WRITING A CRITICAL ESSAY

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WRITING A CRITICAL ESSAY

• Aysem Karadag Tijen Erken
• March 24, 2006

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• Critique
• Critical assessment
• (positive, negative or
• a mixture of both)

a short summary evaluation
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Why a critical assignment?

• to ensure that students actually do reading
• to assess students understanding
• to try and develop analytical reading in students
• to train graduate students to integrate assigned
  readings with other readings they have done
• to give graduate students a better sense of the
  scholarly expectations in their chosen field

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AIM

• To summarize and evaluate two approaches/
  theories.
• These two approaches should be assessed in the
  light of knowledge acquired from related texts.
  Both the strengths and weaknesses of the two
  approaches should be taken into consideration.

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PREPARATION

• Thorough researching is necessary to answer
  the following questions
• Exactly what is meant by the two
  theories/concepts/approaches/etc?
• What are the points made by those who accept each
  theory? What are their claims based on?
• What are the main issues raised by those who
  object to each theory? What are their concerns
  based on?

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The Components of a Critical Essay

• A typical critical essay contains these basic
  parts
• Introduction
• Summary
• Main Body
• Conclusion

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Introduction

• The introduction states the situation.
• In other words, it gives a clear definition of
  what each theory is.
• It also states the main purpose of the essay.This
  can vary according to the writers objective,
  whether it be only to evaluate each theory
  without taking a stance OR to determine which is
  more credible or logical.

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Summary

• The main function of the summary is to give the
  main points by paraphrasing.
• A brief explanation of the organization of the
  text should be given.
• In this case, each theory should be defined with
  its strengths and weaknesses.
• This component of the essay should be brief,
  leaving detailed analysis for the main body.

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Main Body

• The main body is the discussion based on specific
  criteria (point of evaluation).
• Discussing means evaluating the strengths and
  weaknesses of each.
• When a theory is being critiqued, the supporting
  ideas (which have been stated explicitly), the
  implied ideas and the assumptions (i.e. what the
  reader is believed to know) should all be taken
  into consideration.

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• OUTLINE
• I. Introduction
• II. Summary
• III. BodyFirst theoryA. First point of
  evaluation
• 1. strengths
• 2. weaknesses
• B. Second point of evaluation
• 1. strengths
• 2. weaknesses
• Second theory
• A. First point of evaluation
• 1. strengths
• 2. weaknesses
• B. Second point of evaluation
• 1. strengths
• 2. weaknesses
• IV. Conclusion

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• OUTLINE
• I. Introduction
• II. Summary
• III. BodyFirst theoryA. First point of
  evaluation
• 1. strengths
• 2. weaknesses
• B. Second point of evaluation
• 1. strengths
• 2. weaknesses
• Second theory
• A. First point of evaluation
• 1. strengths
• 2. weaknesses
• B. Second point of evaluation
• 1. strengths
• 2. weaknesses
• IV. Conclusion

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• I. Introduction
• II. Summary
• III. Body
• First point of evaluation A. first theory
• 1. strengths
• 2. weaknesses
• B. second theory
• 1. strengths
• 2. weaknesses
• Second point of evaluation
• A. first theory
• 1. strengths
• 2. weaknesses
• B. second theory
• 1. strengths
• 2. weaknesses
• IV. Conclusion

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• I. Introduction
• II. Summary
• III. Body
• First point of evaluation A. first theory
• 1. strengths
• 2. weaknesses
• B. second theory
• 1. strengths
• 2. weaknesses
• Second point of evaluation
• A. first theory
• 1. strengths
• 2. weaknesses
• B. second theory
• 1. strengths
• 2. weaknesses
• IV. Conclusion

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• I. Introduction
• II. Summary of the two theories
• III. How the reality is perceived
• A. qualitative approach
• (reality as perceived by the participants)
• genuine understanding of situations/quality
  and deep data
• - no generalizability
• B. quantitative approach
• (reality does not change)
• easy to design research/control external
  factors
• - superficial understanding of context
• IV. data collection methods
• A. qualitative approach
• (mostly observation and interview)
• flexibility in fieldwork/opportunity to test
  the quality of data
• - observer/interviewer effect, reliability
  threat

