.
Journal article: Last name, First initial. Middle initial. (Year). Title of the article. Journal Title, volume (issue number), start pageâend page.
The main parts of good critical response essays are:
- Introduction. The introduction is the most essential part of the critical response. It should be concise and include the author and title of the work being analyzed, its main idea, and a strong thesis statement.
- Summary. This should be brief and to the point. Only the authorâs/creatorâs main ideas and arguments should be included.
- Analysis/interpretation. Discuss what the authorâs/creatorâs primary goal was and determine whether this goal was reached successfully. Use the evidence you have gathered to argue whether or not the author/creator achieved was adequately convincing (remember there should be no personal bias in this discussion).
- Evaluation/response. At this point, your readers are ready to learn your objective response to the work. It should be professional yet entertaining to read. Do not hesitate to use strong language. You can say that the work you analyzed was weak and poorly-structured if that is the case, but keep in mind that you have to have evidence to back up your claim.
- Conclusion. The last paragraph of your work should restate the thesis statement, summarize the key points, and create a sense of closure for the readers.
Critique Paper Introduction
The introduction is setting the stage for your analysis. Here are some tips to follow when working on it:
- Provide the reader with a brief synopsis of the main points of the work you are critiquing .
- State your general opinion of the work , using it as your thesis statement. The ideal situation is that you identify and use a controversial thesis.
- Remember that you will uncover a lot of necessary information about the work you are critiquing. You mustnât make use of all of it, providing the reader with information that is unnecessary in your critique. If you are writing about Shakespeare, you donât have to waste your or your readerâs time going through all of his works.
Critique Paper Body
The body of the critique contains the supporting paragraphs. This is where you will provide the facts that prove your main idea and support your thesis. Follow the tips below when writing the body of your critique.
- Every paragraph must focus on a precise concept from the paper under your scrutiny , and your job is to include arguments to support or disprove that concept. Concrete evidence is required.
- A critical essay is written in the third-person and ensures the reader is presented with an objective analysis.
- Discuss whether the author was able to achieve their goals and adequately get their point across.
- It is important not to confuse facts and opinions . An opinion is a personal thought and requires confirmation, whereas a fact is supported by reliable data and requires no further proof. Do not back up one idea with another one.
- Remember that your purpose is to provide the reader with an understanding of a particular piece of literature or other work from your perspective. Be as specific as possible.
Critique Paper Conclusion
Finally, you will need to write a conclusion for your critique. The conclusion reasserts your overall general opinion of the ideas presented in the text and ensures there is no doubt in the readerâs mind about what you believe and why. Follow these tips when writing your conclusion:
- Summarize the analysis you provided in the body of the critique.
- Summarize the primary reasons why you made your analysis .
- Where appropriate, provide recommendations on how the work you critiqued can be improved.
For more details on how to write a critique, check out the great critique analysis template provided by Thompson Rivers University.
If you want more information on essay writing in general, look at the Secrets of Essay Writing .
Example of Critique Paper with Introduction, Body, and Conclusion
Check out this critical response example to âThe Last Inchâ by James Aldridge to show how everything works in practice:
IntroductionÂ
In his story âThe Last Inch,â James Aldridge addresses the issue of the relationship between parents and children. The author captured the young boy’s coming into maturity coinciding with a challenging trial. He also demonstrated how the twelve-year-old boy obtained his father’s character traits. Aldridgeâs prose is both brutal and poetic, expressing his charactersâ genuine emotions and the sad truths of their situations.
Body: SummaryÂ
The story is about Ben Ensley, an unemployed professional pilot, who decides to capture underwater shots for money. He travels to Shark Bay with his son, Davy. Ben is severely injured after being attacked by a shark while photographing. His last hope of survival is to fly back to the little African hamlet from where they took off.
Body: AnalysisÂ
The story effectively uses the themes of survival and fatherhood and has an intriguing and captivating plot. In addition, Benâs metamorphosis from a failing pilot to a determined survivor is effectively presented. His bond with his son, Davy, adds depth and emotional importance to the story. At the same time, the background information about Benâs past and his life before the shark attack could be more effectively integrated into the main story rather than being presented as separate blocks of text.
Body: EvaluationÂ
I find âThe Last Inchâ by James Aldridge a very engaging and emotional story since it highlights the idea of a fatherâs unconditional love and determination in the face of adversity. I was also impressed by the vivid descriptions and strong character development of the father and son.
ConclusionÂ
âThe Last Inchâ by James Aldridge is an engaging and emotional narrative that will appeal to readers of all ages. It is a story of strength, dedication, and the unbreakable link between father and son. Though some backstory could be integrated more smoothly, âThe Last Inchâ impresses with its emotional punch. It leaves the readers touched by the raw power of fatherly love and human will.
đ Critique Essay Examples
With all of the information and tips provided above, your way will become clearer when you have a solid example of a critique essay.
Below is a critical response to The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
When speaking of feminist literature that is prominent and manages to touch on incredibly controversial issues, The Yellow Wallpaper is the first book that comes to mind. Written from a first-person perspective, magnifying the effect of the narrative, the short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman introduces the reader to the problem of the physical and mental health of the women of the 19th century. However, the message that is intended to concern feminist ideas is rather subtle. Written in the form of several diary entries, the novel offers a mysterious plot, and at the same time, shockingly realistic details.
What really stands out about the novel is the fact that the reader is never really sure how much of the story takes place in reality and how much of it happens in the psychotic mind of the protagonist. In addition, the novel contains a plethora of description that contributes to the strain and enhances the correlation between the atmosphere and the protagonistâs fears: âThe color is repellent, almost revolting; a smoldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlightâ (Gilman).
Despite Gilmanâs obvious intent to make the novel a feminist story with a dash of thriller thrown in, the result is instead a thriller with a dash of feminism, as Allen (2009) explains. However, there is no doubt that the novel is a renowned classic. Offering a perfect portrayal of the 19th-century stereotypes, it is a treasure that is certainly worth the read.
If you need another critique essay example, take a look at our sample on â The Importance of Being Earnest â by Oscar Wilde.
And here are some more critique paper examples for you check out:
- A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Critique Paper
- Critique on âThe Yellow Wallpaperâ by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
- âWhen the Five Rights Go Wrongâ Article Critique
- Homerâs Iliad and Odyssey â Comparison & Critique
- âThe TrueBlue Studyâ: Qualitative Article Critique
- Ethical Conflict Associated With Managed Care: Views of Nurse Practitionersâ: Article Critique
- Benefits and Disadvantages of Prone Positioning in Severe Acute Respiratory Distress: Article Critique
- Reducing Stress in Student Nurses: Article Critique
- Management of Change and Professional Safety â Article Critique
- âViews of Young People Towards Physical Activityâ: Article Critique
Seeing an example of a critique is so helpful. You can find many other examples of a critique paper at the University of Minnesota and John Hopkins University. Plus, you can check out this video for a great explanation of how to write a critique.
- Critical Analysis
- Writing an Article Critique
- The Critique Essay
- Critique Essay
- Writing a Critique
- Writing A Book Critique
- Media Critique
- Tips for an Effective Creative Writing Critique
- How to Write an Article Critique
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Hello, Kriszha! You can reference it as a web source/web page.
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- Writing well
How to write a critique
- Starting well
- How to write an annotated bibliography
- How to write a case study response
- How to write an empirical article
- How to write an essay
- How to write a literature review
- How to write a reflective task
- How to write a report
- Finishing well
Before you start writing, it is important to have a thorough understanding of the work that will be critiqued.
- Study the work under discussion.
- Make notes on key parts of the work.
- Develop an understanding of the main argument or purpose being expressed in the work.
- Consider how the work relates to a broader issue or context.
Example template
There are a variety of ways to structure a critique. You should always check your unit materials or Canvas site for guidance from your lecturer. The following template, which showcases the main features of a critique, is provided as one example.
Introduction
Typically, the introduction is short (less than 10% of the word length) and you should:
- name the work being reviewed as well as the date it was created and the name of the author/creator
- describe the main argument or purpose of the work
- explain the context in which the work was created - this could include the social or political context, the place of the work in a creative or academic tradition, or the relationship between the work and the creatorâs life experience
- have a concluding sentence that signposts what your evaluation of the work will be - for instance, it may indicate whether it is a positive, negative, or mixed evaluation.
Briefly summarise the main points and objectively describe how the creator portrays these by using techniques, styles, media, characters or symbols. This summary should not be the focus of the critique and is usually shorter than the critical evaluation.
Critical evaluation
This section should give a systematic and detailed assessment of the different elements of the work, evaluating how well the creator was able to achieve the purpose through these. For example: you would assess the plot structure, characterisation and setting of a novel; an assessment of a painting would look at composition, brush strokes, colour and light; a critique of a research project would look at subject selection, design of the experiment, analysis of data and conclusions.
A critical evaluation does not simply highlight negative impressions. It should deconstruct the work and identify both strengths and weaknesses. It should examine the work and evaluate its success, in light of its purpose.
Examples of key critical questions that could help your assessment include:
- Who is the creator? Is the work presented objectively or subjectively?
- What are the aims of the work? Were the aims achieved?
- What techniques, styles, media were used in the work? Are they effective in portraying the purpose?
- What assumptions underlie the work? Do they affect its validity?
- What types of evidence or persuasion are used? Has evidence been interpreted fairly?
- How is the work structured? Does it favour a particular interpretation or point of view? Is it effective?
- Does the work enhance understanding of key ideas or theories? Does the work engage (or fail to engage) with key concepts or other works in its discipline?
This evaluation is written in formal academic style and logically presented. Group and order your ideas into paragraphs. Start with the broad impressions first and then move into the details of the technical elements. For shorter critiques, you may discuss the strengths of the works, and then the weaknesses. In longer critiques, you may wish to discuss the positive and negative of each key critical question in individual paragraphs.
To support the evaluation, provide evidence from the work itself, such as a quote or example, and you should also cite evidence from related sources. Explain how this evidence supports your evaluation of the work.
This is usually a very brief paragraph, which includes:
- a statement indicating the overall evaluation of the work
- a summary of the key reasons, identified during the critical evaluation, why this evaluation was formed
- in some circumstances, recommendations for improvement on the work may be appropriate.
Reference list
Include all resources cited in your critique. Check with your lecturer/tutor for which referencing style to use.
- Mentioned the name of the work, the date of its creation and the name of the creator?
- Accurately summarised the work being critiqued?
- Mainly focused on the critical evaluation of the work?
- Systematically outlined an evaluation of each element of the work to achieve the overall purpose?
- Used evidence, from the work itself as well as other sources, to back and illustrate my assessment of elements of the work?
- Formed an overall evaluation of the work, based on critical reading?
- Used a well structured introduction, body and conclusion?
- Used correct grammar, spelling and punctuation; clear presentation; and appropriate referencing style?
Further information
- University of New South Wales: Writing a Critical Review
- University of Toronto: The Book Review or Article Critique
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Critique vs. Criticism: How to Write a Good Critique, with Examples
![how to start a critique essay](https://www.scribophile.com/images/users/3/3220-1019071254-square.jpg)
by Daniel Rodrigues-Martin
Understanding critique vs. criticism
We all assign merit to the information we experience daily. We âjudgeâ what we hear on the news. We âevaluateâ a university lecture. We âlikeâ or âdislikeâ a movie, a meal, a photo, a story. Weâre all critics.
Some writer-readers struggle with this point, especially if they are young to writing and editing. Sitting in a judgment of another writerâs work often feels distasteful, and doing so may conjure negative memories of when we were misunderstood or dismissed by others.
Conversely, we might be willing to share our opinions with other writers while struggling with our competence. We canât seem to say anything constructive. If weâre critiquing on Scribophile, we may feel that we are wasting one of the authorâs coveted âspotlightâ critiques.
Having used Scribophile on-and-off since 2009, Iâve seen countless readers qualify their commentary on my own work (âI donât read your genre,â âI havenât read your previous chapters,â âIâm not good with grammar,â etc.) and Iâve seen even more cry woe on the forums about how they canât critique because theyâre not experienced enough, not educated enough, or not talented enough. Others decry the very sort of criticism writersâ groups and workshop sites like Scribophile foster, suggesting that the perfunctory nature of such criticism is ultimately more harmful than helpful.
Scribophile as a community thrives on the principle of serious commitment to serious writing, and the foundation of that commitment is reading and responding to othersâ work. If you want to explore some elements helpful to improving your critiquing skills, I invite you to get yourself some hot caffeine, strap on your thinking cap, and read on.
