EnglIsh
For Academic and Professional Purposes
WRITING A REACTION, REVIEW AND
CRITIQUE PAPER
Purpose
- To convince readers regarding the things being
elaborated
- Make it a point to clearly, logically, and orderly
consider arguments, issues, or stance, as he/she
tries to put all together his/her opinion about a
certain work
- To give a thorough and sound judgement about a
piece
Definition
- Focus on discussion the strong points and the weak
points of a specific work
- Assess, Analyze or Evaluate by explaining the pros
and cons of the subject
- Requires the writer’s in-depth analysis
Avoid
- Summarizing the book is not writing a reaction
paper since it doesn't evaluate or analyze the text
- A writer should avoid stating arguments without
evidence
- Writer should also avoid providing so many
examples without relevance to the main point
Mechanics for Review
 Know the scope and the purpose of book; that is,
the material covered and stressed
 Know the writer’s style of writing, his stylistic
excellence and faults. (Is he persuasive, convincing,
or dull?)
 Know the theme of piece of work. (Is it social,
moral, psychological novel, story, or movie?)
Tips in Writing a Reaction Paper
 Read a book or article very carefully, if it is a
movie to watch, pay full attention to the film
 Think about at least 2 major arguments or points
you want to articulate in your paper. You may
discuss the strengths and the weakness of the
material
 Describe each point clearly and provide an in-depth
analysis of your discussion
 Cite credible sources or materials that will help
make your stance strong
 Give examples to concretize your ideas and it
should be familiar to your reader. Provide adequate
background information about your example and
how it supports your argument
Format
- Title must be centered
- The paragraph is aligned to the left
- Use 1-inch wide in all margins
- The first line of each paragraph must be indented
- Use Times New Roman, 12 points and should not
be bold
- The number of the page is located at the top right
corner
- Use double space throughout the whole text
- There should be in-text citation used
- Avoid using long quotation
Proper Way to Cite Sources
- APA (American Psychological Association)
- MLA (Modern Language Association)
- The Chicago Manual of Style
- ASA (American Sociological Association)
- ACs (American Chemical Society)
- The Vancouver System
Approaches in Writing a Critique Paper
 Reader’s Response Theory – interpret the content
of the literary piece in your own understanding
without basing the structure, author
Formalist Criticism
- A unique form of human knowledge that needs to
be examined on its own terms
- Focused on the structure within the works itself
- All the elements necessary for understanding the
work are contained within the work itself such as
the style, structure, tone, imagery, and the like are
the interests of the formal critique
- The ultimate goal is identifying how these elements
are put together in the text to shape its effects to the
readers
- Critic primarily looks at the structural purposes of
the text without taking into account any outside
influence
- It does not concern itself with the biographical
information about the author, historical events
 EnglIsh
For Academic and Professional Purposes
outside the story, mythological concerns, literary
allusions or psychoanalytical traits of the characters
- Focuses on how the elements gives sense on the
text
Biographical/Historical Criticism
- Begins with the simple but central insight that
literature is written by actual people and that
understanding an author's life can help readers
more thoroughly comprehend the work.
- Aims to comprehend a literary work by probing at
the social, cultural, political and intellectual context
that produces it
- A context that includes the artist’s biography and
milieu
- The critic should take into consideration that the
biographical information strengthens the meaning
of the text, and should avoid using those data to
drown the criticism with insignificant material
- Consider a work’s first order context – author’s life
– and recognizes literary study as being an art not a
science
- Believed that the meaning of the literary text can
become different when it is viewed using the lens
of the author’s life
- The priority would be analyzing the author’s life
relating to how it connects to the story
Gender Criticism
- Examines how sexual identity influences the
creation of the literary text
- An extension of feminist literary criticism, focusing
not just on women but on the construction of
gender and sexuality, especially LGBTQ issues,
which gives rise to queer theory
- Suggest that power is not just top down patriarchal
– a man dominating a woman
- It suggests that power multifaceted and never just
in one direction
1. Masculinist Approach – advocated by Robert Bly
which focuses on the desire to work with men’s
issues and yields to the political conviction that
feminism does not fit with the facts
2. Feminist Approach – attempts to correct the
