Critique Paper Writing Tips Essay

It is imperative to understand what a critique paper really is. When your teacher asks you to write a critique, they are asking you to analyze and evaluate, and not just summarize. A critique is rather an essay or article that criticizes literary or other work e.g. a movie. Make sure you are completely familiar with the book/movie/piece of art before critiquing it. A critique answers the few questions of how? why? and how well? A critique does not mean criticizing the work in a negative sense but rather interpreting it as you see it. It usually combines both positive and negative. †¢ The first step to take is to analyze the piece of work. Discuss the author’s main point of view and his purpose. See who is he performing for i.e. who is his audience. What arguments does the author use to support his main point and what evidence does he cite. Check for any underlying biases or assumptions in the work that the author produces. †¢ Next, you need to evaluate the author’s ideas.You need to see whether the argument he provides is logical, and the facts provided accurate. There might be jargon present in a book, so the author should have defined it and explained it or even in other works, important terms should be defined. You should check the authenticity of facts and sources cited and whether there is a sufficient amount of it. †¢ Lastly, you need to plan and write your critique. You should do this in standard essay form. In the first paragraph, you need to introduce the topic, state the thesis, make a plot summary, and give your readers a clue of what they are to expect. An introduction also includes the background of the piece of work that you are going to critique. For a book, write the name of the author and a bit of information about them that pertains to the argument. A movie introduction includes the director, the basic theme, and the names of the main actors. An art critique would include basic information on the painter and the work that you are going to examine, as well as basic features of this certain work such as its title, the art materials that have been used, and its location. In the second part of the critique i.e. the main body, start into the story. In this part, you will have to introduce the characters, setting, and give a lot of detail. Bring out the author’s important points and evaluate whether the evidence provided by the author supports his point of view. Break the thesis and different parts of the story into separate points and examine each point separately. A  very important thing that will strengthen all your arguments is giving real examples from the piece of work you are using. Conclude the critique paper with really critiquing the piece of work i.e. the good and bad, and how it made you feel. Answer any questions you raised along the way and make the final statement about the piece of work.