How to write a great critique in 3 steps
Listed here are some ideas Iâve found helpful for approaching othersâ work; these tips are about your mindset as a critic. These ideas are by no means exhaustive. The best teacher is experience, and I encourage all writers to reflect on the ways in which they approach othersâ work as well as how they can best contribute to the growth of others on and off of Scribophile.
1. If youâre genuine, youâll be constructive
Being constructive means coming to the critique with the ultimate goal of helping the writer improve. It means always criticizing with good intentions for the writer. It does not equate to coddlingâbeing so nice youâll never say a hard thingânor does it equate to browbeatingâbeing so hard youâll never say a nice thing.
Being dishonest or refusing to offer valid criticism where youâre able is a disservice to the writer. Donât shy away from honesty. Few things are more constructive than hard truths delivered by critics who genuinely want to help and who tailor their criticism with an attitude of genuine interest.
As you interact with works on Scribophile or elsewhere, remember to always approach the task of criticism with a desire to be genuinely helpful. If your criticism is built on this foundation, your commentary will be constructive regardless of your competence and experience.
2. No jerks
As for literary criticism in general: I have long felt that any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel or a play or a poem is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae or a banana split. âKurt Vonnegut
Few things will more quickly deflate a writer than unnecessarily harsh criticism. Being honest and being brutal are not the same thing. Critics must learn to express hard truths without coddling and without being jerks.
Even rude people can be good writers with valuable insights into the craft. The problem is that if you express valid insights obnoxiously, the author wonât care. In order for people to listen, they must feel that the person criticizing them has their best interest in mind, and being harsh doesnât communicate your best interest.
In my earliest days writing, I received some negative criticism from a writer who decided to berate me for penning a bad phrase rather than explaining to me why the phrase didnât work. Because he was rude, I insulated myself to his criticism. Years later, I reviewed the work and realized his criticism was valid. The problem was not the content of his criticism, but its malicious delivery. Had he come to my work with the desire to be genuinely helpful, I would have listened to what he had to say, and I might even have gained some enlightenment during a formative time in my writing career. The critic did me doubly wrong not only by being obnoxious, but by retarding my growth as a writer.
Unnecessarily harsh criticism is a sign of literary and personal immaturity. Donât be a jerk.
3. Donât be too timid
Flattering friends corrupt. âSt. Augustine
Every writer likes to be praised, especially by those not obligated to praise them due to marital status or having given birth to them. But depthless praise can be just as damaging as heartless criticism. The reason for this is that it offers no real commentary on the work.
Refusing to offer criticism where itâs needed is one of the greatest disservices you as a critic can do for other writers. Some critics may fret that their criticism might be too discouraging if fully disclosed. Critics must contend with the reality that writing is art, people have opinions about art, and those opinions are not always going to be eruptions of praise. There is no safer environment to honestly and succinctly point out problem areas in a piece of writing than a forum designed for that very purpose.
None of this is to say that you shouldnât commend a piece of work if it truly is fantastic or that you should not highlight the gems within a work. Again: constructive criticism is honest criticism. If a work is so well-crafted in your eyes that nothing worse than grammatical hiccups are present, tell the writer. They deserve to know theyâve done a fine job. Sometimes people genuinely deserve a âwell done.â Donât skimp on encouragement where it can be authentically offered. Even if a piece is messy, do your best to find a few strong points to highlight. It will express your best interestâespecially if you had a lot of hard things to say.
The difference between a critique vs. criticism is whether itâs constructive
Be constructive , meaning, have the best intentions for helping the writer. This may mean telling hard truths. If hard truths must be told, do so respectfully. If praise is deserved, offer it. Highlight the strong points of a pieceâeven if they are far outweighed by the negative points. Be genuine in your motivations, and genuine action will follow.
Considering authorial intent while critique writing
This section concerns authorial intent and has as its purpose the criticâs growth as an interpreter of that intent. This section is not so much about judging an authorâs intent as itâs about being aware of that intent and factoring that awareness into your commentary.
1. Context is king
It is important to appreciate the amount of subjectivity and pre-understanding all readers and listeners bring to the process of interpreting acts of human communication. But unless a speaker or author can retain the right to correct someoneâs interpretation by saying âbut thatâs not what I meantâ or âthatâs not even consistent with what I meant,â all human communication will quickly break down. âCraig L. Blomberg
While interpreters are always within their rights to read whatever they want however they want to, what they are not at liberty to decide is authorial intent âwhat the author desired the audience to receive from their work.
As a reader and a critic, you must be careful to understand an authorâs work on their own terms while also interpreting those words. There is a substantial difference between, âThis is how Iâm hearing what youâre saying,â and, âThis is what I say your words mean.â Donât presume to tell an author what their work is supposed to mean, but do tell them how youâre interpreting what theyâve written.
A work-in-progress can suffer from a variety of ailments. Contextual questions are not cut-and-dry like questions of syntax, grammar, or, to a degree, plotting. Questions of context have to do with the interaction of author intent and reader interpretation. Theyâre murky waters to navigate because you as the reader have to exercise a bit of telepathy; you have to try and get inside the authorâs head, ultimately âWhat is the author trying to convey with this sentence, this piece? Who is this piece for, and will it successfully communicate with that target audience? Is it clear that there is a target audience?â
Some authors are great at genre pieces; they know all the chords to strike, they know what the tone of the piece should be, the kinds of characters who should appear. Other authors can completely muck it up. Theyâll write a romance piece that reads like a technical manual or a flowery memoir with a tangle of dead-ending tangents. Itâs not always easy and natural for new critics to explain why something does or doesnât work, but innately, we know. When those moments come up, let the author know.
2. The unintended/unspoken
Asking the question, âIs that really what you meant?â isnât always bad. All of us have been misunderstood. Sometimes the results are humorous, but other times, weâre grateful for the opportunity to correct misunderstandings.
If in your criticism you find yourself questioning the use of a word or phrase, or even of a character, idea, or plot point, itâs advisable to bring such questions to the writerâs attention. It may just be you, but it may not just be you. Unless the writer has a philosophical axe to grind, they probably mean to communicate clearly, and it should at least be made known that they may have botched it up.
Conversely, there are instances where things left unwritten speak volumes. Perhaps a character âfalls off the radarâ in mid-scene, and it leaves you scratching your head? It may be appropriate to point out confusing instances of the unwritten for the authorâs consideration.
Because my own novel employs many neologisms, critics jumping in mid-story often highlight those neologisms to make sure Iâm using them as intended. While it can get tedious to say to myself, âYes, that is what it means,â I am always thankful for keen eyes. This is the kind of sharp, considerate criticism each of us should aim for and be thankful for if we receive it.
3. Accounting for genre and intended audience
A genre is âA category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, marked by a distinctive style, form, or content.â When reading an authorâs work, itâs crucial to take into account its genre and intended audience. If youâre even-handed in your critiquing, youâll at some point be reading a story in a genre you might not otherwise touch, and while you might wish Twilight had been a one-off rather than a worldwide phenomenon, itâs inappropriate to harshly judge an authorâs work simply because you donât like their sort of story.
Consider the question of author intent and how that intent will resonate with an intended (or unintended!) audience. Sometimes, you must ignore whether or not a story resonates with you personally. Instead, ask yourself if it would resonate with your vampire-novel-loving daughter. Are the story, plot devices, characters, and verbiage appropriate for the intended audience? If yes, why or why not? If no, why or why not? Your personal tastes should not dictate the quality of your criticism. Train yourself to offer valuable insight even on writing youâd never pay money to read.
Remember these principles when reading work outside your sphere of interest. Being constructive doesnât mean you have to love or even like the work. If something is written well, itâs written wellâprejudices aside. If youâre truly unable to be objective, you would do the writer a better service by moving on.
4. Donât pretend to be a non-writer
A film director watches other films differently than a moviegoer. A chef tastes a meal differently than the average person. As a writer, you necessarily see stories differently than non-writers. Thatâs not a bad thing.
We can be helpful to other writers by sharing our gut reactions no differently than an unversed beta reader. On the other hand, writers should be able to explain with more clarity than the average person why something does or doesnât work in a story. A writerâs insight is of a different quality than a non-initiateâs insight. Both are needed for success, because if a writer one day moves on to pitch their work to those in the literary establishment, that work will not be judged by average readers until after it has survived the professional gauntlet.
All readers have the ability to share their gut reactions, but not all readers can slip on their âwriter glassesâ and offer critique on that level. Good critiques provide both types of insight, so as a fellow writer, bring your full experience to bear in helping others embarking on the same journey.
Understanding intent is part of a good critique
As best as youâre able, judge an authorâs work on the basis of their intentâthis includes noting instances of the unintended! In consideration of genre, judge the work not on the basis of your interest in the genre, but on the authorâs skill at writing a piece that strikes the proper chords within the genre theyâve chosen. Itâs not possible for you to read as a reader only, so donât pretend to be something youâre not.
What makes a good critique?
A good writer may come out of any intellectual discipline at all. Every art and science gives the writer its own special ways of seeing, gives him experience with interesting people, and can provide him with means of making a living⊠It is not necessaryâor perhaps even advisableâthat the young writer major in literature. âJohn Gardner
Contrary to the belief of a lot of new writers, learning to write and critique doesnât require sixty-four credits of college English or an MFA. Plenty of writers and editors donât hold English or Creative Writing degrees, and while I in no way wish to discourage those who choose to improve their writing and reviewing by taking the high road of formal education, neither do I wish to discourage the 98% of you reading this who havenât and wonât be able to front the money and time for such an education.
The ability to forge valid criticism is an applied skill learned through a combination of technical knowledge and experience. Weâre fortunate to live in an age where vast quantities of technical information are available at our fingertips. Contemporary writers are able to write informed literature like never before. So, too, are critics able to fact-check writers like never before.
Just as youâre willing to fact-check history or science before you include something in your story, it doesnât hurt to do that for those you critique. Granted, they should do that themselves, but maybe theyâre writing a genre you write, or maybe theyâre writing about your field of work or interest? Being educated or experienced in any field will enrich not only your writing, but your critiquing. If youâre a fry cook, your ability to write or critique a scene in a modern commercial kitchen is better than that of someone who hasnât had that experience. Because you know what itâs like to really work in a kitchen, you can speak to the authenticity of any such scene, and you can speak to the authenticity of the kinds of people who work in commercial kitchens. Your grammar may not be the best, but you still have something valuable to contribute.
Great writers are keen observers of life, and their writing both informs and is by informed by life. Bring the authenticity of your life to your writing and your criticism. You have perspectives, knowledge, and experiences others donât. As you read and respond to authors, employ the skills and knowledge you already possess. Put your formal and informal education and your life experience to work. This is what it means to âwrite what you knowâ and, in our case, âcritique what you know.â
Immerse yourself in all sorts of stories to get better at critiquing
One of the cardinal âwriting for dummiesâ rules is that if you want to write well, you need to read a lot. I donât doubt the validity of this statement, but books are only one medium of storytelling among many. My contention is that by immersing yourself in movies, television, and other storytelling mediums, you can learn about dialogue, plot, characterization, and all the other aspects of âstorytellingâ that appear no matter what medium you choose.
If you want to understand what makes a story great, seek out great stories. Immerse yourself in them. Though you may not be able to verbalize it, your innate understanding of what makes a narrative work will grow. This will improve both your writing and your critiquing.
Steal critiquing techniques from smart peopleâyourself included
Consider the critiques that have been most helpful to you. Why did they work? Reread them if you must. Then find a way to adapt the good things from those critiques into your own criticism.
Consider the critiques youâve shared that have been helpful to others. What stood out to the author? You may even consider asking an author for feedback on your critique. Ask how you could have been more helpful.
Critiquing is a skill you can improve over time just like writing itself. But like writing, it takes practice and discipline. Make it easier on yourself by nurturing what works.
A reading list to improving your critique writing skills
There are many solid books on writing that will not only improve your writing, but your critical reading skills. Rather than provide you a hundred sources, here are a few Iâve been able to get my claws on, have dug into, and can personally vouch for:
Good Prose , by Tracy Kidder & Richard Todd. The writer-editor combo of The Atlantic share their wisdom through a tightly-edited, insightful, and entertaining survey of nonfiction writing that has plenty of benefit for writers of all stripes. The bookâs section on âproportion and orderâ in narrative has revolutionized my own thinking about how stories should be structured.
