Critical Analysis/Critique Assignment

Here is a pdf file that contains the description of the Critical Analysis Assignment.

CriticalAnalysisAsgnmt

Description: Critical analyses (also known as critiques) are skilled evaluations of other authors’ works. These evaluations do more than simply point out all the “bad” parts of a text; they also can carefully and thoughtfully consider what is good about a text. More importantly, however, they offer some explanation as to why and how those things are happening in the writing. In other words, critics identify the key elements of a piece of writing and then offer their own thoughts about how effective the piece is (or isn’t) in doing what the author seems to intend to do. Further, the critic offers some examples (the why & how) from the text that support her or his critique.

This assignment has two parts: 2 bib entries and 1 short critique. The first part (entries in the annotated bib) will not be graded yet. You will be revising and adding sources for the final bibliography assignment. However, it is still due with this assignment. Late or non-existing bibliographies will affect the final bibliography assignment.

You should be thinking about how this assignment can aid you or be relied upon for your final paper (the research paper). In that assignment you will need to make an argument about your topic that you can support with evidence. The research you gather now can help you build your own position by either agreeing with you OR disagreeing with you. Sources that take a similar position as you do can be used to further your argument. Sources that take a dissimilar position as you do might be something you wish to respond to or to refute (prove the argument to be weak).

Part 1

You will add 2 more entries to your annotated bibliography. In addition, you will revise the first 2 entries to include an analysis/critique of the source. By now you should know some more about evaluating sources. For the first 2 entries I set no limits to the kind of research you could use, This time, however, you are required to find 2 sources from academic sources—journals, books, etc. Use the library resources and the writing center for addition assistance with finding research.

Each entry must be at least 2 paragraphs (can be more) and include a summary plus a critique of the source. The critique should examine the same elements discussed in Chapter 2 of your textbook.

Part 2

You will write a critical analysis of an argument related to your topic. Obviously, choosing one of your sources for the annotated bib makes sense to use, but you can choose something else if you prefer. Analyses should be about 600 to 1000 words. You should incorporate quotes and paraphrases. Follow MLA format including a Works Cited page.

Organization: There are several ways you could organize your critique. Following are two ideas for structuring your critique.

1. Introduction: This/these paragraph(s) should introduce the piece you are critiquing. Included in this paragraph should be the author’s name, the title of the piece, the author’s main argument and the points you will make about it.

Summary: This paragraph can summarize the text you are critiquing. Remember that summaries don’t offer your thoughts about the piece. Instead you should cover the main points and some examples of the text. You can also offer the author’s purpose for writing the text and the intended audience for the piece.

Analysis: This/these paragraph(s) should provide your critique of the author’s work. You can look for weaknesses that you perceive in the piece such as poor arguments, badly defined terms, unorganized presentation, inaccurate information, etc. You may also decide that the author makes convincing points that other authors don’t make, provides good research that helps further an idea, demonstrates good logic in forming an argument, etc. Don’t limit yourself to only bad things about the author’s work.

Response: This/these paragraph(s) should reveal what you think about the author’s position. Do you agree? Disagree? Why or why not?

Conclusion: This/these final paragraph(s) are where you end your discussion of the critique. Here is where you should draw some conclusions that are directly based on what you presented earlier. Now is not the time to introduce something new, so be careful that you don’t conclude with something that doesn’t appear elsewhere in your writing.  Reminding readers of the weaknesses and strengths of the text is a good way to wrap things up, but be sure that your conclusion does what your introduction says you intended to do.

2. Another way to organize you work is to introduce the work, offer some of the author’s main points followed immediately by your reflection and your critique (with evidence). Next, transition to another key point you wish to critique, followed by your reflection and analysis. Conclusion.

Due: October 15, 2009

Use the Writing Center for assistance. Make an appointment as soon as possible so you can get into see someone. If you’d like to meet with me during office hours, I’m available. Please let me know when you’re intending to come.