tips for critical essays

WRITING CRITICAL ESSAYS
The Requirements:

Your critical essay will be assessed on the following criteria: -

Understanding
Analysis
Evaluation
Expression

ANALYSIS No matter how the critical essay question is worded, you will always be asked to give a detailed analysis of the text, quoting, explaining and commenting on examples.

That does not mean, however, that it will be unnecessary to read the question; you will be asked to use your analysis of the text to prove something: that ‘something’ is the important part of the question, and your answer must always be directed towards dealing with it.

EXPRESSION refers to the quality of the essay – how well it is written – in terms of structure, style and language.

Structure it should show a clearly developed line of thought or argument, as you attempt to prove what was asked in the question.

Style should be fluent, communicating your meaning clearly.
-Incorporate short quotations into a sentence.
-Longer quotations should be on a separate line but should still fit into the sense of the surrounding explanation and comment.
-Avoid quoting and then simply translating the quotation into different words; use the quotation to prove the point made.
Remember! Point – Quote – Comment

Language should include the use of appropriate critical terminology; Spelling, sentence construction and punctuation should be accurate.

Length : Minimum 650 words.


PLANNING YOUR ESSAY

Typical question

‘Often a poem is inspired by an incident in the poet’s everyday life. Show how the post uses her experience and, by skilful use of poetic techniques/devices, makes it important to a wider readership’

1. Read the question carefully and underline/highlight what you are being asked to prove e.g. you are asked to show how the poet/author uses an incident in her own life to make a significant comment on something which is of universal importance.


2. Introduction (Understanding)
A short paragraph which should include:
· The title of the text
· The writer’s name, and
· A reference to the main points of the question, in this case the incident and the area of universal importance on which the poet/author is commenting.
· In other words, you are stating, in your first paragraph, what you intend to prove: but avoid the clumsy, non-literary ‘In this essay, I shall prove…’ kind of introduction. Simply write:
‘In her poem, Revelation (title of text), Liz Lochhead (name of writer) recalls an incident from her childhood, when she was taken to see a bull. She goes on to show that this incident, which marked her transition from innocence to experience, illustrates the vulnerability of the female in
the face of male aggression (area of universal importance).


3. ANAYLIS : THE MAIN BODY OF YOUR ESSAY
This part will cover several paragraphs
· Make reference to the question at the beginning of each paragraph, and sum up what you have proved in that paragraph at the end.
· It should be possible to discern your line of thought or argument from a glance at the beginnings and ends of your paragraphs e.g. ‘The incident clearly made a lasting impression on the child … (analysis of description and poet/analysis reaction in the first verse paragraph)…. At the end of the first verse, the emotional impact of the experience on the poet/author reaches a climax with …”
· Work through the text quoting, explaining and commenting on the poetic techniques/devices used by the poet/author.
· Show how each technique/device contributes to the impact of the poem/text, helping you to understand the author’s ideas


4. CONCLUDING SECTION : EVALUATION

· In this final part of your essay, you should respond explicitly to the ideas in the poem/text.
· This response should be directed to the main themes of the poem/text; the kind of things you have discussed in the Evaluation section
· What you have understood about the author’s attitude to the theme(s) she has presented
- The extent to which you agree or disagree with her, giving reasons
· The different ways the author has conveyed her theme(s)/attitudes to you.
- How effectively she has done so
- Whether you found some techniques more effective than others did.
· Whether this poem/text revealed to you anything new, made you think about an are of life you had not considered before, confirmed or changed your mind about any aspect of life.
· End with a few sentences, summing up your argument and making a clear reference to the question you have been answering.


Avoid!
- Do not through down everything you know about the text, stick to the question
- Do not simply tell the story, include a brief summary of the situation
- Do not depart too much from the text when you are relating ideas in the text to your own experience
- Do not write a paragraph on each technique/device used by the writer
- Do not forget the importance of the title: it can often give a clear indication of the main theme