How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy , by Orson Scott Card. A good resource if you write these genres, Card provides practical advice on publishing, agents, etc., in addition to familiarizing the reader with dos and donâts for writing Sci-Fi/Fantasy, including some technical questions. The bookâs a bit dated by nowâespecially the parts about the publishing worldâbut there are some nuggets of timeless truth within.
On Becoming a Novelist , by John Gardner. Despite the Modernistic tendency of abusing the pronoun âhe,â this may be the most formative thing Iâve read about novel writing. Itâs slim, readable, practical, and comprehensive.
On Writing , by Stephen King. Something of an autobiography penned by one of the most successful authors of all time, this book is snappy, humorous, entertaining, and more than a little instructive for anyone looking to write and read better. King reminds his fellow writers that âLife isnât a support system for art; itâs the other way around.â
Story , by Robert McKee. Considered by many to be the âscreenwriterâs bible,â Story belongs in the library of every serious writer whether or not they ever aspire to the silver screen. McKee is a master of properly balancing a plot to satisfy an audience, and all writers should glean from his wisdom.
The Modern Library Writerâs Workshop , by Stephen Koch. Koch flexes his studentâs muscles by providing copious citations from the masters who have graced the past few centuries of literature. The author fades into the background at points while readers are treated to the musings and experiences of Dostoevsky, Flannery OâConnor, Hemingway, and others.
The Writerâs Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers , by Christopher Vogler. Vogler is one of the most proficient living writers of the entertainment industry. Working primarily from the theses of the late cultural anthropologist, Joseph Campbell, Vogler illustrates the plot devices and character tropes that underlie the worldâs oldest stories. Recommended for new writers of the speculative fiction genres and those who wish to write epics.
The value of criticism and critiquing
The arts too can be taught, up to a point; but except for certain matters of technique, one does not learn the arts, one simply catches on. âJohn Gardner
The value of criticism is twofold: First and most obviously, it helps others. Second, and maybe not as apparent if youâre new to critiquing: It improves your own writing.
As you examine the work of others, youâll be able to see what works and what doesnât work. You will begin to notice patterns as you edit your own writing, and youâll begin to sift out the problem areas. Itâs difficult to judge your own work objectively. Doing it for others helps you get a clear head and recognize the ways in which you do the very things you criticize others for doing.
This article hasnât had as a goal the outlining of a criticism âprocess.â The reason for this is that I could no more outline a criticism process than I could outline a fiction writing process. There is no single monolithic âright way to do itâ that will unequivocally work for everyone. Herein are general guidelines and considerations that Iâve found helpful over the years and that others have appreciated. If you write critiques constructively, taking consideration of what the author is trying to do, and if you do so authentically, drawing on your experiences and knowledge, youâre on the right track for writing great critiques. The details of how exactly you accomplish that will become clearer to you as you engage in criticism. As in any discipline: Seek feedback and keep going.
Appendix I: âLine editsâ and âcritiquesâ
âLine editsâ and âcritiquesâ are not the same thing. These two types of reader responses address different issues, and in order to ensure that you receive the kind of criticism youâre seeking, you need to know what youâre displaying.
A âline editâ is a thorough, line-by-line examination of a manuscript. A good line edit requires an editor with a keen eye for detail and a working knowledge of contemporary grammar, syntax, and idiomatic English. The purpose of a line edit is to make a manuscript as readable as possible by removing technical errors. Typically, works that receive line edits receive them because theyâre in need of them.
A âcritiqueâ is an in-depth review, touching on characterization, plot, theme, scene structure, poetry of language, and other related factors. Notice how I didnât list anything about spelling or proper comma usage? Itâs because thatâs not critiquing; thatâs editing. Typically, works that receive criticism as described here are free or mostly free of errors that distract readers from the story.
No one is perfect, and one of the best tools at our disposal on Scribophile is the inline critique option. Having never read nor submitted a flawless piece of writing for review, I can tell you that no one should be ashamed to receive a line edit. There are many sharp eyes and sharp minds browsing Scribophile, and even the best writerâs eyes glaze over after so many hours of staring at a white screen.
That said, part of what is absolutely necessary to receive genuine criticism as described above is a readable text. An unreadable text has never, in my experience, provided foundation for a fantastic piece of writing. Messy prose screams âmessy story.â If you want criticism of story, your text must be as clean as possible.
If youâre willing to admit that your mastery of the technicalities of writing is not the sharpest, by all means, employ the knowledge and expertise of those on this site who do; itâs a wonderful resource. Readers canât truly resonate with your story until you weave a piece of art that makes them forget theyâre experiencing a piece of art. When youâre able to achieve this, youâve removed the hurdles preventing your reader from authentically engaging with the story youâve created. Itâs at this stage in your writing that you can consistently receive deep criticism.
This is, of course, not to say that imperfect prose canât be critiqued. Part of writing great critiques is learning to spot the gems in the story and encouraging the writer to press onward in spite of any shortcomings. If youâre honest and genuine, this wonât be a problem.
If all else fails, list at the top of your submitted piece the sort of critique youâre seeking by highlighting specific questions. âIâd love to know how you reacted when X happened,â for example. This will encourage readers to engage with the sorts of questions youâre asking.
Appendix II: The Benefits and Limits of Critique Groups
If you understand how to best leverage critique groups, they will be helpful and formative to your growth. As written above, critiquing others helps you grow; but there is more. The benefits of critique groups are threefold.
First, broad exposure. Want to know what people outside of your social circle will think of your work? A critique group will expose your work to people of different backgrounds. You can learn how a teen writer with big dreams or a Native American ex-botanist writing a memoir in retirement reacts to your story. This is the type of demographic insight youâd pay good money for when it comes time to sell your book. Even in small chunks, itâs valuable to know how different people experience your work.
Second, many eyes forge sharper prose. If three different people all trip over the same thing in your text, the problem is most likely not those three people, but your text. Especially if your text is hot off the press, you can catch errors early, and writers tend to be sharper with these sorts of things than the general population. Go look up the cost of a professional manuscript editor in your area, and youâll be glad for many eyes combing over your writing.
Third, and most importantly: networking. The goal of sites like Scribophile and in-person critique groups should be to develop a network of people who will read the entirety of your work. Donât get angry at forks for not being spoonsâa reader jumping in mid-story will never give you the same level of commentary as someone whoâs been reading since chapter one. If youâre ready for that level of reading, you need others to agree to read the book from start to finish. Use critique groups and sites like Scribophile to build relationships. Be attentive to others and share good critiques with them. As your relationships deepen, youâll eventually find yourself with a list of contacts to trade with. But this requires you to be the kind of person people want reading their work. Behave professionally, and over time, youâll find yourself surrounded by likeminded individuals who will give you the kind of meaty, informed commentary you need. The rule of thumb with critique groups and workshop websites is: You get out what you put in to them.
Appendix III: Still confused?
If you have questions I have failed to address in this article, I encourage you to contact me privately here on Scribophile or to reach out on social media. Iâm happy to help.
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Critique Essay: Your Comprehensive Guide to Writing A+ Critique Essays
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Table of Contents
Just like a concept essay , a critique essay is an essential assignment that examines another authorâs work to analyze and interpret it. This task is common in college, and itâs also called an analytical essay .Â
But how do you handle this task and score excellent grades? This guide delves into all the details of composing an A+ critical paper. Read to learn more.Â
What Is a Critique Essay?Â
Letâs set the ball rolling by defining a critique essay . It is an academic assignment that summarizes a text and critically evaluates its validity. It aims to evaluate a given textâs impact in a specific discipline and shows whether the evaluated text achieved its intended goal or didnât.
This assignment needs careful study of the texts before summarizing and critically analyzing them. Your main task is to understand the piece and present your critical assessment. Your final verdict can be negative or positive, depending on the workâs quality and analysis. We can summarize this paper in the following four terms.Â
- A description that gives readers a sense of the writerâs overall goal with their publications.
- An analysis that examines how the textâs structure and language convey its meaning.
- An interpretation that states each of the workâs partsâ significance.
- An assessment that judges the pieceâs overall worth or value.
Types of Critique Essays
Critique essays come in three main forms, as discussed below.Â
- DescriptiveÂ
This essay examines a text or other works. It primarily focuses on a workâs specific features. Comparing and contrasting your analysis subject to a classic example of its genre is also possible.
- EvaluativeÂ
This analytical essay estimates a workâs value. It shows if itâs as good as you expected based on the recommendations or if you feel it wasted your time.
- InterpretiveÂ
Interpretive essays give your readers answers relating to a workâs meaning. To achieve this goal, you must choose a technique for establishing that meaning. For instance, you may read, watch, or observe your analysis subject before floating arguments.
Critique Essay Outline
Writing an excellent critique essay is difficult without an outline. An outline is the only way to save writing time and organize your ideas where they should fit. This step requires you to determine the evidence and arguments you will evaluate. These arguments support and validate your thesis statement.Â
Additionally, your paperâs outline shows you how your essay will look. After creating the wireframe, you may adjust it or add more details to make your writing more effective. Your skeleton takes the traditional five-paragraph essay format.Â
Introduction
Your work needs an introduction paragraph. This section opens with an introductory phrase about the work you are analyzing. It tells the reader what you will critique, who the author is, and provide its publication date. The intro specifies the workâs core argument. Its third sentence contains your thesis statement.Â
Your work requires a summary paragraph to show the reader what you discussed in the body paragraphs. This section follows your introduction and leads to a detailed discussion.Â
Your main body comprises three to five paragraphs or more if necessary. Each section addresses a given text dimension, like bias, tone, style, or organization. Moreover, every paragraph confirms your thesis statement regarding the pieceâs effectiveness. Each body paragraph opens with a topic sentence summarizing the subsection. Next, you introduce your evidence and close the chapter by referring to the thesis. Â
Your conclusion gives your final verdict on a given pieceâs effectiveness. This strong conclusion paragraph summarizes your main ideas and paraphrases your thesis statement to confirm that everything you discussed confirmed it.
How to Start a Critique Essay
Starting your critique essay is easy if you follow the correct process. This discussion explores how to commence this assignment.Â
Critical Reading
- Read the Literary Piece Carefully Â
Your journey starts by reading the piece you have to critique to understand it. Your careful reading should immerse you into the authorâs world and imagine why they drafted their work. Also, take note and underscore essential facts. Your assignment must also highlight which literary tools succeeded in achieving the materialâs goal. Lastly, determine what you dislike about the piece, such as incompleteness, gaps, or inconsistencies.Â
- Formulate the Authorâs ThesisÂ
Use the text you read to formulate the authorâs thesis or primary arguments. You can find this argument in the paperâs introduction. If you are handling literary work, create one of the key themes because the thesis isnât clear.Â
- Summarize the Analyzed TextÂ
You need one paragraph to summarize your paperâs content and give the reader a gist of what you covered. It should come between the introduction and the three body paragraphs.
Analyze the Text
Analyze your text before composing your assignment. Your analysis should lead you to the following critical questions:Â
- How did your emotions respond to the text, and which methods, images, or ideas made you feel so?
- Based on the authorâs background, which experiences made them formulate such a thesis?
- What other significant works has the author produced to demonstrate their general thought direction?
- Have you used the concepts correctly in the text?Â
- Are your references reliable, and do they adequately prove the authorâs judgment?
Write Your Critical Essay
Lastly, draft your critique essay by writing a brief overview of the text you are examining. Next, formulate your thesis statement reflecting your stand on the work you are critiquing. Afterward, write a summary paragraph that captures the paperâs essence. Below are essential questions to ask and answer to ensure you did the correct thing:
- Who created the piece you are critiquing?Â
- Did you present your work objectively or subjectively?
- What is your workâs aim, and were they attained?
- What methods, styles, and media did the author use, and did they achieve their goal?
- What assumptions underlie the work, and how do they influence its validity?
- What forms of evidence or persuasion did you use, and is your evidence interpreted fairly?
- How is the material structured?Â
- Does the work favor a specific interpretation or viewpoint, and how effective is it?
- Does the work promote an understanding of vital ideas or theories?Â
- How does the piece resonate or fail to resonate with primary concepts or other works in its discipline?
Example of Critique Essay On Articles
An article-related critique essay is a paper that evaluates an article to determine its effectiveness in attaining a goal. An article could comprise opinions, personal experiences, and external research. This essay entertains, informs, persuades, or educates readers. An article critique differs from a summary because a summary doesnât offer a critical analysis. A critique, in its turn, resembles a review because it evaluates the authorâs ability to fulfill its stated purpose. Your article critique must back its claims regarding an issue through evidence in the text and other external sources.Â
A Sample Article Critique Paper
Nothing teaches better than an excellent model of what you are learning. Hereâs a sample article critique paper.
