essay & outline

The purpose for writing a critique is to evaluate somebody's work (a book, an essay, a movie, a painting...) in order to increase the reader's understanding of it. A critical analysis is subjective writing because it expresses the writer's opinion or evaluation of a text. Analysis means to break down and study the parts. Writing a critical paper requires two steps: critical reading and critical writing.

Critical reading:

1. Identify the author's thesis and purpose

2. Analyze the structure of the passage by identifying all main ideas

3. Consult a dictionary or encyclopedia to understand material that is unfamiliar to you

4. Make an outline of the work or write a description of it

5. Write a summary of the work

6. Determine the purpose which could be

· To inform with factual material

· To persuade with appeal to reason or emotions

· To entertain (to affect people's emotions)

7. Evaluate the means by which the author has accomplished his purpose

· If the purpose is to inform, has the material been presented clearly, accurately, with order and coherence?

· If the purpose is to persuade, look for evidence, logical reasoning, contrary evidence

· If the purpose was to entertain, determine how emotions are affected: does it make you laugh, cry, angry? Why did it affect you?

Consider the following questions: How is the material organized? Who is the intended audience? What are the writer's assumptions about the audience? What kind of language and imagery does the author use?

THE BASICS

· This is a 4-5-page essay analyzing an article on a topic you’ve chosen. You may be able to use this topic for the compare and contrast essay, so pick something that interests you.

· Use an Appropriate Title

· Use the tools and wording that have been used in class to analyze your article: i.e. Who is the intended audience? What is the authors’ purpose for writing the article? What is his or her stance on the subject? What elements and devises does the author use, such as word choices, font, pictures, headings, sub-headings, counterarguments, style of writing, tone, etc? See the book for more suggestions.

· You are analyzing the article, not the topic.

· This should be typed, double spaces, and contain the correct heading information.

· Use MLA documentation within the body of your essay, include a Works Cited page. The Works Cited page is not included in the page count.

· Include an outline. This should go on the first page and is considered part of the page count.

 SAMPLE OUTLINE FOR CRITICAL ESSAY

After the passage under analysis has been carefully studied, the critique can be drafted using this sample outline.

· I. Background information to help your readers understand the nature of the work

· A. Information about the work

· 1. Title

· 2. Author

· 3. Publication information

· 4. Statement of topic and purpose

· B. Thesis statement indicating writer's main reaction to the work

· II. Summary or description of the work

· III. Interpretation and/or evaluation

· A. Discussion of the work's organization

· B. Discussion of the work's style

· C. Effectiveness

· D. Discussion of the topic's treatment

· E. Discussion of appeal to a particular audience

Remember:

Avoid introducing your ideas by stating "I think" or "in my opinion." Keep the focus on the subject of your analysis, not on yourself. Identifying your opinions weakens them.

Always introduce the work. Do not assume that because your reader knows what you are writing about, you do not need to mention the work's title.

Other questions to consider: Is there a controversy surrounding either the passage or the subject which it concerns?

What about the subject matter is of current interest?

What is the overall value of the passage?

What are its strengths and weaknesses?

Support your thesis with detailed evidence from the text examined. Do not forget to document quotes and paraphrases by using MLA documentation.

Remember that the purpose of a critical analysis is not merely to inform, but also to evaluate the worth, utility, excellence, distinction, truth, validity, beauty, or goodness of something.

Even though as a writer you set the standards, you should be open-minded, well informed, and fair. You can express your opinions, but you should also back them up with evidence.

Your review should provide information, interpretation, and evaluation. The information will help your reader understand the nature of the work under analysis. The interpretation will explain the meaning of the work, therefore requiring your correct understanding of it. The evaluation will discuss your opinions of the work and present valid justification for them.

GRADING :

The A essay has a strong and refreshing thesis that the whole text works to support. The introduction creates interest and establishes common ground with the audience. The body has clear, logical paragraphs, each with one claim and supporting evidence and argument for the claim. Transitions guide the reader effortlessly. The conclusion expands on the relevance of the evidence and links it to the thesis. Quotations, paraphrases, and summaries come from all cited sources and are relevant, accurate, fair, and brief. There is sentence variety, an even tone, and appropriate word choices. Wordiness, awkwardness, repetitions, and distractions are avoided. The writing, in-text citations, and works cited pages are error free or nearly so. The requirements for page number count, sources, and citations are met.

The B essay has a good thesis, introduction, body, and conclusion. Each body paragraph includes just one point and does some work to support the thesis. Transitions generally guide the reader between points. Various types of evidence are used to support most claims. All sources are quoted, paraphrased, or summarized to support main points. There may be one error in fact or one logical fallacy, neither of which is located in the thesis statement. The writing is clear, having only a few sentence-boundary errors, word level errors, or awkward expressions. The works cited page for the B paper cites only sources used in the essay, and each citation contains all required publications details. Also, the points are sufficiently developed to meet the page number count.

The C essay has a thesis, introduction, body, and conclusion that together convey a sense of unity. It may have weak content, structure, paragraphing or transitions. It may have distractions, lack quotations or have unexplained quotations, have weak mechanics that interfere with meaning, one or two errors in fact, or one or two logical fallacies (not in the thesis statement). Alternatively, the essay might be a B, but the page is badly formatted, is grammatically inaccurate, is missing details, or has many mechanical errors. The requirements for page number count, sources, and citations are met.

The D essay has an introduction, body and conclusion, and a sense of related purpose. It may lack a thesis or quotations and paraphrases. Or, it has at least two major flaws in content, structure, paragraphing or transitions. It may be so weak mechanically that it does not make meaning, or contain many errors in fact or logical fallacies. Alternatively, the essay might be a C, but has severe mechanical errors. Or, the paper may be under the page number count or “fluffed” to meet word count.

The F essay is incomplete, drastically misunderstands sources or the assignment, or is filled with errors in fact or logical fallacies.

Zero is for essays that are plagiarized.