What is critical writing?

Why is critical writing important?

In most university assessments, you are expected to write critically. Sometimes the assessment will ask you to critique, or to critically review, discuss or analyse. But, even if the assessment instruction does not use the word ‘critical’, you will find the marking rubrics include criteria such as well-reasoned, insightful, and reflective, all of which are signs of critical writing.

This kind of writing can be challenging, especially in your first few semesters at university. It’s not unusual to get feedback on an assessment that there is ‘too much description; not enough analysis’. If you receive a comment like this, it means the marker could not see evidence of critical reading and thinking in your writing.

Learning to write critically can take time. Here are some tips to help you get started.

When you write critically, the reader can see that you have:

Read sources and/or considered data critically
Thought about how all the information or data is connected
Developed your own point of view or conclusion based on the information or data (we sometimes call this an academic argument)
Clearly explained your argument, using the information or data as evidence to support your points

Check out the example of simple critical writing here.

To write critically, you need to do more than simply describe or summarise information – you also need to analyse and evaluate the information, and then use the information to create your own argument.

Describing shows what you know, or presents the information you have found, about a topic. All assessments need some description; for example, you might need to describe a setting or background, summarise previous research, report an event, outline a process, or present data.

However, you will usually need more than description to meet the learning objectives for a university assessment. You will need to analyse or evaluate the information you have found – in other words, show how you have interpreted or ‘made sense of’ the information. For example, you might highlight similarities or differences, assess strengths and weaknesses, or consider the implications or significance of information.

Here are some of the differences between descriptive writing and critical (or analytical) writing:

Descriptive writing

Critical / analytical writing

Asks questions such as

who?
what?
where?
when?

Asks questions such as

why?
so what?

Could include

· Identifying what happened

· Outlining a theory or model

· Reporting a method

· Providing examples of solutions to a problem

· Summarising viewpoints on an issue

Could include

· Evaluating the importance of what happened

· Explaining how and why a theory or model is relevant

· Assessing the strengths & weaknesses of a method

· Providing evidence for the best solution to a problem

· Showing the connections among different viewpoints on an issue

Critical writing starts with critical reading and thinking.

As you read, you need to:

identify information and ideas relevant to the topic
consider how the information and ideas are connected
think about alternative ideas or perspectives
assess the worth or significance of the information
and then come up with your own answer to the assessment question.

It’s helpful to use a checklist of questions to guide you through this process. Different disciplines ask different types of questions. The questions you might ask of a scientific study, for instance, would be different to those you would ask about a landscape design. Start taking note of the questions you hear being asked in your courses so you can build your own checklist.

Here are some of the questions you might ask:

1. Identify ideas	what is the key theme or purpose of this source? what are the important points or arguments? what methodologies are used?
2. Make connections	what evidence is used to support points? are some ideas emphasised more than others? are there similarities or differences (or other links) between the ideas and information you have from other sources? does the author rely on a particular theory?
3. Look for different perspectives	are there other interpretations or explanations of the information? are there other methods or approaches that could have been used?
4. Assess or critique (Remember - critique involves pointing out strengths as well as weaknesses)	how reliable is the evidence? are there gaps or limitations? how balanced is the argument? what are the implications or consequences of the ideas? could the ideas be applied in other situations?
5. Decide on your point of view	having gone through the steps 1 to 4, what is your point of view about the topic or your answer to the assessment question? how will you use the information you have found to support your point of view?

Where to now?

For more advice on writing critically, check out:

Brick, J., Herke, M., and Wong, DE. (2020). Academic Culture: A Student's Guide to Studying at University. Bloomsbury. E-Book Chapter 10, pp. 114-8

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