Critique+Assignment

[[file:critique.doc]]

 * ==Simply click on the above hyperlink to download the assignment sheet, which also appears below.==


 * ==This file is will be particularly helpful in Discovering appropriate Criteria for your Critique essay. Please save this document in a place you'll be able to have easy access to in future. [[file:criteria_critique_handout.doc]]==
 * ==This is the [[file:rubric.pdf]]rubric which will be used to grade your critique essay. Check it out. Make sure you address all the components in your critique essay!==


 * ==You are required to complete a revision plan for the rough draft of your critique (this plan and your final draft are due as //googledocs// on 2/6)==

GSW 1120 Grohowski Critique Part 1: Summary Due: Friday, 1/20 (Google Doc) Part 2: Rough Draft Due: Friday, 1/27 (Google Doc) Part 3: Final Draft Due: Monday, 2/6 (Google Doc) Part 4: Pre-Writing Materials Due: Monday, 2/6 (hard copies of: rubric, assignment sheet, previous drafts, revision plan, AVE/SPA sheet)

For your first formal essay you are to compose a three to four-page critique a scholarly text, which adheres to MLA (2009 edition) guidelines for formatting (of your essay) and documenting sources (parenthetical and full references (works cited)). You will: 1) introduce a text and its author to a specific audience (reader), 2) provide a summary of the chosen text, and, most significantly, 3) evaluate the worth of the text by analyzing the validity and effectiveness of its message and the author’s presentation of that message based on identifiable criterion.

In your critique you will form **your own evaluation** of the text you’ll select from the three essays we have already read in class (“America’s Sleep-Deprived Teens Nodding Off at School, Behind the Wheel” (483-8); “When Worlds Collide: Adolescent Need for Sleep Versus Societal Demands” (489-96); //or// “Sleep Debt and The Mortgaged Mind” (497-505).

Generated from your analytical reading, you will carefully choose and explicitly state the **criteria** you are using **to evaluate the text**—your evaluation criteria will form your thesis and overall focus of your essay. Because your thesis is an evaluation of a scholarly text based on criteria you’ve established, this critique will be argumentative. That is, your thesis (because it needs to be arguable) should represent your opinion on the effectiveness and validity of the text’s message or argument in meeting your established criteria, //not// whether you agree/disagree with the author’s views.

**To begin**: 1. Select one of the three articles (mentioned above); 2. Re-read the article and the reading notes you previously composed for the article. On your second reading of the article, you may find the need to take additional notes of information you may have missed on your first reading—pay particular attention to question one of your reading notes: The author/article’s **//purpose//**; 3. **Draft a summary of your chosen article:** The purpose of composing a summary of the article (Note: if you took thorough reading notes, that is, answered each of the four questions I asked, it may be easier than writing a summary “cold”) is to ensure that you understand the article you’ll eventually evaluate.

The summary will be an important part of your critique essay (although it will need to be revised and condensed for your critique).

**Your summary is due at the start of class on Friday, Jan. 20. Please submit this to me via //Google//** **Docs.**

4. Establish Criteria to structure your Critique: From your reading analyses and summary of the article, identify the reasons you are using to form a judgment of the article—these reasons are the criteria that will structure/support your critique. To form an effective critique focus on what you consider to be the author’s purpose of the article—once you establish that, decide if you think the author was able to effectively achieve his/her purpose.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">The answers to those questions will lead to your overall evaluation of the text, but you will also need to point to specific criteria to support your overall evaluation. You want to look at what the author has/hasn’t done well in his/her writing (e.g., definition of key terms, use of effective language, accuracy/fairness/bias, use of sources, anything left out/undeveloped). These criteria need to be clear not only to //you// as you think about the article, but they need to come through clearly to the //readers// of your Critique.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">In addition to thinking about the author’s purpose as you decide on appropriate criteria, do not forget to consider how purpose is tied to the author’s //audience//. For instance, if an author has clearly written an article intended for a specific, professional audience in his or her field, it would be unfair to criticize the author for using too many technical terms. However, it would be appropriate, in this case, to judge the article’s usefulness as a research source for students or other less specialized researchers. As a result, you may arrive at the conclusion that the article’s language is too technical and specialized to be useful. Once again, however, you should not fault the author for meeting the demands of his or her specific rhetorical situation.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">(Note: The amount of appropriate criteria will emerge from your analysis of the article. As a group, we will be discussing each article and coming up with relevant, possible criterion.)

