critical writing PP

2. Academic writing can be understood to
function at two levels:
 1)Description (descriptive style)
 2)Analysis and evaluation
(critical/analytical style)

3.  It describes (gives details on) what something is – the
topic, problem, situation, context, or for example, a case
study.
 It may describe where this takes place, who is involved,
when it occurs.
 It provides background to the discussion of the essay
question and tells the reader what the topic is –
description usually comes before critical analysis.
Description is very common in everyday language.
Academic writing uses an objective, third person style when
describing.
Remember - an essay usually requires more than just
description to obtain a higher grade.

4.  Good analysis and evaluation earns a higher grade for an
essay
 This is achieved by taking the information from the description
and analysing and evaluating what you have described.
How do we analyse and evaluate?
 Discuss why something happens or is done (the reasons
behind something or the theories informing something)
 Talk about how something occurs (relationship of parts to
whole).
 Discuss possible alternatives (what if).
 Evaluate why something is significant / convincing /
successful – or the opposite (so what – why is this important?).
 Evaluate implications, solutions, recommendations and
where we can go from here (what next).

5. Critical analysis can involve a discussion of:
 The strengths and weaknesses of an idea.
 The usefulness of an idea. Does the idea work in
practice? (relating theory to practice).
 The evidence / support for an idea. (statistical
support, theoretical underpinning)
 How the idea links to other ideas in the field.
(scholarship)
 How the idea compares with other ideas / theories.
(comparison / classification of the type of theory)
 The up-to-dateness and relevance of the idea.
(currency)

6. As well as discussing strengths and weaknesses,
there can be further evaluation of these ideas
by looking to the future:
 Implications – possible changes to practice in
the future
 Possible solutions to problems in the future
 Conclusions – summarizing the pros and cons
in terms of importance / priorities
 Possible future alternatives
 General recommendations for the future

7.  Currency (Is it up to date/ relevant to the
current situation?)
 Bias (Is there commercial interest
represented in the information?)
 Credentials (Who wrote it? Qualifications
/role? Is it peer reviewed?)
More formal evaluation often uses a critical
tool (such as CASP - to critique qualitative
research papers)
Websites in particular need to be carefully
checked for suitability for use in academic
writing

9. Using citation verbs critically to
modulate your line of argument
Citation verbs are used to introduce information
into your text: states, argues, claims, points out, etc.
The choice of citation verb reflects your attitude to
the information that you are using (cf.critical style)
Smith (2015, p.47) argues that… = complex, one of
many views
Smith (2015, p.47) claims that… = questioning the
validity of the idea
Smith (2015, p.47) emphasises that… = this is
particularly important

11. “Both descriptive and analytical writing have their place.
Descriptive writing is needed to give essential background
information so that the writing makes sense to the reader. However,
this should usually be kept to the bare minimum – if you use up most
of your word limit on description, you will have fewer words to use
for the analytical writing that could bring you high marks.” (Cottrell,
2008, p.286)

12. Burns, T. and Sinfield, S. (2012) Essential Study Skills. 3rd edn. London: Sage.
Cottrell, S. (2011) Critical Thinking Skills. Hampshire: Palgrave.
Northedge, A. (2007) The Good Study Guide. Milton Keynes: The Open University.
University of Leicester (no date) What is critical writing? Available at:
http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ld/resources/writing/writing-resources/critical-writing (Accessed:
15/2/13).