Critique Assignment

A. Wesley Jones

(Rev. 27-Jul-2004)

Write a critique of an article or book chapter you have read from your preliminary bibliography. Your response should be at least 750 words long and may even be longer than what you’re critiquing. (The sample critique in A Brief Guide to Writing from Readings is longer than its target.)  Use the critique essay to examine an important source for your research project, one that either strongly supports or strongly opposes your argument’s thesis.

Make sure you provide a Works Cited page on which you list the source you are critiquing and any other sources you refer to. Follow MLA format as described in chapter eleven of The Writer’s Harbrace Handbook. Also make sure that you mark, with in-text citation, all passages you have summarized, paraphrased, or quoted from the source article. Look at the sample critique essay on pages 113-115 of WFR.

“Critique,” chapter seven of Stephen W. Wilhoit’s A Brief Guide to Writing from Readings, provides specific, step-by-step instructions for completing this assignment and distinguishes critique from response.

Check the assignment calendar for your section of English 103 to determine when a complete draft of your essay is due for peer response and when the final version must be submitted for a grade. Recall that late work diminishes in value at 10% per day.

In addition to what you learn from peer response, use both the Critique Checklist (p. 277 of WFR) and “Grading Guide for the Critique” in reviewing your final draft.

Follow the instructions in “Formatting Written Work” in preparing your formal copy, and be sure to include a representative sample of your exploration and drafting as described in “Show All Work.” Make sure you include the draft annotated by your peer responder. Also attach your annotated copy of the article you have written about as well as your journal entry.

This is the fifth major assignment in our course and it contributes one tenth of your final grade.