Why critique literature

To put your work in perspective. To contribute to the field by moving research forward. Reviewing the literature lets you see what came before, and what did and didn't work for other researchers.

To demonstrate your understanding, and your ability to critically evaluate research in the field. To provide evidence that may be used to support your own findings. Are there different types of literature reviews? Literature reviews can be found in a variety of formats; examples include:.

Stand-alone articles published in a scholarly journal. A chapter in a thesis or dissertation. A section found in scholarly works like journal articles.

She describes the novel as surprisingly comforting as much as iconoclastic. Certainly, there is an enjoyment of the Georgian grace, a world where we can solve problems by a ball invitation, a new gown, and scrumptious gossip.

The social life at Hampshire Vicarage, its complex social mores, obsessions with money and class, its picnics and parities, draw the readers — especially females — to a point of obsession.

Critiques vary widely, ranging from giving reviews of books, as these reviews might determine whether a book is going to be popular or not, to rhetorical analysis of articles and pieces of artwork. Its advantage is that, despite negative criticism and reviews, many books win commercial success. Sometimes a critic serves as a scholarly detective, authenticating unknown books and unearthing master pieces. Thus, obscure scholarly skills could work as a most basic criticism, bringing literary pieces to public attention.

Besides, a critique may antagonize the author. You usually insert a page number in parentheses after the sentence. Find other criticism to support your thesis.

In order to write a strong critique, you need outside sources to agree with you. This boosts the credibility of your argument and shows that you have the strength of mind to think critically about what you read. Outside sources are also called secondary sources, and you need to make sure they are reliable, such as peer reviewed literary journal or magazine articles, published books, and chapters from books. You should also address any criticism that does not agree with your thesis, as refuting the counterargument also builds your credibility.

Use the outline to write your paper. Once you have gathered your research, formed a thesis statement, and filled in a detailed outline, it is time to write the critique. At this point, you will have plenty of information, and all the organization has been done already, so writing the piece should go smoothly.

If you created your outline on a word processor, then you can simply fill in the outline with additional information. You can also treat the outline as a roadmap. Consult it as you draft your paper to make sure that you are including all of the points and examples that you have identified.

Pay attention to assignment and style guidelines. For example, you may have specific questions that you need to answer in your paper. You might also have a page length or word count requirement that you need to meet.

MLA is more common for literary-based essays, but you should ask your instructor if you are not sure. Discuss your quotes. Your paper should include quotes from the primary source the work of literature itself and from secondary sources articles and chapters that help your argument. For example, after offering a quote, you might explain what the quote means or demonstrates as well as how it supports your thesis.

Do not simply paraphrase or summarize the quotes after you offer them. Summary does not show critical thinking. Instead, try to explain the significance of each quote or example to your readers. Try to create quote sandwiches. A quote sandwich is simply how you position a quote in an essay.

You should have a sentence introducing the quote and its author, then have the quote itself, followed by one or more sentences analyzing the quote right after it. Revise your critique. Proofreading, editing, and revision are all important parts of the writing process and should be done before turning in or publishing a critique of literature.

When doing the revision, it is helpful to have someone else look over the essay or read it out loud yourself to find careless mistakes, awkward phrasing, and weak organization.

Method 3. Look up the author and cultural context. If you are reading a piece of literature with the purpose of critiquing it internally rather than for an essay, you should begin with understanding the cultural milieu of the piece. Knowing the social context of a written work boosts your understanding of the vocabulary, setting, and character motivations, all of which are critical for forming an accurate critique. Looking them up in a dictionary as you read will increase your understanding of the text, just as knowing the cultural milieu in which the text was written does.

Investigate the meaning of the title. Once you begin reading, consider the significance of the title. Ask yourself why the author chose this title. If so, why would the author understate the work so much? Questioning the title helps in determining the main theme and contributes to a more accurate critique. Decide on the central theme. Thinking about the title will help you determine the main theme of the work.

Determining the main theme provides a trunk from which the branches of the rest of your examination of the text will spring. You will look at the elements of literature of this text, and knowing what theme they should be pointing to helps you to critique how well the author accomplishes this.

Examine components of the work. Identify examples of each element and determine how each relates to the main theme. You may want to write down where these connections take place in order to organize your thoughts. Plot—events of the text. Characters can be people, objects, even ideas especially in poetry.

Conflict—the opposition that the main character encounters and its climax and resolution. Themes—what the narrator observes about human nature. Point of view—the way that a character thinks, whether it is curious, condescending, etc. Can also be the perspective the text is told, whether in first person, third person, etc. Tone—the way the text feels, whether sad, happy, angry, apathetic, etc.

Symbols—objects, people, or places that repeat consistently throughout the story and seem to represent another abstract idea. Form an interpretation of the work. Once you have analyzed the different elements of the text, you may form an interpretation based on your analyses. This interpretation could be that the author could have done a better job, that the author is profound, that some elements of the text connect to modern society in an interesting way, etc.

You may want to write down your interpretation of the work at this point, as it is an excellent springboard into a thesis statement, if you end up needing to write a paper about this text.

You can review outside sources such as peer reviewed articles and books to verify that your interpretation is accurate or needs work. Selecting a quote from a work of literature and using it to base your argument on is a good idea, as long as you create a thesis statement. For example, you can select a quote and use it as a starting point for brainstorming, because most quotes can be discussed from a variety of perspectives.

Your thesis statement will reference the quote, but won't contain it. Not Helpful 3 Helpful 9. Not Helpful 4 Helpful 4. Not Helpful 0 Helpful 0. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. You should always consider how the writer's techniques contribute to the overall meaning of the text. Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0. If you don't feel you have a good grasp of all the specific components after the first reading of a literary work, read it over again, with the components in mind, before you critique.

Be careful not to summarize the entire work when you critique literature. It is your job to evaluate the work's meaning, not to outline its plot. Submit a Tip All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published. Remember that the critical approaches mentioned above are complicated and take time to master.