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I'm changing my Instagram to a studyblr! • #homeschool #grade12 #notes #studyblr #studyspo #notesgoals

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At some point during college or university, you’ll probably be asked to write a critical review of a text related to what you’re studying. They aren’t commonly done during high school, and so it will probably be an unfamiliar task to start with. Here’s one approach to writing a critical review that I’ve used which has been very successful for me, and hopefully it can help you too!

What is a critical review?

Essentially, a critical review is a summary and evaluation of a journal article, chapter, or book. While critical usually gives a negative connotation, your review doesn’t necessarily need to attack the author’s view point, rather you question the information and opinions they present in an analytical manner, and assess how effective their argument is.

Get to know the text

Start by getting a broad understanding of the text. Skim read it by looking at chapter titles, headings, introduction, opening sentences of paragraphs, any tables, graphics, or diagrams, and the conclusion.

Briefly outline the author’s aim and their main points. You’ll come back to this when assessing how well they have argued their point!

Read the entire text. With the author’s aims and main points in mind, read the entire text and note what evidence they use to support their points, how convincing their reasoning is, how they deal with opposing arguments, how the text is structured and styled, etc. I like to use a physical copy of the text so I can highlight and annotate important parts!

Get to know the author! While not always necessary, getting to know the author, their area of specialisation, and if they associate with a specific approach to the subject can help you better review the text.

Read widely around the topic

So you’ve read the text you’re reviewing and have a good understanding of its content and how the author has argued their point, but how does it fit into the wider literature? Does the author hold a more mainstream view of the subject, or are they more radical in their thinking, presenting a view in opposition to other academics? 

Look at their references. Did they cite another academic who holds a contrary opinion? Their work may be worth reading to assess what the author of the text you’re reviewing may have intentionally left out!

Read reviews of the author you’re reviewing. As students, we’re not always as fully aware of a topic as other academics who specialise in the area are. If you’re able to find reviews written by other academics on the author you’re reviewing, they may be able to highlight areas of further research for you to investigate!

Read completely different views of the topic! My most recent critical review was from the a social historian. To gain a broader perspective of the topic, I read interpretations from Marxists, to Revisionists, and other social historians. These different interpretations of the same event allowed me to assess each argument and form my own conclusions based upon how convincing the interpretation was argued.

Read the works of prominent academics in a field. They often inform other academics and help develop approaches to a topic. Note, however, that prominence doesn’t mean their argument is perfect!

Structure and content

Not every critical review will have the same structure, but I tend to follow a similar skeleton structure outlined below.

Introduction - identify the author, the title of the text, and when it was published. Briefly explain the main findings of your review and the key ideas.

Summary - to give the reader an understanding of the text, you need to provide a summary. Pull out the author’s main points and conclusions. Don’t give a lengthy narrative description of the text, focus on the author’s argument. This shouldn’t be more than one or two paragraphs!

Critique - this is the core of your review and will be the bulk of your essay. Here are a few things to think about when writing it

Identify the text’s strengths and weaknesses. You can do this by comparing it to other texts on a similar topic

Does the author present a particular approach to the topic?

How do they consider alternative approaches?

How do they use evidence to support their claims?

Does the text structure and style affect your understanding?

Has anything been left out intentionally? 

Support your review with examples from within the text!

Conclusion - restate your overall opinion of the text. Discuss how it fits within the broader scope of literature on the topic and how useful it is. You could even suggest possible improvements and suggestions for further investigation!

I hope this is helpful, and good luck with any critical reviews you have to write! My inbox is open for any questions you might have!

Other essay writing masterposts:

how to write conclusions how to structure essays how to reduce your word count understanding the question how to write a killer unprepared text essay

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Tips for writing an essay

Some quick steps that will make writing an essay quicker and hopefully easier!

It’s good to get a general idea of what you want to include in your essay. Really, anything that comes into your mind can get you started. Mindmaps are good for that; of course you don’t have to use everything, but writing it down can help you get used to the topic. Do this possibly after the essay was assigned.

After some time, make a plan. For that you can use your mindmap. This step helps you figure out what you need to research. List the things you are yet to find out

Do the research. Include the information you need in the plan

I like to assemble quotes I wan’t to use in a separate file, so they don’t get lost in the process of writing and I can come back to them. 

Write the essay. Some helpful websites:  Thesaurus Google Scholar and IngentaConnect for journal articles and book extracts Virtual Libraries 1, 2, 3, 4

If you’re easily distracted, SelfControl is a great FREE app for Mac which allows you to block certain sites or the entire Internet. StayFocusd is a great alternative for all Chrome users. 

What’s important when writing an essay is knowing when to write. Try to write when you feel inspired. If that’s not possible (and there are lots of times one can’t get inspired) write during the period you can focus the best (for most people it’s in the morning, but that varies). There will be times you’ll stare at your computer screen for 5 minutes and no sentence will be typed; that’s when you ought to take a break and let some fresh air in your room, make coffee or even take a short walk. 

Cite This For Me  is great for creating reference lists!

Happy writing! xx

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HOW TO WRITE A STRONG ESSAY

I recently got an ask about how to write an introductory paragraph for an essay so I thought I’d do a post about how to write a good essay.

** Important Points ** For essays in high school, use third person unless the teacher specifically tells you not too. It’s more academic and professional while first person sounds really informal. I’ve heard that in college it’s different but again, it depends on the class. Stay on the safe side and use third person unless otherwise specified. Also, try to be as sophisticated and mature as you can. This makes the essay sound smarter and makes it easier to read.

