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 creator’s 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?
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.
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. ).
For example, if you’re assessing a research article in the sciences, a quick overview of its place in the academic discussion could be useful (e. g. , “Professor X’s work on fruit flies is part of a long research tradition on Blah Blah Blah. ”) 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 author’s 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).
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.
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. "
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.
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 painter’s 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 “production” (pacing, color and framing, screenwriting), “social commentary” (treatment of women), and “performance” (acting). Alternatively, you could organize your critique by “strengths” and “weaknesses. ” 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.
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.
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?
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 “further research” where they discuss the contributions their research has made and what future contributions they hope to make.