The Education Sector Cannot Solve Problems It Doesnât Acknowledge (David and Nelson, 2021). New York, a state in the United States of America, fully understands this problem and has formulated initiatives and policies to improve equity in public schools at all levels. Education policymakers have implemented an All-Inclusive Response Strategy(ARS) to achieve this noble goal. The practical goal of this strategy is to ensure that all New York children enjoy inclusive education. This approach seeks to eliminate biases, barriers, or power dynamics that discourage studentsâ learning potential. Acknowledging educational challenges and committing to developing solutions is the most critical step school administrators can take to support the education system. However, these principal players should formulate proper thought, research, and policy guidelines to ensure their policies and strategies include all the potential issues and leave enough room for improvement.Â
The procedures also proposed religious tolerance and accommodation, anti-discrimination, and all forms of harassment. This inclusive policy must have sound techniques for how other stakeholders will implement, review, and monitor it henceforth. Fortunately, New York has succeeded on this front. This article evaluates how well this equity program was executed in the state as it endeavors to promote equity and inclusivity in its public schoolsâŠ
Do you still have questions regarding a critique essay ? This section answers some of the most frequently asked questions in this essay.Â
What are the five parts of a critique essay ?
A perfect critique paper comprises five sections, namely: the introduction, the summary paragraph, the first paragraph, the second paragraph, the third paragraph, and the conclusion.Â
What is an example of a critique?
A critique essay example should meet all assignment requirements. It also comprises all the essential components, as mentioned in question one.Â
What are the four rules of critique?
The four rules governing a good critique essay are as follows:
- An effective introduction that provides a quick background review, defines the necessary terminology, and ends with a thesis.Â
- A summary that gives a broad overview of what the source discusses.Â
- A critique that shows your personal opinion, supported by evidence.Â
A conclusion that summarizes your main ideas, reminds your readers of your thesis, and concludes the paper.
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Writing Critiques
Writing a critique involves more than pointing out mistakes. It involves conducting a systematic analysis of a scholarly article or book and then writing a fair and reasonable description of its strengths and weaknesses. Several scholarly journals have published guides for critiquing other people’s work in their academic area. Search for a “manuscript reviewer guide” in your own discipline to guide your analysis of the content. Use this handout as an orientation to the audience and purpose of different types of critiques and to the linguistic strategies appropriate to all of them.
Types of critique
Article or book review assignment in an academic class.
Text: Article or book that has already been published Audience: Professors Purpose:
- to demonstrate your skills for close reading and analysis
- to show that you understand key concepts in your field
- to learn how to review a manuscript for your future professional work
Published book review
Text: Book that has already been published Audience: Disciplinary colleagues Purpose:
- to describe the bookâs contents
- to summarize the bookâs strengths and weaknesses
- to provide a reliable recommendation to read (or not read) the book
Manuscript review
Text: Manuscript that has been submitted but has not been published yet Audience: Journal editor and manuscript authors Purpose:
- to provide the editor with an evaluation of the manuscript
- to recommend to the editor that the article be published, revised, or rejected
- to provide the authors with constructive feedback and reasonable suggestions for revision
Language strategies for critiquing
For each type of critique, it’s important to state your praise, criticism, and suggestions politely, but with the appropriate level of strength. The following language structures should help you achieve this challenging task.
Offering Praise and Criticism
A strategy called “hedging” will help you express praise or criticism with varying levels of strength. It will also help you express varying levels of certainty in your own assertions. Grammatical structures used for hedging include:
Modal verbs Using modal verbs (could, can, may, might, etc.) allows you to soften an absolute statement. Compare:
This text is inappropriate for graduate students who are new to the field. This text may be inappropriate for graduate students who are new to the field.
Qualifying adjectives and adverbs Using qualifying adjectives and adverbs (possible, likely, possibly, somewhat, etc.) allows you to introduce a level of probability into your comments. Compare:
Readers will find the theoretical model difficult to understand. Some readers will find the theoretical model difficult to understand. Some readers will probably find the theoretical model somewhat difficult to understand completely.
Note: You can see from the last example that too many qualifiers makes the idea sound undesirably weak.
Tentative verbs Using tentative verbs (seems, indicates, suggests, etc.) also allows you to soften an absolute statement. Compare:
This omission shows that the authors are not aware of the current literature. This omission indicates that the authors are not aware of the current literature. This omission seems to suggest that the authors are not aware of the current literature.
Offering suggestions
Whether you are critiquing a published or unpublished text, you are expected to point out problems and suggest solutions. If you are critiquing an unpublished manuscript, the author can use your suggestions to revise. Your suggestions have the potential to become real actions. If you are critiquing a published text, the author cannot revise, so your suggestions are purely hypothetical. These two situations require slightly different grammar.
Unpublished manuscripts: “would be X if they did Y” Reviewers commonly point out weakness by pointing toward improvement. For instance, if the problem is “unclear methodology,” reviewers may write that “the methodology would be more clear if …” plus a suggestion. If the author can use the suggestions to revise, the grammar is “X would be better if the authors did Y” (would be + simple past suggestion).
The tables would be clearer if the authors highlighted the key results. The discussion would be more persuasive if the authors accounted for the discrepancies in the data.
Published manuscripts: “would have been X if they had done Y” If the authors cannot revise based on your suggestions, use the past unreal conditional form “X would have been better if the authors had done Y” (would have been + past perfect suggestion).
The tables would have been clearer if the authors had highlighted key results. The discussion would have been more persuasive if the authors had accounted for discrepancies in the data.
Note: For more information on conditional structures, see our Conditionals handout .
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A critique asks you to evaluate an article and the author’s argument. You will need to look critically at what the author is claiming, evaluate the research methods, and look for possible problems with, or applications of, the researcher’s claims.
Introduction
Give an overview of the author’s main points and how the author supports those points. Explain what the author found and describe the process they used to arrive at this conclusion.
Body Paragraphs
Interpret the information from the article:
- Does the author review previous studies? Is current and relevant research used?
- What type of research was used – empirical studies, anecdotal material, or personal observations?
- Was the sample too small to generalize from?
- Was the participant group lacking in diversity (race, gender, age, education, socioeconomic status, etc.)
- For instance, volunteers gathered at a health food store might have different attitudes about nutrition than the population at large.
- How useful does this work seem to you? How does the author suggest the findings could be applied and how do you believe they could be applied?
- How could the study have been improved in your opinion?
- Does the author appear to have any biases (related to gender, race, class, or politics)?
- Is the writing clear and easy to follow? Does the author’s tone add to or detract from the article?
- How useful are the visuals (such as tables, charts, maps, photographs) included, if any? How do they help to illustrate the argument? Are they confusing or hard to read?
- What further research might be conducted on this subject?
Try to synthesize the pieces of your critique to emphasize your own main points about the author’s work, relating the researcher’s work to your own knowledge or to topics being discussed in your course.
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Writing a Critique
About this guide.
- What Is a Critique?
- Getting Started
- Components of a Critique Essay
This guide provides an overview of critiques and how to write them. The contents include the following:
- What is a Critique? An overview of the standard critique essay.
- Getting Started Tips to set yourself up for success when writing a critiqueââ
- Components of a Critique Essay The components of a critique essay and how to write them
- Examples Example critique articles
- Get Help Provides links to additional resources that were not otherwise mentioned.
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- Last Updated: May 22, 2023 10:46 AM
- URL: https://library.tiffin.edu/critique
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How to Write an Article Critique
Tips for Writing a Psychology Critique Paper
Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."
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Emily is a board-certified science editor who has worked with top digital publishing brands like Voices for Biodiversity, Study.com, GoodTherapy, Vox, and Verywell.
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- Steps for Writing a Critique
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Evaluating the Article
- How to Write It
- Helpful Tips
An article critique involves critically analyzing a written work to assess its strengths and flaws. If you need to write an article critique, you will need to describe the article, analyze its contents, interpret its meaning, and make an overall assessment of the importance of the work.
Critique papers require students to conduct a critical analysis of another piece of writing, often a book, journal article, or essay . No matter your major, you will probably be expected to write a critique paper at some point.
For psychology students, critiquing a professional paper is a great way to learn more about psychology articles, writing, and the research process itself. Students will analyze how researchers conduct experiments, interpret results, and discuss the impact of the results.
At a Glance
An article critique involves making a critical assessment of a single work. This is often an article, but it might also be a book or other written source. It summarizes the contents of the article and then evaluates both the strengths and weaknesses of the piece. Knowing how to write an article critique can help you learn how to evaluate sources with a discerning eye.
Steps for Writing an Effective Article Critique
While these tips are designed to help students write a psychology critique paper, many of the same principles apply to writing article critiques in other subject areas.
Your first step should always be a thorough read-through of the material you will be analyzing and critiquing. It needs to be more than just a casual skim read. It should be in-depth with an eye toward key elements.
To write an article critique, you should:
- Read the article , noting your first impressions, questions, thoughts, and observations
- Describe the contents of the article in your own words, focusing on the main themes or ideas
- Interpret the meaning of the article and its overall importance
- Critically evaluate the contents of the article, including any strong points as well as potential weaknesses
The following guidelines can help you assess the article you are reading and make better sense of the material.
Read the Introduction Section of the Article
Start by reading the introduction . Think about how this part of the article sets up the main body and how it helps you get a background on the topic.
- Is the hypothesis clearly stated?
- Is the necessary background information and previous research described in the introduction?
In addition to answering these basic questions, note other information provided in the introduction and any questions you have.
Read the Methods Section of the Article
Is the study procedure clearly outlined in the methods section ? Can you determine which variables the researchers are measuring?
Remember to jot down questions and thoughts that come to mind as you are reading. Once you have finished reading the paper, you can then refer back to your initial questions and see which ones remain unanswered.
Read the Results Section of the Article
Are all tables and graphs clearly labeled in the results section ? Do researchers provide enough statistical information? Did the researchers collect all of the data needed to measure the variables in question?
Make a note of any questions or information that does not seem to make sense. You can refer back to these questions later as you are writing your final critique.
Read the Discussion Section of the Article
Experts suggest that it is helpful to take notes while reading through sections of the paper you are evaluating. Ask yourself key questions:
- How do the researchers interpret the results of the study?
- Did the results support their hypothesis?
- Do the conclusions drawn by the researchers seem reasonable?
The discussion section offers students an excellent opportunity to take a position. If you agree with the researcher's conclusions, explain why. If you feel the researchers are incorrect or off-base, point out problems with the conclusions and suggest alternative explanations.
Another alternative is to point out questions the researchers failed to answer in the discussion section.
Begin Writing Your Own Critique of the Paper
Once you have read the article, compile your notes and develop an outline that you can follow as you write your psychology critique paper. Here's a guide that will walk you through how to structure your critique paper.
Introduction
Begin your paper by describing the journal article and authors you are critiquing. Provide the main hypothesis (or thesis) of the paper. Explain why you think the information is relevant.
Thesis Statement
The final part of your introduction should include your thesis statement. Your thesis statement is the main idea of your critique. Your thesis should briefly sum up the main points of your critique.
Article Summary
Provide a brief summary of the article. Outline the main points, results, and discussion.
When describing the study or paper, experts suggest that you include a summary of the questions being addressed, study participants, interventions, comparisons, outcomes, and study design.
Don't get bogged down by your summary. This section should highlight the main points of the article you are critiquing. Don't feel obligated to summarize each little detail of the main paper. Focus on giving the reader an overall idea of the article's content.
Your Analysis
In this section, you will provide your critique of the article. Describe any problems you had with the author's premise, methods, or conclusions. You might focus your critique on problems with the author's argument, presentation, information, and alternatives that have been overlooked.
When evaluating a study, summarize the main findingsâincluding the strength of evidence for each main outcomeâand consider their relevance to key demographic groups. ï»ż ï»ż
Organize your paper carefully. Be careful not to jump around from one argument to the next. Arguing one point at a time ensures that your paper flows well and is easy to read.
Your critique paper should end with an overview of the article's argument, your conclusions, and your reactions.
More Tips When Writing an Article Critique
- As you are editing your paper, utilize a style guide published by the American Psychological Association, such as the official Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association .
- Reading scientific articles can be challenging at first. Remember that this is a skill that takes time to learn but that your skills will become stronger the more that you read.