1) INTRODUCTION

Try to think of an upside down pyramid here. You start off broad and end off tapered to a point (specific). The formula for writing a good intro is this: hook, background info, introduce topic of discussion, and thesis. In the pyramid example, the hook is the broad and the thesis is the narrow. The intro is usually around 8 sentences long.

Hook: Unlike what you’ve probably been told through out high school, the hook is not necessarily a wow statement. It’s typically a broad idea that relates to the topic of discussion. I usually use historical facts or common wisdom and go from there. I then follow it up with a sentence that elaborates on my hook and a sentence that connects my hook with the background info.

Background Info: Here you give the reader some context as to what you will be discussing in your essay. It sets the scene for the topic you’re discussing. Try to be concise.

Introduce the Topic of Discussion: Here you give a brief summary of the points you’re arguing/discussing. It should be one sentence per body paragraph and again, be clear and concise and avoid merely summarizing the plot. This part should cover the gist of your ideas.

Thesis: This should be a longer complex sentence that summarizes your point of view and ideas. This is one of the most important parts of the essay so crafting a good thesis is crucial.

I did a more detailed post about the introduction with an example introduction paragraph HERE.

2) BODY PARAGRAPHS

The meat of your essay. Here is where you state your arguments and defend them with supporting evidence from literature, articles, or even your personal experience. I would generally limit one argument per body paragraph. Which reminds me, most likely you have been taught the canned five paragraph essay. Some people write all their essays in five paragraph format because they thing that is the only way to go. Really, you can do four+ body paragraphs with the common numbers being four and six. It depends on the essay. When writing your body paragraph you need this structure: topic sentence, three points, three examples of supporting evidence, conclusion. Body paragraphs typically fall between 8 -15 sentences.

Topic Sentence: This is similar to a thesis. Here you’re stating the argument that you are proving in a clear and concise sentence.

Three Points: There’s a rule of thumb that you generally want to have three points about each argument and have a piece of supporting evidence for each point. I’m going to start with the three points first. Basically, you want three ideas about your argument that show why it’s valid. For example if you’re trying to argue that cheese is dairy, your three points are it’s made of milk, it’s featured in the dairy section of the grocery store, and the FDA labels it as dairy.

Three Examples of Supporting Evidence: These are usually quotes from other sources or the piece of literature you’re analyzing that support the three points of your argument. To use the really bad cheese example from above, for the milk point you’d use an ingredients label from a package of cheese, for the grocery store point you’d get a sheet with the department labels and the produce in those departments, and for the FDA point you’d find a quote from their website.

Conclusion: This is a sentence or two that wraps up your body paragraph. It should briefly summarize the points you discussed or the topic sentence and help transition into the next paragraph.

2) a. COUNTER ARGUMENT PARAGRAPHS 

This paragraph is NOT necessary for most essays. However, some do require them so it’s important to know how to approach them. Depending on whom you ask, they’ll either tell you that the counter argument paragraph goes in the middle of your body paragraphs, or at the end. Personally I prefer the end but the middle is more correct. Placing it in the middle allows you to end on a strong note but I think it’s a matter of personal preference. The counter argument is used to present an opposing view point and say why it’s wrong. This can strengthen your argument if it’s done properly but ruin it if it’s done wrong so tread carefully. The only thing different from the body paragraph structure is the topic sentence.

Topic Sentence: Here you need a specific template to start the paragraph properly. I usually use: It may be argued that _______________ but there is sufficient evidence to show that _______________. The first blank is filled with the opposing argument and the last blank is your argument. There are different ways to structure this sentence but this is the one I use.

The rest of the paragraph is the same as the body paragraph: you get three points as to why the counter argument is wrong and three points to support it. Then you end with a typical concluding sentence.

3) CONCLUSION

This is where you wrap up your arguments and finish strong. It has three components: a restatement of your thesis, summary of your arguments, and general statement to wrap it up. Think of the right side up pyramid this time. The pointy end is the thesis and the bottom is the general statement that closes your essay. A conclusion is typically 5 sentences long.

Restatement of Thesis: This is pretty self explanatory; you restate the thesis using different language than you used in your intro.

Summary of Arguments: Here you briefly touch upon the arguments you covered in your essay. Again, clear and concise, and whatever you do, DO NOT introduce new information. It can ruin the amazing essay you worked so hard on.

General Statement: A general statement is a broad idea that you use to tie your entire essay together. It’s kind of like the hook but should be more relevant to your essay.

And that is how you write a killer essay. I use this technique whenever I write and it has never failed me. Hopefully if will help you improve your writing! If you have any questions, feel free to hit up my ask box.

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Do dogs thoughts sound like barking?

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When you see it, REBLOG IT.

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If you ever want to talk: My Tumblr ask is always open.

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What interview is this from????

“u can learn the words to ur own songs”

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If some clocks can be ahead and some clocks can be behind, does this mean that there isn’t an officially set time, therefore no clock is ever accurate?

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21.06.2016

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yes, please leave

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There are 2 kinds of people

Person 1: Now I'm insecure and I care what people think

Person 2: Now I'm insecure and I care what people- MY NAME'S BLURRRRYFACE AND I CARE WHAT YOUUU THINK

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Apparently this is the Emotional Roadshow setlist

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The Emo Quartet.

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Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.

Marilyn Monroe 

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Just some photography and stuff... It feels like summer a bit tbh.

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The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart.

Helen Keller