Fundamentals Of Critical Writing And Reviewing – Second Edition

Critical review writing is a task that begins from the known to the unknown. It is an evaluative expository analysis devoid of personal sentiments about a work; rather it gives priority to technical, objective analysis of the form, content and significance of the work. The reviewer is guided by probing, critical questions, in interpreting contents of the work; the reviewer weighs the contents with facts gathered from research, looks beyond the surface of the work and brings out its significance, including other critical observations which the audience may not have seen or noticed (unknown). To critique a work is to objectively question the information and opinions in a text and present your evaluation or judgement of the work. This task is very technical, painstaking, systematic, and has far-reaching implications to a work. How to undertake this task with meaningful expertise is what this text provides.

Fundamentals of Critical Writing and Reviewing is a two-part book that discusses in eleven chapters the rudiments of critical reviewing of various kinds of creative works. The first part, Basics of Critical Review, is an introductory excursion which provides (in four chapters) primary information on the concepts, functions, features, process, and structure of critical writing and reviewing. The first chapter provides concise explanation of the key concepts – critical, review, and critical review – including the functions and characteristics of critical reviewing, including a quick guide to critical reviewing. The second chapter discusses the specific steps that comprise the process of critical reviewing while the third and fourth chapters discuss the structure of a critical review and approaches to critical review writing,
in that order.

Part two of the book, Specific Review Types, contains seven chapters each of which discusses a specific kind of review. They include books, music, movie, artistic work, journalistic work, advertisements and journal article reviews. This book is concise but insightful. It adopts vivid examples of various kinds of reviews, most of which have been published in periodicals, in elucidating the teachings provided in various chapters. It is a working guide for those who wish to master the art of writing expository critical reviews.