- Take a rough draft of your paper to your school's writing lab for additional feedback and use your university library's resources.
What This Means For You
Being able to write a solid article critique is a useful academic skill. While it can be challenging, start by breaking down the sections of the paper, noting your initial thoughts and questions. Then structure your own critique so that you present a summary followed by your evaluation. In your critique, include the strengths and the weaknesses of the article.
Archibald D, Martimianakis MA. Writing, reading, and critiquing reviews . Can Med Educ J . 2021;12(3):1-7. doi:10.36834/cmej.72945
Pautasso M. Ten simple rules for writing a literature review . PLoS Comput Biol . 2013;9(7):e1003149. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003149
GĂŒlpınar Ă, GĂŒĂ§lĂŒ AG. How to write a review article?  Turk J Urol . 2013;39(Suppl 1):44â48. doi:10.5152/tud.2013.054
Erol A. Basics of writing review articles . Noro Psikiyatr Ars . 2022;59(1):1-2. doi:10.29399/npa.28093
American Psychological Association. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association  (7th ed.). Washington DC: The American Psychological Association; 2019.
By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."
Writing a Critique Paper: Seven Easy Steps
Were you assigned or asked by your professor to write a critique paper? Itâs easy to write one. Just follow the following four steps in writing a critique paper and three steps in presenting it, then youâre ready to go.
One of the studentsâ requirements I specified in the course module is a critique paper. Just so everyone benefits from the guide I prepared for that class, I share it here.
To standardize the format they use in writing a critique paper, I came up with the following steps to make their submissions worthwhile.
Since they are graduate students, more is expected of them. Hence, most of the verbs I use in writing the lessonâs objectives reside in the domain of higher thinking skills or HOTS. Developing the studentsâ critical thinking skills will help them analyze future problems and propose solutions that embody environmental principles thus resonate desirable outcomes aligned with the goal of sustainable development.
Table of Contents
Step-by-step procedure in writing a critique paper.
I quickly wrote this simple guide on writing a critique paper to help you evaluate any composition you want to write about. It could be a book, a scientific article, a gray paper, or whatever your professor assigns. I integrated the essence of the approach in this article.
The critique paper essentially comprises two major parts, namely the:
1) Procedure in Writing a Critique Paper, and the
2) Format of the Critique Paper.
First, you will need to know the procedure that will guide you in evaluating a paper. Second, the format of the critique paper refers to how you present it so that it becomes logical and scholarly in tone.
The Four Steps in Writing a Critique Paper
Here are the four steps in writing a critique paper:
To write a good critique paper, it pays to adhere to a smooth flow of thought in your evaluation of the piece. You will need to introduce the topic, analyze, interpret, then conclude it.
Introduce the Discussion Topic
Introduce the topic of the critique paper. To capture the authorâs idea, you may apply the 5Ws and 1H approach  in writing your technical report.
That means, when you write your critique paper, you should be able to answer the Why , When , Where , What , Who , and How questions. Using this approach prevents missing out on the essential details. If you can write a critique paper that adheres to this approach, that would be excellent.
Hereâs a simplified example to illustrate the technique:
The news article by John Doe was a narrative about a bank robbery. Accordingly, a masked man (Who)  robbed a bank (What)  the other day (When)  next to a police station (Where) . He did so in broad daylight (How) . He used a bicycle to escape from the scene of the crime (How) . In his haste, he bumped into a post. His mask fell off; thus, everyone saw his face, allowing witnesses to describe him. As a result, he had difficulty escaping the police, who eventually retrieved his loot and put him in jail because of his wrongdoing  (Why) .
Hence, you give details about the topic, in this case, a bank robbery. Briefly describe what you want to tell your audience. State the overall purpose of writing the piece and its intention.
Is the essay written to inform, entertain, educate, raise an issue for debate, and so on? Donât parrot or repeat what the writer wrote in his paper. And write a paragraph or a few sentences as succinctly as you can.
Analyze means to break down the abstract ideas presented into manageable bits.
What are the main points of the composition? How was it structured? Did the view expressed by the author allow you, as the reader, to understand?
In the example given above, itâs easy to analyze the event as revealed by the chain of events. How do you examine the situation?
The following steps are helpful in the analysis of information:
- Ask yourself what your objective is in writing the critique paper. Come up with a guidepost in examining it. Are you looking at it with some goal or purpose in mind? Say you want to find out how thieves carry out bank robberies. Perhaps you can categorize those robberies as either planned or unplanned.
- Find out the source, or basis, of the information that you need. Will you use the paper as your source of data, or do you have corroborating evidence?
- Remove unnecessary information  from your data source. Your decision to do so depends on your objective. If there is irrelevant data, remove it from your critique.
We can use an analogy here to clearly explain the analysis portion.
If you want to split a log, what would you do? Do you use an ax, a chainsaw, or perhaps a knife? The last one is out of the question. Itâs inappropriate.
Thus, it would be best if you defined the tools of your analysis. Tools facilitate understanding and allow you to make an incisive analysis.
Read More : 5 Tools in Writing the Analysis Section of the Critique Paper
Now, you are ready to interpret the article, book, or any composition once the requisites of analysis are in place.
Visualize the event in your mind and interpret the behavior of actors in the bank robbery incident. You have several actors in that bank heist: the robber, the police, and the witnesses of the crime.
While reading the story, it might have occurred to you that the robber is inexperienced. We can see some discrepancies in his actions.
Imagine, his mode of escape is a bicycle. What got into him? Maybe he did not plan the robbery at all. Besides, there was no mention that the robber used a gun in the heist.
That fact confirms the first observation that he was not ready at all. Escaping the scene of the crime using a bicycle with nothing to defend himself once pursued? Heâs insane. Unimaginable. Heâs better off sleeping at home and waiting for food to land on his lap if food will come at all.
If we examine the policeâs response, they were relatively quick. Right after the robber escaped the crime scene, they appeared to remedy the situation. The robber did not put up a fight.
What? With bare knuckles? It makes little sense.
If we look at the witnessesâ behavior, we can discern that perhaps they willingly informed the police of the bank robberâs details. They were not afraid. And thatâs because the robber appears to be unarmed. But there was no specific mention of it.
Narrate the importance of each of the different sections or paragraphs. How does the write-up contribute to the overall picture of the issue or problem being studied?
Assess or Evaluate
Finally, judge whether the article was a worthwhile account after all. Did it meet expectations? Was it able to convey the information most efficiently? Or are there loopholes or flaws that should have been mentioned?
Format of Presenting the Critique Paper
The logical format in writing a critique paper comprises at least three sections: the introduction, the body, and the conclusion. This approach is systematic and achieves a good flow that readers can follow.
Introduction
Include the title and name of the author in your introduction. Make a general description of the topic being discussed, including the authorâs assumptions, inferences, or contentions. Find out the thesis or central argument , which will be the basis of your discussion.
The robbery example appears to be inappropriate to demonstrate this section, as it is so simple. So we level up to a scientific article.
In any scientific article, there is always a thesis that guides the write-up. A thesis is a statement that expresses what the author believes in and tries to test in his study. The investigation or research converges (ideally) to this central theme as the authorâs argument.
You can find the thesis in the paperâs hypothesis section. Thatâs because a hypothesis is a tentative thesis. Hypo means âbelow or under,â meaning it is the authorâs tentative explanation of whatever phenomenon he tackles.
If you need more information about this, please refer to my previous post titled â How to Write a Thesis .â
How is the introduction of a critique paper structured? It follows the general guidelines of writing from a broad perspective to more specific concerns or details. See how itâs written here:Â Writing a Thesis Introduction: from General to Specific .
You may include the process you adopted in writing the critique paper in this section.
The body of the paper includes details about the article being examined. It is here where you place all those musings of yours after applying the analytical tools .
This section is similar to the results and discussion portion of a scientific paper. It describes the outcome of your analysis and interpretation.
![Writing a Critique Paper: Seven Easy Steps 1 writingacritiquepaper](https://simplyeducate.me/wordpress_Y/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/critiquepaper.png)
In explaining or expressing your argument, substantiate it by citing references to make it believable. Make sure that those references are relevant as well as timely. Donât cite references that are so far out in the past. These, perhaps, would not amount to a better understanding of the topic at hand. Find one that will help you understand the situation.
Besides, who wants to adopt the perspective of an author who has not even got hold of a mobile phone if your paper is about using mobile phones to facilitate learning during the pandemic caused by COVID-19 ? Find a more recent one that will help you understand the situation.
Objectively examine the major points presented by the author by giving details about the work. How does the author present or express the idea or concept? Is he (or she) convincing the way he/she presents his/her paperâs thesis?
Well, I donât want to be gender-biased, but I find the âhe/sheâ term somewhat queer. Iâll get back to the âheâ again, to represent both sexes.
I mention the gender issue because the literature says that there is a difference in how a person sees things based on gender. For example, Ragins & Sundstrom (1989) observed that it would be more difficult for women to obtain power in the organization than men. And thereâs a paper on gender and emotions by Shields et al. (2006) , although I wouldnât know the outcome of that study as it is behind a paywall. My point is just that there is a difference in perspective between men and women. Alright.
Therefore, always find evidence to support your position. Explain why you agree or disagree with the author. Point out the discrepancies or strengths of the paper.
Well, everything has an end. Write a critique paper that incorporates the key takeaways  of the document examined. End the critique with an overall interpretation of the article, whatever that is.
Why do you think is the paper relevant in the courseâs context that you are taking? How does it contribute to say, the study of human behavior (in reference to the bank robbery)? Are there areas that need to be considered by future researchers, investigators, or scientists? That will be the knowledge gap that the next generation of researchers will have to look into.
If you have read up to this point, then thank you for reading my musings. I hope that helped you clarify the steps in writing a critique paper. A well-written critique paper depends on your writing style.
Read More : How to Write an Article with AI: A Guide to Using AI for Article Creation and Refinement
Notice that my writing style changes based on the topic that I discuss. Hence, if your professor assigns you a serious, rigorous, incisive, and detailed analysis of a scientific article, then that is the way to go. Adopt a formal mode in your writing.
Final Tip : Find a paper that is easy for you to understand. In that way, you can clearly express your thoughts. Write a critique paper that rocks!
Related Reading
Master Content Analysis: An All-in-One Guide
Ragins, B. R., & Sundstrom, E. (1989). Gender and power in organizations: A longitudinal perspective. Psychological bulletin , 105 (1), 51.
Shields, S. A., Garner, D. N., Di Leone, B., & Hadley, A. M. (2006). Gender and emotion. In Handbook of the sociology of emotions (pp. 63-83). Springer, Boston, MA.
© 2020 November 20 P. A. Regoniel
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About the author, patrick regoniel.
Dr. Regoniel, a faculty member of the graduate school, served as consultant to various environmental research and development projects covering issues and concerns on climate change, coral reef resources and management, economic valuation of environmental and natural resources, mining, and waste management and pollution. He has extensive experience on applied statistics, systems modelling and analysis, an avid practitioner of LaTeX, and a multidisciplinary web developer. He leverages pioneering AI-powered content creation tools to produce unique and comprehensive articles in this website.
Thank you..for your idea ..it was indeed helpful
Glad it helped you Preezy.
This is extremely helpful. Thank you very much!
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How to Write Critical Reviews
When you are asked to write a critical review of a book or article, you will need to identify, summarize, and evaluate the ideas and information the author has presented. In other words, you will be examining another person’s thoughts on a topic from your point of view.
Your stand must go beyond your “gut reaction” to the work and be based on your knowledge (readings, lecture, experience) of the topic as well as on factors such as criteria stated in your assignment or discussed by you and your instructor.
Make your stand clear at the beginning of your review, in your evaluations of specific parts, and in your concluding commentary.
Remember that your goal should be to make a few key points about the book or article, not to discuss everything the author writes.
Understanding the Assignment
To write a good critical review, you will have to engage in the mental processes of analyzing (taking apart) the work–deciding what its major components are and determining how these parts (i.e., paragraphs, sections, or chapters) contribute to the work as a whole.
Analyzing the work will help you focus on how and why the author makes certain points and prevent you from merely summarizing what the author says. Assuming the role of an analytical reader will also help you to determine whether or not the author fulfills the stated purpose of the book or article and enhances your understanding or knowledge of a particular topic.
Be sure to read your assignment thoroughly before you read the article or book. Your instructor may have included specific guidelines for you to follow. Keeping these guidelines in mind as you read the article or book can really help you write your paper!