imbalance of the sexes by analyzing and
combating the patriarchal attitude that have
dominated western thought; promotes equality in
terms of every aspect
Psychological Criticism
- The method, the concept, or the form of material is
influence by psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud
who expressed that psychoanalytic theories
changed our notions of human behavior in which
authors explore new or controversial areas like
wish fulfilment, sexuality, the unconscious and
repression
- Experiences and background of the author by
analyzing how the author thinks.how he/she creates
his/her character
- Expand the understanding of how language and
symbols operate by the demonstrating their ability
to reflect unconscious fears or desire
- Similarly, Carl Jung expressed his theories about
the unconscious which are the primary foundation
of Mythological Criticism
1. Probing the creative processes of the artist:
nature of the literary genius and how does it
relate to normal mental functions
2. Scrutinizing how the author’s biographical
circumstances influences his motivation or
behavior in writing the text
3. Analysis of fictional characters using the
language and methods of psychology
Sociological Criticism
- Evaluates a literary piece in the cultural, economic
and political context that explores the linkage
between the author and his society
- The critic scrutinizes the author’s society to grasp a
better understanding about the masterpiece
- Marxist criticism is an example of sociological
criticism that highlights on the economic and
political elements of art focusing on the ideological
context of literature
- Concerning on the social issues that people face
- Believes that all art is political, it is either
challenging or endorsing the status quo. It is
evaluative and judgmental
Moral/Philosophical Approach
- focuses on themes, views of the world, morality,
philosophies of the author and the like for this
approach establishes its purpose of teaching
morality and investigating philosophical issues.
- The larger purpose of literature is to teach morality
and views on life of the author
Mythological Criticism
- The recurrent universal pattern underlying most
literary works
- Inspired by the psychological criticism
- tend to view literary works in the broader context
of works sharing a similar pattern
- Northrop Frye: Archetype - a symbol, usually an
image, which recurs often enough in the literature
to be recognizable as an element of one's literary
experience as a whole.
- Unconscious conscious mind
- According to Jung, all individuals share a
“‘collective unconscious, ’ a set of primal
memories common to the human race, existing
below each person’s conscious mind
 EnglIsh
For Academic and Professional Purposes
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 Read to understand the literary piece or any text In writing concept paper, one may do research in
provided for you to critique. When it is necessary, defining and discussing an idea
re-read the text to have an understanding of the
material. It is relevant and ethical that one cites all outside sources
 Determine the author's purpose of writing. Looking used in developing and writing a concept paper
for the thesis statement or the theme of the piece
can help you identify the motivation of the writer in Concept paper must be clarifiefd
the material.
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 Analyze each segment or section very well. When hoyfnvedjh
needed, you may write the summary in each
segment.
 Decide which among the approaches in literary
criticism you will be using to critique the text. After Rationa;e
you have read the material, you focus on the
specific elements or features of the material that
you want to discussion.
 Compose your introduction, body, and conclusion
sensibly. Your introduction may have the author's
name, the book's title, your source and the thesis
statement. In writing your body, you may discuss
the strong points and the weak points of the
material in a logical, clear manner
 It bears your review of the material as well as your
evaluation. Using any of the literary approaches,
explore the elements you want to critique as a
reader. In your conclusion, provide the generic
opinion about the text. it may be about your
approval or disapproval, agreement or
disagreement, by simply restating the stance you
have expressed in the body. Always remember that
a paper composed with logical arguments and in-
depth analysis is a critique worth reading (strong,
stronger, and strongest)

Concept Paper

- Simple way to illustrate our ideas perceive by our

five senses or share an understanding about a
certain topic
- A summary of a project or an issue that depicts the
interests, experiences, and expertise of the writer
- It provides an in-depth analysis and discussion of a
topic that the writer has a strong position on
- Brief paper that highlights the importance of the
topic

How to Write a Concept Paper

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