Importance of Writing a Critique Dissertation Literature Review

Many times the students are given the assignment by their teachers to write a critique which baffles and confuses them. There are a large number of students who do not know what writing a critique is all about and how it should be done the right way. A number of students take it to be the critical analysis of any dissertation literature review or course material but this is not so. Most commonly, a critique is a way of approaching the ideas of other people and it is all about evaluating, questions and considering the validity and accuracy of their ideas and statements. In other words, a critique is a method of systematic and disciplined analysis of an oral or written material.

There are many people who do not understand the right meaning of critique and take it to be a job which means finding faults and problems with works other have done and making negative judgement but this is not the case at all. It can also involve recognizing the good things about a text and analyzing it in such a manner which highlights the good and the bad at the same time. It can also include checking out the methods of research and ensuring the writer has done a good job overall from research to writing and supporting facts and information with the right references.

The word critique has been derived from Ancient Greek which means the judgment faculty, thus, this word is take to discern things or personal values and when teachers assign a critique task to their students, it means the students are required to closely analyse a text and check it out with an open mind.

Writing a Good Critique: When students are asked to write a critique, it means they are being asked to evaluate and question different viewpoints and outlooks. In doing so, the students should also establish and support their stance and come up with the weaknesses and the strengths of a text, an idea or a theory and make it clear why they are saying so.

The main purpose of a critique is to evaluate the useful elements of a work, problems, and competing perspectives to present them in a clear and concise manner. There are several types of critiques depending on what the teachers are asking students to do and what type of work it is which is being critiqued:

Creative Works Critiques: They involve critical analysis and evaluation of films, exhibits, novels, poetry and images as well as other creative works.

Research Critique: This consists of critically evaluating and summarizing journal articles based on topic for your dissertation, theories, systematic reviews, and monographs.

Media Critiques: It is all about critical analysis of feature articles and news reports. The students must know that these critiques are written just like essays and they must be done in a proper and formal style which is just like academic way of writing so that it makes sense to the readers and they are unable to understand the reasoning behind the critique and agree with it too.