What is a Critique: Types of Critiques and How to Write it (with Examples) 

A critique is a formal evaluation by an individual about a body of work. This formal analysis is the author’s personal opinion, whether positive or negative, about different aspects of the work. The body of work being critiqued could be a research article, a book, a concept, a video, movie, etc. Critiques typically highlight the main ideas, and strengths and weaknesses of a body of work from the author’s perspective and should not be considered a generic view. 

A critique is different from a summary, review, and analysis, because the critique expresses the author’s opinions and could be subjective while the other three mostly summarize the main ideas included in the body of work. In research, a critique is very helpful, especially in case of unpublished works because a critical analysis or a peer review of a research article can help researchers modify their article based on the suggestions given, which could increase their chances of being accepted by journals. 

This article will help you understand the meaning, importance, and different types of critiques. 

What is a Critique?

Since the word “critique” is very similar to the word “criticize,” at first glance, readers may interpret it to mean giving only negative comments. However, the word actually means to critically analyze a body of work by evaluating its main ideas and identifying its strengths and weaknesses.  

Critiques usually include the following elements:¹ 

• Title of the work and name(s) of the author or creator 
• Description of the work, which includes the objective and the context or main concepts covered 
• Detailed analysis of the structure, function, and content of the work, including both strengths and weaknesses 
• Explanation of the work’s significance and implications 
• References 

The following table describes the various elements of a research critique and the type of information that should be included.² 

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Types of Critiques

Critiques can be of various types, as described below.¹ 

• Academic critiques 

Usually, students are the authors of academic critiques. They may be asked to write a critique paper on some work related to their course of study. If students evaluate works of other students, then such evaluations are called peer reviews. Academic critiques by students are important because they show instructors that students can understand ideas, arrive at their own conclusions, and develop new directions for discussion. Academic critiquing can also demonstrate that you have a strong background knowledge on the topic in order to provide feedback on another person’s work. 

• Reviews of published works 

These reviews can be for books, films, scholarly articles, etc. and may be written for publishers, newspapers, or may be assigned as a part of your thesis. 

• Feedback on manuscripts or works-in-progress 

This type of critique is usually called a peer review when experts in the field critique a research article that is yet to be published. This critique helps determine whether an article will be accepted for publication or not. 

How to Write a Critique (Step-by-Step Process)

Here are the basic steps that you could follow for writing a critique:^1,3 

1. Determine the objective and the criteria for analysis: Before starting to write a critique, identify your objective and criteria, which can help you structure your critique effectively. Assessment rubrics may be available that could help you evaluate the work appropriately. 

2. Study the body of work: Before you start writing, you should study in detail the work that you will be critiquing. This could involve watching films or videos or reading a work-in-progress article or a published book to get a better understanding of the work. Some questions to consider while reading or watching include: 

• What is the nature of the work being evaluated? 
• Who is the target audience? 
• What are the objectives and context of the work? 
• For written material, is the content well structured? 
• What are some strengths and weaknesses of the work? 
• How does the work help improve the learning about the specific subject? 

3. Do your research: While evaluating your work, you may need to conduct some secondary research on your own to understand the subject better or to corroborate facts and also to learn about previous related work that has been created on the subject. 

4. Format your critique: Ensure that you format your written evaluation and structure it in such a way that the reader understands your perspective clearly. Use plain language and quote excerpts from the work that you’re critiquing to help readers understand better. 

5. Write introductory and body paragraphs, and a conclusion: Some elements such as an introduction and conclusion are essential to provide the context and to summarize your evaluation for easy reference. It also helps organize your ideas and structure your critique. 

In a critique, it is important to state your praise, criticisms, suggestions, etc., as politely as possible, but with some assertiveness to reinforce the importance of your critical analysis. 

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Offering praise and criticism 

Hedging is a process that can help you state your praises and criticisms with different levels of strength based on the argument. The following grammatical structures could be used for hedging: 

• Using modal verbs such as could, can, may, might, etc. can help soften your argument. Consider these two sentences as an example of a critique:  
  • This text is inappropriate for graduate students who are new to the field.  
  • This text may be inappropriate for graduate students who are new to the field. 

• Using qualifying adjectives and adverbs, such as possibly, likely, somewhat, etc., helps in stating your opinions in less absolute terms and introduce some probability to your claims. However, using too many such words may render the argument as being too weak. Consider the following sentences: 
  • Readers will find the theoretical model difficult to understand. 
  • Some readers will find the theoretical model difficult to understand. 
  • Some readers will probably find the theoretical model somewhat difficult to understand completely. 

• Using tentative verbs, such as seems, indicates, suggests, etc., also helps soften an argument. For instance: 
  • This omission shows that the authors are not aware of the current literature. 
  • This omission indicates that the authors are not aware of the current literature. 
  • This omission seems to suggest that the authors are not aware of the current literature. 

Offering suggestions 

The language you can use to offer suggestions depends on whether the work you’re critiquing is published or unpublished. For unpublished works, the researcher could use your suggestions to improve or restructure the specific sections.  

• For unpublished works, you could use language such as: The tables would be clearer if the authors highlighted the results.  
• In case of published works, the sentence could be rephrased as: The tables would have been clearer if the authors had highlighted the results. 

A critique is thus a critical analysis of a body of work and evaluates the work’s main ideas and discusses the strengths and weaknesses from the author’s perspective. Critiques are instrumental in research because, in case of unpublished works, the suggestions given can help improve the article and increase its chances of acceptance for publication by journals. 

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References 

1. How to write a critique (with types and an example). Indeed. Updated July 25, 2025. Accessed November 13, 2025. https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/how-to-write-a-critique 

2. Critique/review of research article. University of Calgary. Accessed November 14, 2025. https://www.ucalgary.ca/live-uc-ucalgary-site/sites/default/files/teams/9/critique-or-reviews-of-research-articles-academic-genre.pdf 

3. Writing critiques. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Accessed November 16, 2025. https://writingcenter.unc.edu/esl/resources/writing-critiques/ 

4. Differences between a critique, summary, review, and analysis: Mastering the article evaluation process. Published November 7, 2023. Accessed November 17, 2025. https://apaxresearchers.com/differences-between-a-critique-summary-review-and-analysis-mastering-the-article-evaluation-process#:~:text=Critique:%20A%20critique%20focuses%20on,an%20evaluation%20of%20its%20quality