Lynne Sheridan You Can Read My Thesis on My Webiste
So…you want to know how to write a critical analysis essay? Equally an academic, I am often asked the following questions:
Foucault (1981/1988) clarified that:
"critique is non a matter of saying that things are not correct as they are. Information technology is a affair of pointing out on what kind southward of assumptions, what kinds of familiar, unchallenged, unconsidered modes of idea the practices that we accept rest…. Criticism is a thing of flushing out that thought and trying to modify it: to bear witness that things are not every bit self-evident as 1 believed, to see that what is accepted as self-evident volition no longer be accustomed every bit such. Practicing criticism is a matter of making facile gestures hard." (pp. 154-155)
Critiquing doesn't mean that you are but critical in identifying everything bad. Later on all, one can be a 'critically acclaimed' role player. Instead, one has to tease out both the good and the bad. You volition also demand to determine how much value yous will place on whatsoever evidence you find, look at the alternatives and determine how you lot might utilise your findings in the existent world. Your arguments should exist backed upward with evidence throughout.
Types of evidence ranked in order of quality from loftier to depression…
A linear representation of critical analysis
Adapted from Plymouth University (2008)
The critical analysis cycle
- Their tone is personal and familiar rather than bookish in nature
- They rely likewise heavily on the work of others without presenting their own prove based arguments
- They brand bold statements without citing their sources of evidence
- They rely likewise heavily on description without analysing and evaluating the materials under critique (We can read the fabric ourselves if description is all nosotros want!)
- Their arguments lack structure and in that location is limited bear witness of wider reading
So how can we motion from being descriptive to existence critically analytic? The table beneath outlines the difference between the 2…
Descriptive | Critically Analytic |
| States what happened | Identifies the significance |
| States what something is like | Identifies the significance |
| Gives the story so far | Evaluates strengths and weaknesses |
| States the gild things in which things happened | Weighs one piece of data against another Makes reasoned judgments |
| Says how to practise something | Argues a case according to the evidence |
| Explains what a theory says | Shows why something is relevant or suitable |
| Explains how something works | Indicates why something will piece of work best |
| Notes the methods used | Identifies whether something is appropriate or suitable |
| Says when something occurred | Weighs up the importance of the component parts |
| States the different components | Evaluates the relative significance of details Structures data in order of importance |
| States options Lists details | Shows the relevance of links between pieces of information |
| Lists in any social club States links between items | Draws conclusions Identifies why the timing is of importance |
| Gives information | Gives the reasons for selecting each option |
Looking at other examples
- Essay examples/Example essays
- 15 Top Essay Writing Tips for Midwifery and Nursing Students
- A guide to literature reviewing
And remember…
- If y'all are a student writing an assignment, use this guide together with any assignment specific brief, guideline or marking criteria you may besides have been given relating direct to your course.
- It is also important to think well-nigh how you will utilize your disquisitional analysis to 'real earth' scenarios – This requires a disquisitional thinking approach, which many writers neglect.
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References
- Plymouth University. (2008) Critical Thinking. Plymouth: Plymouth University. [online]
Available at: http://www2.warwick.air conditioning.uk/written report/cll/othercourses/itt/resource_bank/studyskills/written report/rea
dingskills/8_criticalthinking_summary1.pdf [Accessed 3.six.2015] - Foucault, 1000. (1981/1988). Practicing criticism (A. Sheridan, Trans.). In Thousand. Foucault & 50. D.
Kritzman, (Ed), Politics, philosophy, civilisation: Interviews and other writings, 1977-1984 (pp. 152-158). New York, NY: Routledge.
Lynne Sheridan You Can Read My Thesis on My Webiste
Source: https://sallypezaro.wordpress.com/2019/06/14/what-is-critical-analysis/