Also, note where the work connects with what you’ve studied in the course. You can make the most efficient use of your reading and notetaking time if you are an active reader; that is, keep relevant questions in mind and jot down page numbers as well as your responses to ideas that appear to be significant as you read.
Please note: The length of your introduction and overview, the number of points you choose to review, and the length of your conclusion should be proportionate to the page limit stated in your assignment and should reflect the complexity of the material being reviewed as well as the expectations of your reader.
Write the introduction
Below are a few guidelines to help you write the introduction to your critical review.
Introduce your review appropriately
Begin your review with an introduction appropriate to your assignment.
If your assignment asks you to review only one book and not to use outside sources, your introduction will focus on identifying the author, the title, the main topic or issue presented in the book, and the author’s purpose in writing the book.
If your assignment asks you to review the book as it relates to issues or themes discussed in the course, or to review two or more books on the same topic, your introduction must also encompass those expectations.
Explain relationships
For example, before you can review two books on a topic, you must explain to your reader in your introduction how they are related to one another.
Within this shared context (or under this “umbrella”) you can then review comparable aspects of both books, pointing out where the authors agree and differ.
In other words, the more complicated your assignment is, the more your introduction must accomplish.
Finally, the introduction to a book review is always the place for you to establish your position as the reviewer (your thesis about the author’s thesis).
As you write, consider the following questions:
- Is the book a memoir, a treatise, a collection of facts, an extended argument, etc.? Is the article a documentary, a write-up of primary research, a position paper, etc.?
- Who is the author? What does the preface or foreword tell you about the author’s purpose, background, and credentials? What is the author’s approach to the topic (as a journalist? a historian? a researcher?)?
- What is the main topic or problem addressed? How does the work relate to a discipline, to a profession, to a particular audience, or to other works on the topic?
- What is your critical evaluation of the work (your thesis)? Why have you taken that position? What criteria are you basing your position on?
Provide an overview
In your introduction, you will also want to provide an overview. An overview supplies your reader with certain general information not appropriate for including in the introduction but necessary to understanding the body of the review.
Generally, an overview describes your book’s division into chapters, sections, or points of discussion. An overview may also include background information about the topic, about your stand, or about the criteria you will use for evaluation.
The overview and the introduction work together to provide a comprehensive beginning for (a “springboard” into) your review.
- What are the author’s basic premises? What issues are raised, or what themes emerge? What situation (i.e., racism on college campuses) provides a basis for the author’s assertions?
- How informed is my reader? What background information is relevant to the entire book and should be placed here rather than in a body paragraph?
Write the body
The body is the center of your paper, where you draw out your main arguments. Below are some guidelines to help you write it.
Organize using a logical plan
Organize the body of your review according to a logical plan. Here are two options:
- First, summarize, in a series of paragraphs, those major points from the book that you plan to discuss; incorporating each major point into a topic sentence for a paragraph is an effective organizational strategy. Second, discuss and evaluate these points in a following group of paragraphs. (There are two dangers lurking in this pattern–you may allot too many paragraphs to summary and too few to evaluation, or you may re-summarize too many points from the book in your evaluation section.)
- Alternatively, you can summarize and evaluate the major points you have chosen from the book in a point-by-point schema. That means you will discuss and evaluate point one within the same paragraph (or in several if the point is significant and warrants extended discussion) before you summarize and evaluate point two, point three, etc., moving in a logical sequence from point to point to point. Here again, it is effective to use the topic sentence of each paragraph to identify the point from the book that you plan to summarize or evaluate.
Questions to keep in mind as you write
With either organizational pattern, consider the following questions:
- What are the author’s most important points? How do these relate to one another? (Make relationships clear by using transitions: “In contrast,” an equally strong argument,” “moreover,” “a final conclusion,” etc.).
- What types of evidence or information does the author present to support his or her points? Is this evidence convincing, controversial, factual, one-sided, etc.? (Consider the use of primary historical material, case studies, narratives, recent scientific findings, statistics.)
- Where does the author do a good job of conveying factual material as well as personal perspective? Where does the author fail to do so? If solutions to a problem are offered, are they believable, misguided, or promising?
- Which parts of the work (particular arguments, descriptions, chapters, etc.) are most effective and which parts are least effective? Why?
- Where (if at all) does the author convey personal prejudice, support illogical relationships, or present evidence out of its appropriate context?
Keep your opinions distinct and cite your sources
Remember, as you discuss the author’s major points, be sure to distinguish consistently between the author’s opinions and your own.
Keep the summary portions of your discussion concise, remembering that your task as a reviewer is to re-see the author’s work, not to re-tell it.
And, importantly, if you refer to ideas from other books and articles or from lecture and course materials, always document your sources, or else you might wander into the realm of plagiarism.
Include only that material which has relevance for your review and use direct quotations sparingly. The Writing Center has other handouts to help you paraphrase text and introduce quotations.
Write the conclusion
You will want to use the conclusion to state your overall critical evaluation.
You have already discussed the major points the author makes, examined how the author supports arguments, and evaluated the quality or effectiveness of specific aspects of the book or article.
Now you must make an evaluation of the work as a whole, determining such things as whether or not the author achieves the stated or implied purpose and if the work makes a significant contribution to an existing body of knowledge.
Consider the following questions:
- Is the work appropriately subjective or objective according to the author’s purpose?
- How well does the work maintain its stated or implied focus? Does the author present extraneous material? Does the author exclude or ignore relevant information?
- How well has the author achieved the overall purpose of the book or article? What contribution does the work make to an existing body of knowledge or to a specific group of readers? Can you justify the use of this work in a particular course?
- What is the most important final comment you wish to make about the book or article? Do you have any suggestions for the direction of future research in the area? What has reading this work done for you or demonstrated to you?
![how to start a critique essay](https://writing.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/535/2018/07/Screen-Shot-2019-08-06-at-6.26.02-PM-e1565383158628.png)
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How to Write a Critique in Five Paragraphs
Last Updated: January 20, 2024 Fact Checked
This article was co-authored by Diane Stubbs . Diane Stubbs is a Secondary English Teacher with over 22 years of experience teaching all high school grade levels and AP courses. She specializes in secondary education, classroom management, and educational technology. Diane earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Delaware and a Master of Education from Wesley College. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 974,144 times.
A critique is usually written in response to a creative work, such as a novel, a film, poetry, or a painting. However, critiques are also sometimes assigned for research articles and media items, such as news articles or features. A critique is slightly different than a traditional 5-paragraph theme, as it is usually focused on the overall effectiveness and usefulness of the work it is critiquing, rather than making a strictly analytical argument about it. Organizing your critique into 5 paragraphs can help you structure your thoughts.
Laying the Groundwork
![how to start a critique essay Step 1 Examine the prompt or assignment.](https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/9/96/Write-a-Critique-in-Five-Paragraphs-Step-1-Version-3.jpg/v4-460px-Write-a-Critique-in-Five-Paragraphs-Step-1-Version-3.jpg)
- Does the creator clearly state her/his main point or goal? If not, why do you think that is?
- Who do you think is the creatorâs intended audience? This can be crucial to determining the success of a work; for example, a movie intended for young children might work well for its intended audience but not for adult viewers.
- What reactions do you have when reading or viewing this work? Does it provoke emotional responses? Do you feel confused?
- What questions does the work make you think of? Does it suggest other avenues of exploration or observation to you?
![how to start a critique essay Step 3 Do some research.](https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/5/5a/Write-a-Critique-in-Five-Paragraphs-Step-3-Version-3.jpg/v4-460px-Write-a-Critique-in-Five-Paragraphs-Step-3-Version-3.jpg)
- For example, if you're critiquing a research article about a new treatment for the flu, a little research about other flu treatments currently available could be helpful to you when situating the work in context.
- As another example, if you're writing about a movie, you might want to briefly discuss the director's other films, or other important movies in this particular genre (indie, action, drama, etc.).
- Your school or university library is usually a good place to start when conducting research, as their databases provide verified, expert sources. Google Scholar can also be a good source for research.
Writing the Introductory Paragraph
![how to start a critique essay Step 1 Give the basic information about the work.](https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/b/b0/Write-a-Critique-in-Five-Paragraphs-Step-4.jpg/v4-460px-Write-a-Critique-in-Five-Paragraphs-Step-4.jpg)
- For a work of fiction or a published work of journalism or research, this information is usually available in the publication itself, such as on the copyright page for a novel.
- For a film, you may wish to refer to a source such as IMDb to get the information you need. If you're critiquing a famous artwork, an encyclopedia of art would be a good place to find information on the creator, the title, and important dates (date of creation, date of exhibition, etc.).
![how to start a critique essay Step 2 Provide a context for the work.](https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/c/c2/Write-a-Critique-in-Five-Paragraphs-Step-5.jpg/v4-460px-Write-a-Critique-in-Five-Paragraphs-Step-5.jpg)
- For example, if youâre assessing a research article in the sciences, a quick overview of its place in the academic discussion could be useful (e.g., âProfessor Xâs work on fruit flies is part of a long research tradition on Blah Blah Blah.â)
- If you are evaluating a painting, giving some brief information on where it was first displayed, for whom it was painted, etc., would be useful.
- If you are assessing a novel, it could be good to talk about what genre or literary tradition the novel is written within (e.g., fantasy, High Modernism, romance). You may also want to include details about the authorâs biography that seem particularly relevant to your critique.
- For a media item, such as a news article, consider the social and/or political context of the media outlet the item came from (e.g., Fox News, BBC, etc.) and of the issue it is dealing with (e.g., immigration, education, entertainment).
![how to start a critique essay Step 3 Summarize the creatorâs goal or purpose in creating the work.](https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/9/94/Write-a-Critique-in-Five-Paragraphs-Step-6.jpg/v4-460px-Write-a-Critique-in-Five-Paragraphs-Step-6.jpg)
- The authors of research articles will often state very clearly in the abstract and in the introduction to their work what they are investigating, often with sentences that say something like this: "In this article we provide a new framework for analyzing X and argue that it is superior to previous methods because of reason A and reason B."
- For creative works, you may not have an explicit statement from the author or creator about their purpose, but you can often infer one from the context the work occupies. For example, if you were examining the movie The Shining, you might argue that the filmmaker Stanley Kubrick's goal is to call attention to the poor treatment of Native Americans because of the strong Native American themes present in the movie. You could then present the reasons why you think that in the rest of the essay.
![how to start a critique essay Step 4 Summarize the main points of the work.](https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/b/bb/Write-a-Critique-in-Five-Paragraphs-Step-7.jpg/v4-460px-Write-a-Critique-in-Five-Paragraphs-Step-7.jpg)
- For example, if you were writing about The Shining, you could summarize the main points this way: "Stanley Kubrick uses strong symbolism, such as the placement of the movie's hotel on an Indian burial ground, the naming of the hotel "Overlook," and the constant presence of Native American artwork and representation, to call viewers' attention to America's treatment of Native Americans in history."
![how to start a critique essay Step 5 Present your initial assessment.](https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/5/54/Write-a-Critique-in-Five-Paragraphs-Step-8.jpg/v4-460px-Write-a-Critique-in-Five-Paragraphs-Step-8.jpg)
- For a research article, you will probably want to focus your thesis on whether the research and discussion supported the authors' claims. You may also wish to critique the research methodology, if there are obvious flaws present.
- For creative works, consider what you believe the author or creator's goal was in making the work, and then present your assessment of whether or not they achieved that goal.
Writing the 3 Body Paragraphs
![how to start a critique essay Step 1 Organize your critical evaluations.](https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/6/6c/Write-a-Critique-in-Five-Paragraphs-Step-9.jpg/v4-460px-Write-a-Critique-in-Five-Paragraphs-Step-9.jpg)
- If you have three clear points about your work, you can organize each paragraph by point. For example, if you are analyzing a painting, you might critique the painterâs use of color, light, and composition, devoting a paragraph to each topic.
- If you have more than three points about your work, you can organize each paragraph thematically. For example, if you are critiquing a movie and want to talk about its treatment of women, its screenwriting, its pacing, its use of color and framing, and its acting, you might think about the broader categories that these points fall into, such as âproductionâ (pacing, color and framing, screenwriting), âsocial commentaryâ (treatment of women), and âperformanceâ (acting).
- Alternatively, you could organize your critique by âstrengthsâ and âweaknesses.â The aim of a critique is not merely to criticize, but to point out what the creator or author has done well and what s/he has not.
