The Context of Critical Analysis

In fact the student was praised by her lecturer for defining her clearly, for making an accurate summary of the different views, and for making some attempt to relate the different views to one mother (comparison and contrast). She lost marks, however, for failure to be sufficiently critical, i.e. to question the value of rent interpretations and come to some overall judgement about them. Look at part of the comment which the lecturer made on her essay:

In drawing comparisons and contrasts, you have failed to go on to the next step and say what the problems are with each interpretation. You state, for instance, that some of your sources `challenge' the interpretations offered by other anthropologists, but you never tell us whether you think it is a convincing challenge, or a successful one ... yo u simply place the two views side by side and leave the reader to dra w his own conclusion. In the last paragraph you do try to explain why two of the interpretations are different, i.e. they were dealing

With different periods of tribal development, but you never try to come to any conclition about which is the most satisfactorv explanation, i.e. the one which, in your judgement, best fits the evidence

If you look back to the four criteria for the assessment of essays that we set out on p. 38, you can judge for yourself how this c would be assessed. It would receive good marks on Criterion 1 (clear focus on the set topic) and Criterion 4 (competent presenta ­ tion). But it would be marked down on Criterion 2 (for lack of critical reading) and most of all on Criterion 3 (the presentation of reasoned argument').

A reasoned argument is the out come Of critikal thinking. That after reading, questioning, thinking, the student should reach :judgement about the value of different interpretations of view and then set out prove that judgemet. The essay then becomes not t just a summary of facts and ideas, but a case which is argued justified. A good essay makes use of facts and ideas rather then ­simply records them.