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">**Elements of a Critique Essay**

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">__Introduction:__ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">Present the article under examination by supplying the author’s name, the article’s title, and its date of publication, as well as the name and type of publication the article appeared in. In a critique essay, it is very important to clearly state your thesis, which in this case is your overall evaluation of the article; generally, the introduction is the optimal place to include this.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">Additionally, you may introduce both the author’s argument and the criteria that will be applied to the article as part of the introduction. It is helpful not only to identify your criteria but also to explain why the criteria are relevant to your argument/critique. That said, effective critique essays outline their criteria later in the essay (you should do this!).

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">The most important considerations when explaining criteria are **clarity and thoroughness.** Finally, for all essays, the introduction offers a chance to capture the interest of and to engage the audience, and the critique is no exception.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">__Summary:__ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">Typically, there are two ways to present summary information: in a separate paragraph early in the essay or alongside the criterion that the synopsis material illustrates. Of course, a reader needs some idea of what the original article is about early on, so be sure to find the best way to orient readers to your article’s topic and purpose.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">__Discussion of the Evaluated Article’s Purpose__ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">Before moving into their analysis of the article, you may wish to make clear what the original article’s purpose seemed to be and to what audience the article was directed. In order for an evaluation to be fair, the essay should mention the context in which the article was first presented. Therefore, this is an informational section that should give your readers a clearer understanding of what the article seeks to accomplish and how, rather than arguing at length for a particular point or summarizing ideas.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">__Evaluation and Analysis:__ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">In this section, make clear your overall judgment of the article. You should respond to the article in the context of the criteria you have established. This judgment should be supported with specific, concrete examples from the original article.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">The following elements should be considered during evaluation and analysis:

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">• __Criteria__: See Above.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">• __Supporting References and Details:__ Remember that your readers have not read the article being critiqued. Thus, you will need to supply specific examples (quotes and paraphrases) from the article to support evaluations and conclusions. You should also explain how this evidence supports your overall judgment of the topic article.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">• __Counterargument(s):__ All argumentative essays in 1120 need a counterargument, and the critique is no exception. In this essay, you could show counterargument by including one or more criteria that go against your dominant opinion; for instance, a critique that is negative overall could include a paragraph about the effectiveness of the author’s examples, the thoroughness of the author’s research, or the engaging quality of the author’s tone, in spite of the fact that the article may have been unsuccessful as a whole, in your opinion.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">__Conclusion:__ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">An effective conclusion provides a satisfying wrap-up, perhaps by driving home your thesis or by including a final compelling example or statement as to why your thesis/critique is relevant for your readers to consider. You may alternately wish to restate the criteria and their relevance to demonstrate that you have achieved a balanced and fair critique.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">**Additional Advice:** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">• Present one criterion at a time (might be one paragraph, might be more than one) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">• Use Metadiscourse to make clear how each paragraph connects to surrounding paragraphs and to the overall thesis of the paper. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">• Use Metadiscourse within paragraphs to explain why criteria are relevant and how different sentences relate. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">• Provide a clear judgment of an aspect of the article (based on a single criterion). <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">• Provide evidence from the article (quotes, paraphrases, summaries) that proves that your judgment, based on the given criteria, is correct. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">• Compose a thorough explanation about how all of these elements fit together and, ultimately, prove your thesis (to help connect the entire essay together). <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">• Present a clear, fair acknowledgement and rebuttal of counterargument.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">If you need more help consider asking your groupmates, classmates, me, and/or The Learning Commons. Make sure you schedule adequate time for consulting with others.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">Note: Late essays or essays missing the above elements will NOT be accepted.

Thanks to Kerri Hauman and Donna Nelson-Beene for use of the language / content in this assignment.