writing a critical review 2010-10

1WritingaCriticalReviewWhatisaCriticalReview?Acriticalreviewasdiscussedinthischapterisaformalacademicorprofessionalcriticalreview.Itisaformaldiscussionofthecontents,implications,andqualityofanacademicorprofessionaltext:anonfictionbook,essay,orarticle.Sometimesnon-textmaterials,suchaseducationalvideos,alsoarediscussedusingthisformalmodelofreviewing.Acriticalreviewisnotabookreport,norisitaliteraryanalysis,literaryreview,moviereview,orotherartsreviewthatworkswiththeelementsofliteratureorart.Rather,acriticalreviewisathorough,usuallyformaldiscussionthatusesavarietyofcritical-thinkingtools,especially:(a)logical,accuratesummary;(b)discussionoranalysisofarguments,implications,andresponses;and(c)evaluativeweighingofthequalityofthewriting,organization,andcontents.CriticalReviewsindailylifeExamplesofcriticalreviewsaremostcommoninsimple,lessformalversionsappearinginnewspapersandmagazines.Thesereviewsareofeducationalnonfictionbookswithcontentsorganizedbysubjectmatter(notinstoryform).Suchreviewssummarizethecontentofthetextbeingreviewed,discussvariousopinionsorpossibleresponsesfromthepublic,andevaluatehowwellthetexthasbeendeveloped.Examplesofformal—academicorprofessional—reviewsoftencanbefoundinthelatterhalfofacademicandprofessionaljournalsandmagazines.Aformalreviewoftendiscussestwo,three,ormoretextsonasinglesubjectatthesametime,thusenablingthereviewertocompareandcontrastseveralworks.Likeanewspaperreview,aprofessionaloracademicreviewsummarizesthecontentsoftheworksreviewed.However,indiscussingopinions,itoftendoesnotworryasmuchaboutpublicopinionsandresponsesbutratherthoseofexpertsinthefield.Andinevaluatingthequalityoftheworksreviewed,thevalueandmethodofresearchoftenisconsideredmuchmoreimportantthanthequalityofthewriting.CriticalReviewsincollegeworkInyourcollegework,youreadtogainandusenewinformation,butassourcesarenotequallyvalidorequallyuseful,youmustlearntodistinguishcriticallyamongthembyevaluatingthem,thusyouareoftencalledontorespondcriticallytosourcematerialsbywritingcriticalreviews.Thecriticalreviewhereisawritingtaskthatasksyoutosummarizeandevaluateatext.Thecriticalreviewcanbeofabook,achapter,orajournalarticle,oratamoreadvancedlevel,ofseveralarticlesorbooks.Thepurposeofwritingacriticalreviewistodeepenyourreaders’,andalso2yourown,understandingofthattext.Itissubjectivewritingbecauseitexpressesyouropinionorevaluationofatext.Butthewritingitselfmustbeobjectiveasyoumustbaseyouropinionandevaluationonevidences,andyoumustholdanobjectivetonethroughoutyourwriting.Heretobecriticaldoesnotmeantocriticizeinanegativemanner.Ratheritrequiresyoutoquestiontheinformationandopinionsinatextandpresentyourevaluationorjudgmentofthetext,includingbothitsstrengthsandweaknesses.Todothiswell,youshouldattempttodocriticalreadingoftheselectedtext.Youneedtounderstandthetopicfromdifferentperspectives,thatis,youneedtoreadnotonlytheselectedtext,butalsorelatedtextsaswell.Moreover,evaluatingrequiresanunderstandingofnotjustthecontentofthetext,butalsoanunderstandingofatext’spurpose,intendedaudienceandwhyitisstructuredthewayitis.CriticalReadingforaCriticalReviewWritingacriticalreviewnaturallyrequires,firstofall,criticalreadingofthesourcematerial.Atthebasiclevel,youmaystartyourreadingbyposingtwobroadcategoriesofquestionsaboutyourselectedpassages,articles,andbooks.1.Whatistheauthor’spurposeinwriting?Doestheauthorsucceedinthispurpose?2.Towhatextentdoyouagreewiththeauthor?Withthesetwocategoriesofquestionsinmind,readtheselectedtextanddothefollowing:1.Identifytheauthor'sthesisandpurpose.2.Identifytheintendedaudience,andthewriter'sassumptionsabouttheaudience.3.Analyzethestructureofthepassagebyidentifyingallmainideas.4.Makeanoutlineoftheworkorwriteadescriptionofit.5.Writeasummaryofthework.6.DeterminethepurposewhichcouldbeToinformwithfactualmaterial.Topersuadewithappealtoreasonoremotions.Toentertain(toaffectpeople'semotions).7.Evaluatethemeansbywhichtheauthorhasaccomplishedhispurpose.Ifthepurposeistopersuade,lookforevidence,logicalreasoning,persuasivestrategies,contraryevidence.Ifthepurposeistoinform,seeifthematerialhasbeenpresentedclearly,accurately,withorderandcoherence,andifthematerialisup-to-date,ifthematerialmakesadifferencetotheintendedaudience,andifthematerialisinterpretedfairly.Ifthepurposewastoentertain,determinehowemotionsareaffected,checktosee:3ifitmakesyoulaugh,cry,orangry,andhowitaffectsyou,ifthecharactersseemoverlysentimental,forexample,iftheadversariesseemtoovillainousorstupid,ifthesituationsarebelievable,iftheactionisinteresting,ormerelyformulaic,ifthethemedevelopedpowerfully,orifitisjustpreachyorshrill.8.Checktheoverallstyleofthetext:whetherthetoneisappropriate,whetherthelanguageisfreshandincisive.9.Identifypointsofagreementanddisagreementwiththeauthor:whetheryouagreeenthusiastically,disagree,oragreewithreservations,youcanorganizeyourreactionsintwoparts:summarizetheauthor’spositionstateyourownpositionandelaborateonyourreactionsforholdingit10.Explorethereasonsforagreementanddisagreementthinkabouttheassumptionsyouholddeterminethevalidityoft