Critical Analysis
by Elisabetta LeJune
The purpose for writing a critique is to evaluate somebody's work (a book, an essay, a movie, a painting...) in order to increase the reader's understanding of it. A critical analysis is subjective writing because it expresses the writer's opinion or evaluation of a text. Analysis means to break down and study the parts. Writing a critical paper requires two steps: critical reading and critical writing.
Critical reading:
Consider the following questions: How is the material organized? Who is the intended audience? What are the writer's assumptions about the audience? What kind of language and imagery does the author use?
Peer review (also called Refereeing) is the process an author goes through to get an article published in a journal.
Let's say you are an expert in a particular field. You write an article and submit it to a journal. Your article goes through several steps before it may or may not be published.
1. Your article is read and scrutinized by colleagues who are experts in your field. This editorial review is done by your peers in the field.
2. Your article is judged by this panel of expert peers and they act as referees, deciding whether your article adds to the literature or enhances the knowledge within your field.
3. If your article passes this editorial peer review / refereeing, your article is published.
4. All the articles in that journal go through the same process so that journal is peer reviewed / refereed.