How to write critically

This page will explore the key features of critical writing to help you to demonstrate your critical thinking abilities in your work.

What is Critical Writing?

A paragraph or section of critical writing (sometimes called critical analysis) will demonstrate not only that you have read one or more sources, but also that you understand what the implications of the sources are for your own work.

Critical writing is likely to involve the following stages, organised within a single paragraph or across multiple paragraphs in a longer section of analysis:

Describing the evidence: what does the source tell us? If you agree with it, use strong reporting language (Jones et al (2012) demonstrate, Jones et al (2012) identify). If not, show your scepticism with weak reporting language (Jones et al (2012) argue, Jones et al (2012) claim)
Identifying limitations or gaps: Is the research robust? What limitations have the authors themselves identified? Does other research help to fill in the gaps?
Highlighting alternatives: Are there other possible interpretations? Does other research contradict the findings? Has there been a chronological development of the field (ie have views changed over time?)
Synthesising sources to show your interpretation: Can you summarise your position based on the process you have followed above? What does this mean for your argument or hypothesis?

Download this Critical analysis framework template to help structure your analysis of multiple sources according to the stages above.

Access the Critical analysis framework (Google doc)

Description or Analysis?

You might read about the need to demonstrate critical thinking, writing or analysis in your academic feedback, but remain unsure as to how to make the change from description to critical analysis.

Some description is usually necessary to set the scene in each paragraph, but you need to make sure that you aren't just telling the story of other people's findings and theories.

Things that you could express in your writing include considering the questions below:

Is this research or evidence credible?
How could it be improved?
Have other people made opposing claims?
How does it relate to the other evidence in your argument?

Here are some examples illustrating the differences between descriptive and critical analytical writing:

Descriptive writing	Analytical writing
states what happened, when it happened and how it happened	identifies the significance of something that happened
states what something is like	evaluates its strengths and weaknesses
states the order in which things happened	structures information in order of importance
explains what a theory says	discusses the importance, failings or relevance of a theory in relation to a topic
explains how something works	indicates why something will work (best)

Adapted from: Cottrell, S, (2008) The Study Skills Handbook, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, p286.

For advice and feedback on criticality in your own writing, book a writing advisory service appointment.

Make an appointment (student login required)

Have a go at identifying how descriptive or critical you have been in your own writing. Have a look at the Descriptive or critical writing template and use it to explore an example of your work – have you found the right balance of description and critical analysis?

Legitimation Code Theory

How do you use sources critically in your work? Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) is a way to break down the process into stages of ‘unpacking’ and ‘repacking’ complex ideas and to think about it visually.

What is LCT?

LCT is a theory that can be applied to a wide range of academic situations and uses what is known as a semantic wave.

It represents the different stages of understanding and applying academic sources of information, as well as how you then apply these sources to your own academic work.

It is useful as a way to visualise the critical reading of a text, as well as for structuring essay paragraphs.

Unpacking

This involves reading an academic text, identifying the important points, and transferring these points into more accessible or familiar language. This encompasses the following:

Description: How would you describe what you have read or are writing about to demonstrate that you understand?
Evidence: What evidence or examples could be used in support of the description? This shows you understand the context.

By the end of the unpacking section, you should have reached the bottom of the semantic wave.

Repacking

Leaving the source unpacked is not enough to demonstrate critical thinking. In order to follow the semantic wave, you will need to ‘repack’ the source to explain why what you have read is important to your thinking.

This means putting the topic introduced during the unpacking stage into the context of your reading, essay or assignment. Doing so shows that you understand why including the points you have raised are important and relevant.

To complete the wave, think about concluding and drawing together all of the information you have explored, and summarising it so that it leads nicely onto the next piece of reading or essay paragraph.

Applying LCT in practice

When critical analysis is lacking in a piece of writing, its structure will often look like an incomplete wave. The sources have been described (unpacked) but have not been effectively analysed (repacked). Your aim as a critical writer is to provide a series of connected waves. It is easy to visualise how a lack of critical analysis means that the flow of your essay looks disjointed and incomplete.

LCT paragraph structure:

Concept: Introduce the concept and main idea (also known as the controlling idea) being developed. This is also known as the topic sentence.
Unpacking: Elaborate on the concept or context to unpack or explore the concept in a more specific way.
Evidence and examples: Introduce some concrete examples to illustrate the (now unpacked) concept. This will typically be introduced with phrases like "findings demonstrate", for example.
Repacking: What can be learnt or drawn out of the examples to shed further light on the concept? This repacking process demonstrates your interpretation or understanding of the concept.
Rounding off: Summarise and draw together the points made about the controlling idea to create a complete message of what is discussed within the paragraph.

You can plan your work by identifying the different sections of the wave in each of your paragraphs using the LCT writing framework.

Access the LCT writing framework (google doc)For further information on Legitimation Code Theory please visit the LCT Centre, where you can find relevant resources and examples.

Access the LCT Centre resources (external link)

StudySkills@Sheffield