Write a critique in five paragraphs - advices

Video: What’s Wrong With The Five Paragraph Essay And How To Write Organically (Animated Video)

Content

To step
Part 1 of 4: Laying the foundation
Part 2 of 4: Writing the introduction
Part 3 of 4: Write the 3 paragraphs of the main text
Part 4 of 4: Write the conclusion and references
Tips
Warnings

A criticism is usually written in response to a creative work, such as a novel, a film, music, poetry or a painting. However, critiques are sometimes also commissioned for research articles and media items, such as news reports or regular features. A critique is slightly different from a traditional 5-paragraph essay in that the focus is usually on the overall effectiveness and usefulness of the work being addressed, rather than making a strictly analytical argument about it. Organizing your criticism into 5 paragraphs will help you structure your thoughts.

To step

Part 1 of 4: Laying the foundation

Review the assignment or request. Make sure you understand exactly what is being asked of you. The assignment may use the word "critical" or an expression such as "critical consideration", "critical appraisal" or "critical evaluation". These are all assignments to write a critique and require that you not only summarize but also evaluate the work.
Read the text. Keep a few questions in mind and take notes as you read. This will later be useful as an aid in formulating your ideas. For instance:
- Did the creator of the piece clearly state his / her main point or purpose? If not, why do you think this is the case?
- Does the creator of the work indicate for which target group it is intended? This can be decisive in determining how successful the work is; for example, a film intended for young children can be a success with the target audience, but not with adult viewers.
- How does reading or viewing this work affect you? Does it elicit an emotional response? Is it confusing?
- What questions does the work raise? Does it suggest other ways to discover or observe?
Do some research. You don't usually need to do a lot of research, but to be able to say anything about how the work relates to a larger issue or context, you need to know what it responds to; in what context it was created, etc.
- For example, if you are writing a review of a research article about a new treatment for the flu, some research about other flu treatments that are currently available might help frame the article.
- Another example is writing about a movie: then briefly discuss the director of the other movies, or other important movies in this particular genre (indie, action, drama, etc.).
- Your school or university library is usually a good place to start conducting research, as their databases provide access to verified, expert resources. Google Scholar may also be a good resource for research.

Part 2 of 4: Writing the introduction

Provide basic information about the job. The first paragraph will be your introduction to the work and should provide the basic information. This information includes the name of the author or creator, the title of the work, and the date of publication.
- For fiction or a published journalistic work or research, this information is usually available in the publication itself, such as in the colophon of a novel.
- For a movie, if you wish, you can consult a source like IMDb for the information you need. If you want to write about a famous work of art, an art encyclopedia is a good place for information about the creator, title and important dates (creation date, exhibition date, etc.).
Place the work within a certain frame. The type of framework you provide depends on the type of work you are evaluating. You should provide the reader with an understanding of the issues to which the author or creator has responded, but you do not need to provide an extensive history. Provide enough information for the reader to understand the rest of your criticism.
- For example, if you are writing a review of a scientific research paper, a brief overview of its place within the academic field can be helpful (e.g., "Professor X's work on fruit flies is part of a long research tradition on blah blah blah.") .
- When analyzing a painting, it is helpful to provide some brief information about the first exhibition, who it was painted for, etc.
- When reviewing a book, it is good to discuss the genre or literary tradition (e.g., fantasy, high modernism, romance) from which the novel originated. You may also want to include biographical information from the author that may be relevant to your criticism.
- For a media item, such as a news article, you can specify the social and / or political context of the media channel from which the item originated (e.g. Fox News, BBC, etc.) and the issue it is about (e.g. immigration, education, entertainment).
Summarize the purpose or reason why the creator created the work. This element is a consideration of the thesis or purpose of the work. Sometimes this is clearly stated, such as with a research article. For other texts or creative works, you may need to put into words what you think is the motivation of the author.
- The authors of research articles often state very clearly in the summary and in the introduction to their work what they are investigating, often in terms such as: 'In this article we provide a new framework for analyzing X and argue that it is a better method. than previous methods, for reasons A and B. '
- In creative work you often do not have an explicit statement from the author or creator about their purpose, but you can often infer something from the context of the work. For example, if you watch the movie The Shining To analyze, it could be argued that the filmmaker's (Stanley Kubrick) goal was to draw attention to the mistreatment of Native Americans. because of the strong Native American themes present in the film. You can then substantiate this in the rest of the essay.
Summarize the main points of the work. Briefly describe how the main points have been designed. For example, you can talk about the portrayal of characters or symbolism as a representation of society, or you can talk about the research questions and hypotheses in a scientific article.
- For example, if you write something about The Shining, then you could summarize the main points this way: 'Stanley Kubrick uses strong symbolism, such as the placement of the hotel in the film in an Indian cemetery, the name of the hotel (' Overlook '), and the constant presence of Native American illustrations and representation, to draw the viewer's attention to the treatment of Indians in American history '.
Present your initial assumptions. This will serve as your thesis, and should be a statement about the overall effectiveness and / or usefulness of the work. Is your evaluation mainly positive, negative or mixed?
- In a research paper, you will likely base your thesis on whether the research and discussion supports the authors' claims. You may also want to assess the research methodology, if there are obvious flaws.
- For creative works, you start from what you think was the goal of the author or creator of the work, and then you present your analysis on whether or not they succeeded.