![how to start a critique essay Step 2 Discuss the techniques or styles used in the work.](https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/2/2f/Write-a-Critique-in-Five-Paragraphs-Step-10.jpg/v4-460px-Write-a-Critique-in-Five-Paragraphs-Step-10.jpg)
- For example, if you are critiquing a song, you could consider how the beat or tone of the music supports or detracts from the lyrics.
- For a research article or a media item, you may want to consider questions such as how the data was gathered in an experiment, or what method a journalist used to discover information.
![how to start a critique essay Step 3 Explain what types of evidence or argument are used.](https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/4/46/Write-a-Critique-in-Five-Paragraphs-Step-11.jpg/v4-460px-Write-a-Critique-in-Five-Paragraphs-Step-11.jpg)
- Does the author use primary sources (e.g., historical documents, interviews, etc.)? Secondary sources? Quantitative data? Qualitative data? Are these sources appropriate for the argument?
- Has evidence been presented fairly, without distortion or selectivity?
- Does the argument proceed logically from the evidence used?
![how to start a critique essay Step 4 Determine what the work adds to the understanding of its topic.](https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/5/50/Write-a-Critique-in-Five-Paragraphs-Step-12.jpg/v4-460px-Write-a-Critique-in-Five-Paragraphs-Step-12.jpg)
- If the work is a creative work, consider whether it presents its ideas in an original or interesting way. You can also consider whether it engages with key concepts or ideas in popular culture or society.
- If the work is a research article, you can consider whether the work enhances your understanding of a particular theory or idea in its discipline. Research articles often include a section on âfurther researchâ where they discuss the contributions their research has made and what future contributions they hope to make.
![how to start a critique essay Step 5 Use examples for each point.](https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/1/11/Write-a-Critique-in-Five-Paragraphs-Step-13.jpg/v4-460px-Write-a-Critique-in-Five-Paragraphs-Step-13.jpg)
Writing the Conclusion Paragraph and References
![how to start a critique essay Step 1 State your overall assessment of the work.](https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/d/df/Write-a-Critique-in-Five-Paragraphs-Step-14.jpg/v4-460px-Write-a-Critique-in-Five-Paragraphs-Step-14.jpg)
Sample Critiques
![how to start a critique essay how to start a critique essay](https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/c/c8/Research-Paper-Critique.png/340px-Research-Paper-Critique.png)
Community Q&A
![how to start a critique essay Community Answer](https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/f/f5/CommunityAvatar4.png/-crop-104-104-104px-CommunityAvatar4.png)
- Before you begin writing, take notes while you are watching or reading the subject of your critique. Keep to mind certain aspects such as how it made you feel. What was your first impression? With deeper examination, what is your overall opinion? How did you come to this opinion? Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
- While the 5-paragraph form can work very well to help you organize your ideas, some instructors do not allow this type of essay. Be sure that you understand the assignment. If youâre not sure whether a 5-paragraph format is acceptable to your teacher, ask! Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
![how to start a critique essay how to start a critique essay](https://www.wikihow.com/images/2/20/Wpro_v01_0420x0250.jpg)
- Avoid using first and second person pronouns such as, âyouâ, âyourâ, âIâ, âmyâ, or âmine.â State your opinion objectively for a more credible approach. Thanks Helpful 39 Not Helpful 14
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About This Article
![how to start a critique essay Diane Stubbs](https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/9/9b/Diane_Stubbs.png/-crop-100-100-100px-Diane_Stubbs.png)
To write a 5-paragraph critique, provide the basic information about the work you're critiquing in the first paragraph, including the author, when it was published, and what its key themes are. Then, conclude this paragraph with a statement of your opinion of the work. Next, identify 3 central positive or negative issues in the work and write a paragraph about each one. For example, you could focus on the color, light, and composition of a painting. In the final paragraph, state your overall assessment of the work, and give reasons to back it up. For tips on how to take notes on the piece your critiquing, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No
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How to Write an Article Critique Step-by-Step
![how to start a critique essay image](https://papersowl.com/wp-content/uploads/thumb/b5/dd6c4a3a9693bb5_40x40.png)
Table of contents
- 1 What is an Article Critique Writing?
- 2 How to Critique an Article: The Main Steps
- 3 Article Critique Outline
- 4 Article Critique Formatting
- 5 How to Write a Journal Article Critique
- 6 How to Write a Research Article Critique
- 7 Research Methods in Article Critique Writing
- 8 Tips for writing an Article Critique
Do you know how to critique an article? If not, don’t worry – this guide will walk you through the writing process step-by-step. First, we’ll discuss what a research article critique is and its importance. Then, we’ll outline the key points to consider when critiquing a scientific article. Finally, we’ll provide a step-by-step guide on how to write an article critique including introduction, body and summary. Read more to get the main idea of crafting a critique paper.
What is an Article Critique Writing?
An article critique is a formal analysis and evaluation of a piece of writing. It is often written in response to a particular text but can also be a response to a book, a movie, or any other form of writing. There are many different types of review articles . Before writing an article critique, you should have an idea about each of them.
To start writing a good critique, you must first read the article thoroughly and examine and make sure you understand the article’s purpose. Then, you should outline the article’s key points and discuss how well they are presented. Next, you should offer your comments and opinions on the article, discussing whether you agree or disagree with the author’s points and subject. Finally, concluding your critique with a brief summary of your thoughts on the article would be best. Ensure that the general audience understands your perspective on the piece.
How to Critique an Article: The Main Steps
If you are wondering “what is included in an article critique,” the answer is:
An article critique typically includes the following:
- A brief summary of the article .
- A critical evaluation of the article’s strengths and weaknesses.
- A conclusion.
When critiquing an article, it is essential to critically read the piece and consider the author’s purpose and research strategies that the author chose. Next, provide a brief summary of the text, highlighting the author’s main points and ideas. Critique an article using formal language and relevant literature in the body paragraphs. Finally, describe the thesis statement, main idea, and author’s interpretations in your language using specific examples from the article. It is also vital to discuss the statistical methods used and whether they are appropriate for the research question. Make notes of the points you think need to be discussed, and also do a literature review from where the author ground their research. Offer your perspective on the article and whether it is well-written. Finally, provide background information on the topic if necessary.
When you are reading an article, it is vital to take notes and critique the text to understand it fully and to be able to use the information in it. Here are the main steps for critiquing an article:
- Read the piece thoroughly, taking notes as you go. Ensure you understand the main points and the author’s argument.
- Take a look at the author’s perspective. Is it powerful? Does it back up the author’s point of view?
- Carefully examine the article’s tone. Is it biased? Are you being persuaded by the author in any way?
- Look at the structure. Is it well organized? Does it make sense?
- Consider the writing style. Is it clear? Is it well-written?
- Evaluate the sources the author uses. Are they credible?
- Think about your own opinion. With what do you concur or disagree? Why?
![how to start a critique essay more_shortcode](https://papersowl.com/wp-content/themes/wp-webtech-theme/components/stuck-shortcode/img/img.png)
Article Critique Outline
When assigned an article critique, your instructor asks you to read and analyze it and provide feedback. A specific format is typically followed when writing an article critique.
An article critique usually has three sections: an introduction, a body, and a conclusion.
- The introduction of your article critique should have a summary and key points.
- The critique’s main body should thoroughly evaluate the piece, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses, and state your ideas and opinions with supporting evidence.
- The conclusion should restate your research and describe your opinion.
You should provide your analysis rather than simply agreeing or disagreeing with the author. When writing an article review , it is essential to be objective and critical. Describe your perspective on the subject and create an article review summary. Be sure to use proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation, write it in the third person, and cite your sources.
Article Critique Formatting
When writing an article critique, you should follow a few formatting guidelines. The importance of using a proper format is to make your review clear and easy to read.
Make sure to use double spacing throughout your critique. It will make it easy to understand and read for your instructor.
Indent each new paragraph. It will help to separate your critique into different sections visually.
Use headings to organize your critique. Your introduction, body, and conclusion should stand out. It will make it easy for your instructor to follow your thoughts.
Use standard fonts, such as Times New Roman or Arial. It will make your critique easy to read.
Use 12-point font size. It will ensure that your critique is easy to read.
![how to start a critique essay more_shortcode](https://papersowl.com/wp-content/themes/wp-webtech-theme/components/statement-shortcode/img/img.png)
How to Write a Journal Article Critique
When critiquing a journal article, there are a few key points to keep in mind:
- Good critiques should be objective, meaning that the author’s ideas and arguments should be evaluated without personal bias.
- Critiques should be critical, meaning that all aspects of the article should be examined, including the author’s introduction, main ideas, and discussion.
- Critiques should be informative, providing the reader with a clear understanding of the article’s strengths and weaknesses.
When critiquing a research article, evaluating the author’s argument and the evidence they present is important. The author should state their thesis or the main point in the introductory paragraph. You should explain the article’s main ideas and evaluate the evidence critically. In the discussion section, the author should explain the implications of their findings and suggest future research.
It is also essential to keep a critical eye when reading scientific articles. In order to be credible, the scientific article must be based on evidence and previous literature. The author’s argument should be well-supported by data and logical reasoning.
How to Write a Research Article Critique
When you are assigned a research article, the first thing you need to do is read the piece carefully. Make sure you understand the subject matter and the author’s chosen approach. Next, you need to assess the importance of the author’s work. What are the key findings, and how do they contribute to the field of research?
Finally, you need to provide a critical point-by-point analysis of the article. This should include discussing the research questions, the main findings, and the overall impression of the scientific piece. In conclusion, you should state whether the text is good or bad. Read more to get an idea about curating a research article critique. But if you are not confident, you can ask “ write my papers ” and hire a professional to craft a critique paper for you. Explore your options online and get high-quality work quickly.
However, test yourself and use the following tips to write a research article critique that is clear, concise, and properly formatted.
- Take notes while you read the text in its entirety. Right down each point you agree and disagree with.
- Write a thesis statement that concisely and clearly outlines the main points.
- Write a paragraph that introduces the article and provides context for the critique.
- Write a paragraph for each of the following points, summarizing the main points and providing your own analysis:
- The purpose of the study
- The research question or questions
- The methods used
- The outcomes
- The conclusions were drawn by the author(s)
- Mention the strengths and weaknesses of the piece in a separate paragraph.
- Write a conclusion that summarizes your thoughts about the article.
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Research Methods in Article Critique Writing
When writing an article critique, it is important to use research methods to support your arguments. There are a variety of research methods that you can use, and each has its strengths and weaknesses. In this text, we will discuss four of the most common research methods used in article critique writing: quantitative research, qualitative research, systematic reviews, and meta-analysis.
Quantitative research is a research method that uses numbers and statistics to analyze data. This type of research is used to test hypotheses or measure a treatment’s effects. Quantitative research is normally considered more reliable than qualitative research because it considers a large amount of information. But, it might be difficult to find enough data to complete it properly.
Qualitative research is a research method that uses words and interviews to analyze data. This type of research is used to understand people’s thoughts and feelings. Qualitative research is usually more reliable than quantitative research because it is less likely to be biased. Though it is more expensive and tedious.
Systematic reviews are a type of research that uses a set of rules to search for and analyze studies on a particular topic. Some think that systematic reviews are more reliable than other research methods because they use a rigorous process to find and analyze studies. However, they can be pricy and long to carry out.
Meta-analysis is a type of research that combines several studies’ results to understand a treatment’s overall effect better. Meta-analysis is generally considered one of the most reliable type of research because it uses data from several approved studies. Conversely, it involves a long and costly process.
Are you still struggling to understand the critique of an article concept? You can contact an online review writing service to get help from skilled writers. You can get custom, and unique article reviews easily.
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Tips for writing an Article Critique
It’s crucial to keep in mind that you’re not just sharing your opinion of the content when you write an article critique. Instead, you are providing a critical analysis, looking at its strengths and weaknesses. In order to write a compelling critique, you should follow these tips: Take note carefully of the essential elements as you read it.
- Make sure that you understand the thesis statement.
- Write down your thoughts, including strengths and weaknesses.
- Use evidence from to support your points.
- Create a clear and concise critique, making sure to avoid giving your opinion.
It is important to be clear and concise when creating an article critique. You should avoid giving your opinion and instead focus on providing a critical analysis. You should also use evidence from the article to support your points.
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Why Are Divorce Memoirs Still Stuck in the 1960s?
Recent best sellers have reached for a familiar feminist credo, one that renounces domestic life for career success.
