28 january 2016dan remenyi1 critiquing a piece of work dr dan remenyi

May 3, 2023 Dan Remenyi 1

Critiquing a piece of work

Dr Dan [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


What is a critique?

Critique is the art of reviewing a paper/book etc or a presentation or a work of art in such a way as to elicit a fuller understanding of the material presented and the argument/s involved and also express an opinion about the work.

Critique is a reflective examination at both a high level and a detailed level.

Critique involves passing a judgement and thus needs a base line point of view

Critiquing does not imply offering a negative view only i.e. being critical. A critique can be positive.


A range of critiques There are different frameworks for critique

depending on what is being critiqued Papers for publication Degrees –research dissertations Books – academic books – text and research

It is primarily an exercise in judgement preferably based on a scholarly and up to date knowledge of the field of study

Presentations may also be critiqued

Different frameworks Papers (sometimes referred to as articles)

Conferences JournalsDegrees –research dissertations Doctorates Masters by dissertation Masters by course workBooks – academic books – text and research For teaching mostly undergraduates


First things first How substantial is the piece of work?

Conference paper 5,000 Journal paper 7,000 Doctorates 80,000 Masters by research dissertation 40,000 Masters by course work 10,000 to 25,000

Look to establish the creditability of authors and publication. Give reasons for your views

Is it clear for whom/what the work has been written and from which point of view!



Steps in a critique 1

The first step in a critique is to acquire an understanding of what the author/speaker is trying to argue......look for the plot

The critique writer may show this by creating a précis or even a diagram of the paper/book or presentation

The précis should refer to the justification for the research, the way the work is located in the literature, data, the analysis and the findings


Steps in a critique 2Please rate the following: (5 excellent, 1 poor)

5 4 3 2 1

1 Relevance to the work

2 Contribution to academic debate

3 Appropriateness of the research/study method

4 Structure of the paper

5 Standard of language

6 Relevance and clarity of drawings, graphs and tables

7 Appropriateness of abstract as a description of the paper

8 Use and number of keywords/key phrases

9 Discussion and conclusions

10 Reference list, adequate and correctly cited


Steps in a critique 3 Summarising

What has been omitted that would have been useful to include?

Is there material in the work that was superfluous? Are there mistakes in the work – errors of logic,

presentation errors, other errors What are the main strengths of the

paper/dissertation/book? What are the main weaknesses of the

paper/book?

Some basic rules By the time the paper is being critiqued there should be

no:- Typos Spelling errors No grammar problems No NAAWs i.e. Very, plethora, extraordinary, amazing It should have complied with the list of requirements of

the publisher or the university Make sure that all authorities cited are included in the list of

references and Make sure that all items in the list are used in the text



Some conclusions

In balance what is your opinion for the piece/s?

How do you support your conclusions? What authority are you able to cite to support

your conclusions?


Goodwill When Hayek (famous economist) reviewed Keynes’s (the even

more famous economist) Treaties on Money, Keynes wrote on his copy of the review:- Hayek has not read my book with that measure of “goodwill” which an author is entitled to expect of a reader. Until he does so he will not know what I mean or whether I am right. Cited by Checkland P, Systems Theory Systems Practice, 1988

Where at all possible show goodwill towards the work you are critiquing. No piece of work is ever perfect. It is always possible to be negative.

But some works are unacceptable If you are critiquing a paper or a dissertation you need

to show where the work can be improved


Tough hard work It is sometimes said that critiquing is tough,

hard work as it requires courage to be critical of others especially if they are likely to see your critique and know who you are.

There are 3 types of critiques Superficial and thus of little value sometimes

unpleasant Some detail which can be either positive or negative Very detailed which can sometimes be helpful

28 january 2016dan remenyi1 critiquing a piece of work dr dan remenyi

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