Guidelines for Writing a Critique

Step 1

• Read.• Read.• Read.• Re-read.• Read again.

Step 1 1/2

• While you read, take notes• Underline things• Circle words.• Do you notice any patterns?• Do you notice anything about the author’s

tone?• Is it funny? Angry? Serious?

Step 2

• Gather your ammunition• Find out where the work was published – does

that help you figure out the author’s purpose and audience?

• What are the author’s obvious strategies in making his or her point?

• Are they successful?

Step 3Go Deeper

• Look at underlying assumptions, both yours and the writer’s

• Look for places where the author has left gaps – are these deliberate? Do they need to be filled?

• Does the author play on your emotions? How? Is he or she using any images or ideas that play on some abstract, for example patriotism?

Step 4

• Organize• Arrange paragraphs based on clusters you find

in your reading• AFTER organizing, you should see a clear

thesis beginning to emerge

Your Essay should include

• A general introduction, in which you state your thesis• A brief (BRIEF) (that means SHORT) (like ONE paragraph!)

summary• Something about the purpose and audience, as you see it• Something about the author’s strategies, as you detect them• Whether they are successful or not• Analysis of critical elements, like underlying values, rhetorical

appeals.• Comments on what worked, what didn’t• Your personal response to the issue (also pretty short)• Overall conclusion

How many paragraphs was that?

• More than five, you betcha.• And forget the 3-part thesis. It won’t work.

Step 5

• Write• Write• Revise.

General Guidelines

Organize by rhetorical point, not by summary

• Allow your organization to develop naturally out of what you have found in your reading and note-taking.

Use the Present Tense

Refer to the author by his or her last name

• Lewis argues, Atwood writes, James demonstrates…

Common Errors of Expression

• The essay states• The essay argues • This essay will show…• In this essay he writes… or In Margaret Atwood’s essay, she writes…

Oh, and it’s an ESSAY

• Not a story.