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By Sarah Menkedick
Sarah Menkedickâs most recent book is âOrdinary Insanity: Fear and the Silent Crisis of Motherhood in America.â
âThe only way for a woman, as for a man, to find herself, to know herself as a person, is by creative work of her own,â Betty Friedan wrote in â The Feminine Mystique ,â in 1963. Taking a new role as a productive worker is âthe way out of the trap,â she added. âThere is no other way.â
On the final page of â This American Ex-Wife ,â her 2024 memoir and study of divorce, Lyz Lenz writes: âI wanted to remove myself from the martyrâs pyre and instead sacrifice the roles I had been assigned at birth: mother, wife, daughter. I wanted to see what else I could be.â
More than 60 years after Friedanâs landmark text, there remains only one way for women to gain freedom and selfhood: rejecting the traditionally female realm, and achieving career and creative success.
Friedanâs once-provocative declaration resounds again in a popular subgenre of autobiography loosely referred to as the divorce memoir, several of which have hit best-seller lists in the past year or two. These writersâ candid, raw and moving exposĂ©s of their divorces are framed as a new frontier of womenâs liberation, even as they reach for a familiar white feminist ideology that has prevailed since âThe Problem That Has No Name,â through âEat, Pray, Loveâ and âIâm With Herâ and âLean Inâ: a version of second-wave feminism that remains tightly shackled to American capitalism and its values.
Lenz, for example, spends much of her book detailing her struggle to âget free,â but never feels she needs to define freedom. It is taken as a given that freedom still means the law firm partner in heels, the self-made woman with an independent business, the best-selling author on book tour â the woman who has shed any residue of the domestic and has finally come to shine with capitalist achievement.
It is not the freedom for a woman to stay home with her child for a year, or five. The freedom to stop working after a lifetime toiling in low-wage jobs. The freedom for a Filipina nanny to watch her own children instead of those of her âliberatedâ American boss. The freedom to start a farm or a homestead or engage in the kind of unpaid work ignored by an economy that still values above all else the white-collar professional labor long dominated by men â and in fact mostly fails to recognize other labor as valuable at all.
One of the paradoxes the divorce memoir highlights is that womenâs work is made invisible by a society that disparages it, and the only way it becomes visible is through the triumphant narrative of a womanâs escape from it â which only reinforces its undesirability and invisibility.
In Maggie Smithâs 2023 memoir â You Could Make This Place Beautiful ,â Smith details the critical inflection point when her poem â Good Bones â goes viral, her career takes off and her marriage begins to implode. She tells a reporter from The Columbus Dispatch: âI feel like I go into a phone booth and I turn into a poet sometimes. Most of the other time, Iâm just Maggie who pushes the stroller.â
Nothing threatening, nothing meaningful. Just a mom pushing the stroller in the meager labor of women â until she slips into the phone booth and transforms into an achieving superhero.
This is not to diminish Smithâs work, a unique and highly refined series of linked essays that build into an emotional symphony about marital breakdown. Her intention is not, like Lenzâs, to condemn the institution of marriage or to rejoice in her release from hers, which is complicated, excruciating and tender. Her depictions of divorce clearly resonate with readers and offer solace and insight into a common experience of heartbreak. But itâs worth asking what exactly is being celebrated in the huge cultural reception her memoir, and other popular divorce memoirs, have received.
Leslie Jamisonâs book â Splinters ,â published the same day as âThis American Ex-Wife,â is an exquisite, textured and precise articulation of the collapse of her marriage, all nuance and interiority where Lenzâs writing is blunt and political. But here, too, we get a female narrator for whom freedom and acceptance ultimately signify professional success. Jamison is much more vexed about this formula, but in the end she settles for lightly querying rather than assailing it. She jokes about how her editor is stressed about book sales while sheâs stressed about her baby sleeping on airplanes, and mocks this as a âhumblebragâ: â I donât care about ambition! I only care about baby carriers! â She rushes to clarify in the next sentence, âOf course I cared about book sales, too.â
Herein lies the ultimate paradigm, the space no woman wants to explore: What if the modern woman didnât actually care about book sales? About making partner? About building a successful brand? That would be unthinkable. Embarrassing. Mealy, mushy, female.
But later in âSplinters,â Jamison skewers the cult of male, capitalist achievement: âMy notion of divinity was gradually turning its gaze away from the appraising, tally-keeping, pseudo-father in the sky who would give me enough gold stars if I did enough good things, and toward the mother whoâd been here all along,â she writes. I felt an electric optimism reading this. If feminism wants to tackle patriarchy, it needs to start with that pseudo-father and his metrics of a personâs worth.
Jamison struggles toward this in âSplinters.â She wants so badly to be remarkable. To banter about the Russian G.D.P. while she spoon-feeds her toddler, or to impress arrogant lovers who critique her conversation as only â85 percent as good as it could be.â At the same time, she yearns âto experience the sort of love that could liberate everyone involved from their hamster wheels of self-performance,â a love that will âinvolve all your tedious moments.â
Yes , I found myself saying, I want to read about this love . A mother love that is radical, creative, affirming, even and especially in its difficulty and tedium. Jamison almost gets there, but returns ultimately to the affirmation that itâs OK to want more: âquiet mornings at my laptop, tap-tap-tapping at my keyboard.â
It is certainly OK, and natural, to want more. But what I find most exhilarating in this beautiful book is the possibility that itâs also OK to let go of wanting. Itâs OK to not write a best seller, to not hold a prestigious title, to not start your own brand. Itâs OK, even, to not try to find yourself, that most American of quests.
Divorce, sure. Ditch the toxic men, strike out on your own. But thereâs nothing new or radical there. The radical is in a feminism that examines care as profound, powerful work and centers rather than marginalizes mothering, as both a lived act and a metaphor. We must let go of this half-century-old notion that the self can be âfoundâ only after the roles of âmother, wife, daughterâ have been rejected.
With friends, Jamison recounts lively anecdotes from a trip to Oslo with her daughter in order to prove that her life had not ââgotten small,â a phrase I put in quotes in my mind, though I did not know whom I was quoting.â Yet in this phrase lies another way of living: letting things get small, in a world that sees and celebrates mostly superlatives, and getting down to the level of the local, the intimate, the granular, the home.
Explore More in Books
Want to know about the best books to read and the latest news start here..
An assault led to Chanel Millerâs best seller, âKnow My Name,â but she had wanted to write childrenâs books since the second grade. Sheâs done that now  with âMagnolia Wu Unfolds It All.â
When Reese Witherspoon is making selections for her book club , she wants books by women, with women at the center of the action who save themselves.
The Nobel Prize-winning author Alice Munro, who died on May 14 , specialized in exacting short stories that were novelistic in scope , spanning decades with intimacy and precision.
âThe Light Eaters,â a new book by ZoĂ« Schlanger, looks at how plants sense the world  and the agency they have in their own lives.
Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Reviewâs podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .
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COMMENTS
How to write a critique. When you're ready to begin writing your critique, follow these steps: 1. Determine the criteria. Before you write your critique, it's helpful to first determine the criteria for the critique. If it's an assignment, your professor may include a rubric for you to follow. Examine the assignment and ask questions to verify ...
Before you start writing, you will need to take some steps to get ready for your critique: Choose an article that meets the criteria outlined by your instructor. Read the article to get an understanding of the main idea. Read the article again with a critical eye. As you read, take note of the following: What are the credentials of the author/s?
Step 3: Drafting the Essay. Finally, it is time to draft your essay. First of all, you'll need to write a brief overview of the text you're analyzing. Then, formulate a thesis statement - one sentence that will contain your opinion of the work under scrutiny. After that, make a one-paragraph summary of the text.
Before you start writing, it is important to have a thorough understanding of the work that will be critiqued. Study the work under discussion. Make notes on key parts of the work. Develop an understanding of the main argument or purpose being expressed in the work. Consider how the work relates to a broader issue or context.
The critique is your evaluation of the resource. A strong critique: Discusses the strengths of the resource. Discusses the weaknesses of the resource. Provides specific examples (direct quotes, with proper citation) as needed to support your evaluation. Discusses anything else pertinent to your evaluation, including.
None of this is to say that you shouldn't commend a piece of work if it truly is fantastic or that you should not highlight the gems within a work. Again: constructive criticism is honest criticism. If a work is so well-crafted in your eyes that nothing worse than grammatical hiccups are present, tell the writer.
Writing a Critique. To critique a piece of writing is to do the following: describe: give the reader a sense of the writer's overall purpose and intent. analyze: examine how the structure and language of the text convey its meaning. interpret: state the significance or importance of each part of the text. assess: make a judgment of the work ...
Write Your Critical Essay. Lastly, draft your critique essay by writing a brief overview of the text you are examining. Next, formulate your thesis statement reflecting your stand on the work you are critiquing. Afterward, write a summary paragraph that captures the paper's essence.
Writing Critiques. Writing a critique involves more than pointing out mistakes. It involves conducting a systematic analysis of a scholarly article or book and then writing a fair and reasonable description of its strengths and weaknesses. Several scholarly journals have published guides for critiquing other people's work in their academic area.
A critique asks you to evaluate an article and the author's argument. You will need to look critically at what the author is claiming, evaluate the research methods, and look for possible problems with, or applications of, the researcher's claims. Introduction. Give an overview of the author's main points and how the author supports those ...
About this Guide. This guide provides an overview of critiques and how to write them. The contents include the following: What is a Critique? An overview of the standard critique essay. Getting Started. Tips to set yourself up for success when writing a critique . Components of a Critique Essay.
To write an article critique, you should: Read the article, noting your first impressions, questions, thoughts, and observations. Describe the contents of the article in your own words, focusing on the main themes or ideas. Interpret the meaning of the article and its overall importance. Critically evaluate the contents of the article ...
Describe Author and Work. Describe the work and its creator in the first paragraph. Do not assume that readers know the work or author prior to reading the critique. It is necessary to place the work in context so the reader has a sense of what is happening. Determine if the text is a first outing for the author or the latest in a long series.
Here are the four steps in writing a critique paper: To write a good critique paper, it pays to adhere to a smooth flow of thought in your evaluation of the piece. You will need to introduce the topic, analyze, interpret, then conclude it. Introduce the Discussion Topic. Introduce the topic of the critique paper.
To write a good critical review, you will have to engage in the mental processes of analyzing (taking apart) the work-deciding what its major components are and determining how these parts (i.e., paragraphs, sections, or chapters) contribute to the work as a whole. Analyzing the work will help you focus on how and why the author makes certain ...
How to Write an Article Critique o 1 Read the article. Try not to make any notes when you read the article for the first time. o 2 Read the article again, paying close attention to the main point or thesis of the article and the supporting points that the article uses. o 3 Read the article again. To write a thorough article critique you must
1. Give the basic information about the work. The first paragraph is your introduction to the work, and you should give the basic information about it in this paragraph. This information will include the author's or creator's name (s), the title of the work, and the date of its creation.
essay, we remain ice cold. "Kevin Spacey was the main character. He played the role of an advocate for the death penalty, etc." Think of the most important parts in the article, the main arguments. Don't make the summary too long, though; if I want to read the article, I'll read the article, not your summary. Criteria - How to Be a Judge
When you are reading an article, it is vital to take notes and critique the text to understand it fully and to be able to use the information in it. Here are the main steps for critiquing an article: Read the piece thoroughly, taking notes as you go. Ensure you understand the main points and the author's argument.
How to Write a Peer Critique. Read each essay twice. You will be surprised by how many things that you didn't understand the first time through will become clear on a second read. Mark up the text as you go along. Paragraph 1: Detail what works in the essay.
Level Up Your Team. See why leading organizations rely on MasterClass for learning & development. Critical analysis essays can be a daunting form of academic writing, but crafting a good critical analysis paper can be straightforward if you have the right approach.
Table of contents. Step 1: Reading the text and identifying literary devices. Step 2: Coming up with a thesis. Step 3: Writing a title and introduction. Step 4: Writing the body of the essay. Step 5: Writing a conclusion. Other interesting articles.
Also, remember a review is "what" and a critique is "what and how." You have to write a CRITIQUE. No book reports or summaries! Remember that a "critic" is one who observes and analyzes theatre with extensive explanation and is highly knowledgeable and sensitive to theatrical art and techniques. You need to think of yourself as a "critic".
May 25, 2024, 5:00 a.m. ET. "The only way for a woman, as for a man, to find herself, to know herself as a person, is by creative work of her own," Betty Friedan wrote in " The Feminine ...