Phil Druker/U of I/ English 309
Critical
Review Assignment
This page provides information
about writing and organizing a critical review.
To write a critical review, you need
to:
1) summarize
the article briefly (a one paragraph introduction).
2) critique the article.
To complete the critical analysis you need to a) state your
thesis (main point), b) comment on the article's good points,
c) comment on the article's bad points, and d) provide a
conclusion. You should write your review for people who have
not read the article.
To develop ideas for your critique, you
should look at specific details such as these:
1. What problems, weaknesses, or strengths
do you find in the article? What parts of the article are
weak or strong?
2. Is the author's logic correct? Point out
any fallacies or contradictions in the author's argument.
3. What are the author's basic assumptions?
Does the author support them? Are they valid, useful, . . .
4. Does the author distort facts or omit
ideas? Why does the author do this? Is this appropriate?
5. What questions does the author leave
unanswered or answer well? Are the explanations clear?
6. What is the purpose of the article? Does
it meet the author's purposes? Who is the audience for the
article. Does it meet the readers' needs?
7. Does the article follow a useful
organizational plan?
8. Does the article meet the criteria for creative non-fiction or other literary criteria?
Work on organizing your critique.
Be sure each paragraph has a specific
purpose. You can organize your critique in many ways but here
are the easiest ways: