Present a summary of the key points along with a limited number of examples. You can also briefly
explain the author’s purpose/intentions throughout the text and you may briefly describe how the text is
organised. The summary should only make up about a third of the critical review.
Critique
The critique should be a balanced discussion and evaluation of the strengths, weakness and notable
features of the text. Remember to base your discussion on specific criteria. Good reviews also include
other sources to support your evaluation (remember to reference).
You can choose how to sequence your critique. Here are some examples to get you started:
Most important to least important conclusions you make about the text.
If your critique is more positive than negative, then present the negative points first and the
positive last.
If your critique is more negative than positive, then present the positive points first and the
negative last.
If there are both strengths and weakness for each criterion you use, you need to decide overall
what your judgement is. For example, you may want to comment on a key idea in the text and
have both positive and negative comments. You could begin by stating what is good about the
idea and then concede and explain how it is limited in some way. While this example shows a
mixed evaluation, overall you are probably being more negative than positive.
In long reviews, you can address each criteria you choose in a paragraph, including both negative
and positive points. For very short critical reviews (one page or less) where your comments will
be briefer, include a paragraph of positive aspects and another of negative.
You can also include recommendations for how the text can be improved in terms of ideas,
research approach; theories or frameworks used can also be included in the critique section.
Conclusion & References
Conclusion
This is usually a very short paragraph.
Restate your overall opinion of the text.
Briefly present recommendations.
If necessary some further qualification or explanation of your judgement can be included. This
can help your critique sound fair and reasonable.
References
If you have used other sources in you review you should also include a list of references at the end of the
review.
Summarizing and paraphrasing for the critical review
Summarising and paraphrasing are essential skills for academic writing and in particular, the critical
review. To summarise means to reduce a text to its main points and its most important ideas. The length
of your summary for a critical review should only be about one quarter to one third of the whole critical
review.
The best way to summarise is to: