In lieu of a final exam, students will write a critical review essay on any of the assigned course readings. Your first order of business will be to decide which reading you will work with for this assignment.

In constructing your review essay, you are permitted to draw on, and include portions of, the summary and/or comments you submitted for the chosen reading. However: Your critical review essay should NOT just be a longer version of your summary. Both the grading criteria and nature of this assignment differ from our usual daily writing assignments in important ways (keep reading to find out how!)

What is a Critical Review Essay? 

* Portions of this handout are taken from the “Critical Essays” and “Guidelines for Writing a Review Essay” webpages

A review essay should not be considered a ‘review’ in the popular sense; it is not about whether you liked or didn’t like the article. The word “critical” describes your attitude when you read the article. This attitude is best described as “detached evaluation,” meaning that you weigh the coherence of the reading, the completeness of its data, and so on, before you accept or reject it. Unlike a straightforward summary or book report, a review essay is primarily devoted to critical discussion of the text.

The critical essay is informative; it emphasizes the work being studied rather than the feelings and opinions of the person writing about the literary work. The difference between feelings and facts is simple – it does not matter what you believe about a book or article; what matters is what you can prove about it, drawing upon evidence found in the text itself, in in critical discussions of the text, etc.. Criticism does not mean you have to “attack” the work or the author; it simply means you are thinking critically about it, exploring it and discussing your findings.

Your essays should have four main parts:

1) Introduction. The introduction to a review essay indicates the general line of argument that the essay writer will pursue. Use your opening paragraph to situate the article in the context in which it is written, identify the author’s main thesis and approach, and preview your own critical response. Be economical: this paragraph should require no more than half a page.

2) Summary. Limit the space you devote to a summary of the article to 1-2 paragraphs. Remember that you cannot possibly relate all of the points the author has made; focus on the central argument and on claims that are most significant to us as participants in the discipline. Note that as you develop your critical discussion, you can elaborate further upon important points the text has raised. In grading the paper, I look for a summary that is concise and clearly written. Limit the length of your summary by concentrating on:

1. A brief statement of the author’s main idea (i.e., thesis or theme)
2. An outline of the important “facts” and lines of reasoning the author used to support the main idea
3. A summary of the author’s explicit or implied values
4. A presentation of the author’s conclusion or suggestions for action

3) Critical Discussion. The most important part of your essay. Evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the article should include:

1. An assessment of the “facts” presented on the basis of correctness, relevance, and whether or not pertinent facts were omitted
2. An evaluation or judgment of the logical consistency of the author’s argument – in other words, this is not about whether you, personally, happen to ‘agree’ or ‘disagree,’ it is not a matter of personal opinion. Rather, your evaluation of the argument should be based on its coherence and supporting evidence.

You may choose to assess whether the article makes an important or useful contribution, whether the evidence supports the author’s thesis, whether the author has considered alternative explanations for the same outcome, or whether the argument is internally consistent. Support your arguments with evidence. Note that I weigh the critical discussion most heavily when grading the paper.

4) Conclusion. Restatement of the key points of your essay and, in particular, of your own position. State explicitly the reason(s) why you hold that position by outlining the consistent facts and showing the relative insignificance of contrary facts. Coherently state your position by integrating your evaluations of the work you read.

Essay Guidelines/Grading Criteria

***Before you begin writing, please review the “Tips for Academic Writing” handout posted below

Length:

1. Minimum 1200 words (Note: word count does not include name, title, or bibliography. Points will be deducted for needless repetition of article titles or other distracting attempts to lengthen essays with “filler” text.)

Citations:

1. All references, quotations, and paraphrases must be properly cited, using APA format (for help, see The Purdue Online Writing Lab).
2. Direct (word-for-word) quotations should make up no more than 10% of your essay. You are expected to discuss and analyze the text, not simply to cut-and-paste portions you find relevant or important.
3. Please review plagiarism guidelines!

Formatting:

1. Please do not use a separate title page.
2. At the top of your essay, put your full name, the name of this course, and the date.
3. Essays should be double-spaced
4. Number your pages.
5. Use 11 or 12 point font.
6. Do not use cursive, all-caps, or “decorative” fonts.
7. Margins should be no greater than one inch on all sides.

Writing Counts:

Re-reading and editing your work should not be a last-minute activity, but a central part of the writing process. When you are editing, be on the lookout for:

1. Incomplete sentences. Make sure your sentences are grammatically correct and flow logically from one to the next.
2. Run-on sentences – you should have no sentences longer than three lines.
3. Grammar, Spelling, Capitalization – do not rely on spell check to catch all mistakes. Watch out for tense agreement and verb agreement.
4. Going ‘off-topic’ – while I welcome your individual approaches to the material, please make sure that your writing is relevant to the topic at hand and is directed towards answering the question.
5. Personal Anecdotes should be avoided; in fact, you should avoid “I” statements altogether – e.g., “I think…” or “In my opinion…”