CRITIQUE paper

CRITIQUES

You are required to write four (4) critiques of readings and one (1) set of research notes over the course of the semester: two critiques are to be finished during the first half of the semester (before the mid-term exam) and two critiques and the research notes during the second half (after the mid-term exam). The set of research notes are for the Model UN exercise. All students must turn in these notes for Weeks 11-12 (Model UN). An explanation of the Model UN exercise is posted to the class website.

You may choose the weeks you wish to do the critiques. You have 4 opportunities to do 2 critiques before the mid-term exam and 4 opportunities to do 2 after the mid-term. You can do more than 4 critiques. In this case, your lowest grade(s) will be dropped.

Accessing the readings:

First, the readings you are to critique are called “tutorial readings” because, besides being used for the critiques, they are the basis for discussion during the tutorials.

Second, ALL TUTORIAL READINGS ARE REQUIRED READINGS whether you choose to do a critique on them or not.

All tutorial readings are articles in the journal Foreign Affairs. Foreign Affairs is a respected and influential US-based and US-centric magazine on world affairs. Its articles are very readable, standing between an in-depth news article and a peer-reviewed scholarly journal article.

Foreign Affairs is available as an electronic journal through the UNBC Library. Direct links to all readings can be found in the “Tutorial Readings” section of the class website.

HOW TO DO THE CRITIQUE:

Each critique has three sections: (1) synopsis, (2) connections, and (3) critique & reflection.

(1) SYNOPSIS

In this section you are to distill the essence of the article. It has two parts.

(1a) Thesis Statement

In one or two sentences state the central argument of the article. In other words, find the author’s thesis statement, or create one for the author. If you can find one in the article, feel free to quote it.

· What is a thesis statement? It is a statement of the main argument or central point in the article. The author is trying to persuade you about something. What is s/he trying to convince you of? The thesis statement is almost always found at the very beginning of an article.

· Why is it important to develop the skill of picking out the thesis statement? Because the thesis statement is a road map for the rest of the article. Everything in the article will revolve around the idea/argument in this statement. Identifying thesis statements is an essential skill in critical thinking as applied to Global Studies.

· Hint: Think of the thesis statement as a ‘tweet.’ You are to twitter the central point of the article. A tweet must be short and sweet (140 characters). Your tweet is the article’s thesis statement (the thesis statement in your critique, however, can be longer than 140 characters, but don’t make it more than a few sentences).

· Hint: How can I find the thesis statement? There are three key locations to look first: (1) the abstract, if the article has one, (2) the opening paragraph(s) of the article, and (3) the closing paragraph(s) of the article.

(1b) Outline

Your next task is to outline the main points or elements of the article. You can do this in bulleted outline form. In other words, what are the primary (first-level) points that support the thesis statement? What are the secondary (second-level) points? Your outline should be about one-half page, single spaced.

· Why is it important to develop the skill of outlining? Because you are training yourself to identify the key elements of a reading. Outlining is an essential skill in Global Studies because of the vast breadth of the field. We need to learn to quickly extract the essence of a reading. There are too many readings for us to go back and reread material.

· Hint: A good way to start your outline is to write the sections headings given in the article. These headings often, but not always, reflect the main points of the article. Then in a few bullet points (no need for full sentences) state the main points in each section.

Summary of requirements for the Synopsis section:

· one or two sentence thesis statement

· one-half page, single-spaced outline of article.

(2) CONNECTIONS

In this section you are to state what (if any) connection the article makes to the 4 domains used in this course, which for simplicity sake can be stated as:

· environment

· culture

· politics & security

· economics & development.

Your statement of connection is to be brief (one paragraph for each connection).

· Does the article address the environment? Yes or no? If yes, how?

· Does the article address culture? Yes or no? If yes, how?

· Does the article address politics/security? Yes or no? If yes, how?

· Does the article address economics/development? Yes or no? If yes, how?

My purpose with this section is to train you to think in terms of what’s in a reading and what’s NOT in it. What is missing can be an important as what is included.

Summary of requirements for the Connections section:

· 4 short paragraphs: a one-paragraph statement for each of the 4 domains; this can be one sentence in the case that there is no connection to one of the domains.

(3) CRITIQUE & REFLECTION

In this section you are to comment on and interpret the article. It is the most important section and has two parts.

(3a) Critique the author’s argument

First, you are to critique the author’s argument (thesis statement). Do you agree or disagree with the author? Why or why not? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the author’s argument?

(3b) Reflect on the future

Second, you are to reflect on what the article says to you about our global future. Up to this point in the critique, you have identified the author’s thesis statement and outlined his/her main points, you have analyzed the article for its connections to our four domains of Global Studies, and you have given your critique of the author’s argument(s). Now you are ready to think about the implications of what is conveyed in the article for your/our global future. There are many ways of going about addressing this.

· One approach is for you to think about how the topic of the article relates to you and your life. Is it relevant to your life? Is so, how? If not, why not?

· Or you could take a more ‘objective’ approach and ask: What type of change is discussed in the article? What does this change imply for the future?

· Another approach is for you to ask: Relevant to what is discussed in the article, what will the world look like in the year 2050?

Feel free to link what you have to say to the lectures, textbook, other tutorial readings, and world news. You may also want to do outside research. Make sure you cite your sources.

Summary of requirements for the Critique & Reflection section:

· 1-2 page, double-spaced critique of author’s thesis statement

· 1-2 page, double-spaced reflection on our global future.

General requirements for critiques:

1) ALL CRITIQUES ARE TO BE UPLOADED TO BLACKBOARD. See Blackboard for instructions.

2) Write your name and assignment title (e.g., Critique #3a) at the top right-hand corner of your critique.

3) Each critique MUST BE uploaded by 4:30 pm on the day of the tutorial which deals with the reading(s) covered in the critique. NO late assignments will be accepted. There will be no exceptions to this rule. If you do not complete your two assignments during a given half of the semester, missed assignments will receive a mark of zero.

4) Critique length = 1000-1500 words (approx. 4-6 pages).

5) Each page has 1” margins, is double-spaced (for sections #2 and #3), and uses 12 pt font. You can use any font type.

6) If you quote from the article or other course material, or if you use sources based on outside research, you must reference your sources using the Chicago Manual of Style author-date referencing system. See “Chicago’s Author-Date Referencing System” under “CRITIQUES” for information on this method. The Department of International Studies has adopted the Chicago Manual of Style as its ‘department style’.

Grading:

· The Teaching Assistants will grade the critiques.

· Each critique is worth 7% of the total grade (= 35 points). The grading breakdown for each section is:

synopsis	5 pts
connections	10 pts
critique & reflection	20 pts
	35 pts

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