Part 3 of 4: Write the 3 paragraphs of the main text

Organize your critical evaluations. These should make up the bulk of your criticism and take at least three paragraphs. You can choose to organize your criticism differently depending on your approach to your criticism. However, devote a paragraph to each main topic, and use the rest of the steps in this section to shape the discussion in each paragraph.
- If you have three clear points to discuss, you can organize each paragraph by point. For example, if you're analyzing a painting, you can comment on the painter's use of color, lighting, and composition, dedicating a paragraph to each subject.
- If you have more than three points to discuss, you can organize each paragraph thematically. For example, if you are writing a critique of a film and discussing the treatment of women, the screenplay, the tempo, the use of color and the framing, and the acting, consider the broader categories that these points fall into, such as the 'production' (tempo, color and frames, scenario), 'social commentary' (treatment of women) and 'performance' (acting).
- Alternatively, you can also divide the criticism into "strengths" and "weaknesses". The purpose of a criticism is not only to criticize, but also to point out what the maker did well and what did not.
Discuss the techniques and / or styles used in the work. This is especially important when evaluating creative works such as literature, art and music. Rate how effectively the creator has used techniques and the stylistic choices made to further his / her goal.
- For example, when discussing a song, you might consider how the beat or tone of the music supports or detracts from the lyrics.
- For a research article or a media item, you might wonder how the data was collected for an experiment, or what method the journalist used to get information.
Explain the type of evidence or argument used. This may be more useful when criticizing a media item or research article. Consider how the author of the work used other sources, own evidence, and logic in his arguments.
- Does the author use primary sources (e.g. historical documents, interviews, etc.)? Secondary sources? Quantitative data? Qualitative data? Are these sources suitable for the argument?
- Has the evidence been presented fairly, without distortion or selectivity?
- Does the argument flow logically from the evidence?
Determine what the work adds to the understanding of the subject. There are a number of ways to approach this. Your goal in this section is to assess the overall usefulness of the work.
- If the work is creative, consider whether the ideas have been presented in an original or interesting way. You can also find out if it uses the main concepts or ideas within popular culture or society.
- If the work is a research article, then you can consider whether the work has improved your understanding of a particular theory or idea within the discipline. Research articles often include a chapter on "further research" that identifies the contributions their research has made and what future contributions they hope to make.
Use examples for each point. Support your statements with evidence from your text or work that supports your statement of a point. For example, if you have written a literary review and indicated that you found its writing style boring, you can provide a particularly boring quote as proof, and explain why the text does not appeal to you.

Part 4 of 4: Write the conclusion and references

Give your overall assessment of the work. This should explain the success of the work in general. Has the maker reached his / her goal or point? If so, how can this be indicated? If not, then what went wrong?
Summarize your own main reasons for this assessment. While you should have already provided the evidence for your claims in the main text, the conclusion should briefly adjust your main reasons. This could be as simple as: "Because of the researcher's attention to detail, careful methodology, and clear description of the results, this article provides a helpful overview of topic X."
Indicate areas for improvement, if applicable. Your assignment or description will usually indicate whether recommendations fit the criticism. This is more common in a critique of a research article or media item, but it can also apply to an art criticism.
Add a Sources list to it. How you portray this will depend on your teacher's preferences and the style appropriate to the field (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.). However you shape this list, you will need to include all the sources you use in your critique.

Tips

Before you start writing, you should take notes while looking at or reading the topic of your criticism. Consider certain aspects, such as how it makes you feel. What was your first impression? On closer inspection, what is your general opinion? How do you arrive at this opinion?
While the 5-paragraph format can work very well in organizing your ideas, some teachers don't allow such a format. Make sure you understand the assignment. If you are not sure if your teacher accepts a 5 paragraph format, ask before proceeding!