“UP! DOWN! PUMP!

”
1. Find your partner.
2. Place your fist in an alternate position.
3. UP – one should place his fist upward.
4. DOWN – one should place his fist downward.
5. PUMP – one must pump his fist towards his
partner’s fist.
What have you learned in our
previous discussion?
❑

❑
Have you experienced giving
reactions and opinions to certain
issues?
How did you do it? Through
writing, through sharing it to a
friend? Through posting it on
social media?
Did it happen that your opinion
is different from other people’s
opinion?
In reading an article, selection,
story, did it happen that your
personal take is different from
the author’s take?
❑

❑
MELC: COMPOSING AN INDEPENDENT CRITIQUE OF A CHOSEN SELECTION

literary criticism

(literature)

LITERARY CRITIQUE
What is a critique?
 CRITIQUE
•
 CRITIQUE
•
CRITIQUE
 STRUCTURED FORMAT OF A CRITIQUE

INTRODUCTION BODY CONCLUSION

PARAGRAPHS
If you are asked to write a critique of an
article or an essay, you must…

1. Analyze the reading.

2. Identify your personal reaction to it.
3. Develop a clear and concise explanation to
support your reaction.
 STEPS IN WRITING A CRITIQUE
1. Begin by reading the selection.
✓ One’s knowledge of the discipline in which
you are working is the basis on which you
build the explanation.

Successful critiquing begins with reading.

 STEPS IN WRITING A CRITIQUE
2. Identify your personal reactions.
✓ Composing a critique for a chosen selection

suggests that the role of the reader is vital

to the meaning of the text.

 STEPS IN WRITING A CRITIQUE
3. Make notes on key parts of the work.
 PURPOSE OF A CRITIQUE

✓ To examine, explain, and defend your personal

reaction to a chosen selection.

 STEPS IN WRITING A CRITIQUE
4. Develop a clear and concise conclusion.
BEAR IN MIND!
✓ There is no right or wrong answer in
critiquing a chosen selection.

✓ However, it is pertinent that one demonstrates

an understanding of the composition and
clearly explain and support one’s reactions.
BEAR IN MIND!

✓ Do not use the standard approach of just

writing such as…

“I liked this text because it was cool and the

ending made me feel happy.”
BEAR IN MIND!

✓ Do not use the standard approach of just

writing such as…

“I hated it because it was crazy, and had

nothing to do with my life, and was too negative
and boring.”
BEAR IN MIND!
✓ There is no need to summarize the content of
the material.

✓ Instead, one needs to take a systematic,

analytical approach to the selection.
BEAR IN MIND!

✓ In composing a critique, it is fine if you do

not like the selection, but you need to
criticize it either through principle or form.
PRINCIPLE, for example:

• Is the selection racist?

• Does the selection unreasonably put down
things?
• Does the selection include factual errors
outright lies?
• Is it too dark and despairing?
FORM, for example:

• Is the selection poorly written?

• Is the selection too emotional or too childish?
• Does it have too much facts or figures?
• Are there typos or other errors in the selection?
• Do the ideas wander around without making a point?
 To critique a selection is to do the following:

DESCRIBE: give the reader a sense of the writer’s overall

purpose and intent.

ANALYZE: examine how the structure and language of the text

convey its meaning.

INTERPRET: state the importance of each part of the

selection.

ASSESS: make the judgment of the work’s worth or value.

✓ As a writer, be cautious of using words like
“boring”, “crazy”, “dull”.

✓ If you compose a critique, base it on the

principle and form of the selection itself.
“BAWAL JUDGMENTAL”
Directions: Read the selection
“The Obstacle in our Path”, and
do a simple a critique of it.
Hit or Missed?