• B. quantitative approach
• (questionnaires, experiments)
• standard procedures/richness in the
  literature (matrixes, etc.)
• - difficult to operationalize and ensure
  validity
• V. data analysis procedure
• A. qualitative approach
• (verbatim records/video-recordings, etc.)
• rich data/researcher draws from experience
• - laborious work
• B. quantitative approach
• (quantifiable data)
• ease with data analysis/tallying,
  statistical procedures
• - dull, tedious to analyze data
• VI. conclusion

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• I. Introduction
• II. Summary of the two theories
• III. Qualitative approach
• A. How the reality is perceived
• -
• B. Data collection methods
• -
• C. Data analysis procedures
• -

• III. Quantitative approach
• A. How the reality is perceived
• -
• B. Data collection methods
• -
• C. Data analysis procedures
• -
• IV. Conclusion

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Referencing

• The most common styles for in-text citation
  are
• APA (The American Psychological Association)
• MLA (The Modern Language Association)
• Chicago/Turabian
• The mind is like a machine (Taylor, 1998,
  p.23).
• The mind is like a machine (Taylor 23).
• The mind is like a machine (Taylor 1998, 23).

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Conclusion

• The conclusion gives an overview of the essay
  by doing one of two things
• Discussing each theory without taking a stance.
• OR
• Discussing each theory, but taking a stance,
  explaining why one is more credible or reasonable
  than the other.

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Some Useful Language to Use in Critical Essays

• To introduce or prove a point/theory/approach
• - It is important to recognize that...
• - It has been shown that...
• - It can be seen that...
• - As many researchers have found...
• - Much of the evidence suggests that...
• - This is supported by...
• - The data confirms/reveals/illustrates
  that...

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Useful Language Structures (cont.)

• To disagree with or contradict a
  point/theory/approach
• This is a good point however, ...
• While this may be true / Wheras there are...
• Although this argument is certainly valid in the
  given context, it fails to answer the following
  questions...
• Despite the claims of its supporters, this theory
  neglects...

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Useful Language Structures (cont.)

• Evaluative adjectives
• The explanation of ... is
• () useful, important, interesting, clear,
  detailed, up-to-date, insightful, significant,
  sound, comprehensive, practical, original, ...
• (-) inconsistent, restricted, limited,
  misleading, simple, complex
• Some thesaurus links
• http//thesaurus.reference.com/
• http//www.m-w.com/dictionary.htm

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Useful Language Structures (cont.)

• Variety in evaluative sentence structures
• This theory has its shortcomings in that it
  ignores...
• The strengths of the theory are that it provides
  ...
• Theory X is limited because ...
• Yet, questions remain as to the validity of the
  ...
• There are weaknesses in the classification of ...
• This theory also presents/exhibits
  disadvantages/weaknesses.
• The value of this approach goes beyond ...
• This method is criticized for its focus on ...
• Theory X raises as many questions as it answers

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Useful Language Structures (cont.)

• More Variety...
• Modals
• This explanation of consumerism should have
  provided more data on ...
• Unreal conditionals
• The discussion would have been more persuasive if
  the findings had been related to the previous
  theories.
• Inversions
• Particulary prominent is the way this method
  reveals brain functions.
• Scare quotes
• The theorys position regarding the dominance
  of brain connections in...

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Criteria for Assessment

• Although evaluation relies heavily on the
  instructors expectations, the criteria generally
  includes
• A detailed and thorough response
• A clear and organized writing style
• A precise and careful analysis of the issue
• Appropriate and correct referencing

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To sum up,

• Do extensive reading.
• Follow the summarycritical evaluation pattern.
• When evaluating, have clear basis of evaluation.
• Check for the variety and fluency of language.
• When in need, call AWC for a tutorial?