8/13/2019 Tips for Writing a Critical Essay

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Tips for writing a critical essay

(from the University of Plymouthcritical thinking study guide)

Do Don't

What? Answer the question. Keep referring back tothe title - both mentally and in your work

Forget the title. It is amazing how manypeople do!

What? Contextualise - give background to help yourreader but include ONLY what is reallynecessary

Just narrate or 'splurge', telling the wholestory starting from the big-bang andincluding everything you ever heardabout the topic!

What? Outline, trace or summarise briefly instead ofincluding superfluous data or detail

Describe in too much detail or include allyour data - unless specifically asked to.Reserve your main effort for the mostimportant parts - the analysis anddiscussion

What? Define your terms, the problem etc Tip-toe around the issue, not beingspecific

How? Show processes in a logical order Muddle everything together

How? Explain subtle points and finer details State the obvious, repeat or over-explain

How? Be precise, clear, direct and to the point. Beconcise: reduce what you say to its essencein both your thinking and your communicating

Be vague or waffle, including detail thatdoesnt help answer the questionOversimplify or see things in black andwhite

How? Use definite, specific, concrete language.Use terms consistently - stick to one meaningfor each, or explain if you need a different

usage

Use loaded or deliberately emotivelanguageUse colloquial expressions, phrases or

clichs (e.g. the word get can often bereplaced by a more specific termappropriate to the contexte.g.purchase, arrive, achieve)

How? /Why?

Use signposting to help the reader followyour thread: provide the reader with strongumbrella sentences at beginnings ofparagraphs, signposts throughout, and briefso what summary sentences at intermediatepoints to help your reader understand yourcomparisons and analyses (Gibbs andGambrill, 1999)

Assume the reader knows why you areincluding the information you are.Instead tell them explicitly why itsrelevant and what it shows, so that theycan follow your line of thought withouthaving to guess at connections youmake in your head

How? /Why?

Emphasise an important point by giving it aprime place in the sentence or paragraph, orby reinforcing it with the language you use,e.g. Something which needs particularlycareful consideration is or It may appearthat x is the case, but evidence shows thatwhat actually occurs is y.Give specific examples to illustrate the pointsyou make about how something happens incontext.

Repeat the same information in thesame or slightly different words in thehope that the reader will not notice thatyou are padding it out! On the contrary,the reader will definitely notice and willbe bored!

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8/13/2019 Tips for Writing a Critical Essay

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Why? Support and illustrate your claims withappropriate evidence and examples. Exploitthe information you have, and show yourreading with up to date and appropriatereferences

Copy and paste from texts books andarticles. Refer to books, because theysound impressive, even though you havenot read them

How? Develop your argument to reflect your actualfindings and reading Decide what you think first and then twistthe facts or refer to texts selectively tomake them fit your claims.

Why? Analyse and discuss issues, looking atpros/cons, strengths/weaknesses,patterns/trends, connections andcomplexities, and aim to propose aconvincing theory with some input of yourown derived from your research

Make unproven assumptions &generalisations, especially from merelyanecdotal evidence or personalexperience alone

Why? Persuade & convince, showing why you thinkwhat youre saying is interesting, relevant andvalid

Rely on persuasive language alone tomake your point

Why? /What if?

Start from a reliable premise (e.g. smokinghas been shown to cause heart disease andlung cancer) and arrive at a reliableconclusion (therefore it is reasonable to saythat smoking is a health hazard)

Construct a faulty argument on the basisof a weak premise, e.g. There is a strongcorrelation between peoples shoe sizeand the size of their vocabulary.Therefore having a large vocabularycauses your feet to grow.

Why? /What if?

Make intelligent suggestions, predictions, &hypotheses using appropriate language toshow that what is said is only one possibleinterpretation or belief. Useful words are:'highly likely', 'probably', 'not very likely',

'highly unlikely', 'often', 'usually', 'seldom', 'Idoubt', 'I suspect', 'most', 'many', 'some', itcould be said, it seems, evidencesuggests Choose it could be rather thansaying it is.

Make absolute statements unless statinga very simple non-debatable fact (likethe Earth is a planet and even then itis better to say The Earth is considereda planet because to allow for the

possibility that someone may one dayprove otherwise or re-categorise it)

Why? /What if?

Account for weaknesses in your ownargument, rather than leaving them for yourreader to criticisethis will undermine yourcredibility, whereas pointing up your ownfaults will show thoroughness, and filling inthe gaps will help convince

Ignore or overlook faulty logic in yourown or others work

So what? Comment / pass judgment, giving a reasoned

opinion based on evidence analysis (Cottrell,1999)

Write wishy-washy, descriptive and

repetitious comments rather giving anopinion

So what? Consider and evaluate others ideas, whetherthey oppose yours or not

Ignore opposing arguments, as this willweaken your own

So what? Reject & refute others theories if you findthem unconvincingAS LONG AS you canjustify your response in scholarly terms, i.e.your objections are formed from yourresearch.

Agree with or accept unquestioninglyinformation, argument, theory or thebeliefs of others just because they seemlike authoritiesi.e. have published theirwritten work.

Whatnext?

Make recommendations according to theresults of your study and your findings

Moralise or preach, rant, get on a hobbyhorse or tell people what you think they

should do