A critical essay is an academic paper that is written to analyze and understand the particular writing better. It is a subjective kind of writing where the author doesn't share their opinion with readers. The main task here is to support every argument with strong evidence from the written text. Many students are required to make this sort of paper, but most of them have no idea how to write a critical analysis essay properly. In this guide, we are going to share many useful tips on making a successful critical essay.
Steps for Making a Good Critical Essay
Follow these simple but very effective steps and create a successful critical essay without problems.
- Make a summary of the certain text. Read a piece of literature to understand why the writer created it and define the author's viewpoint.
- Analyse the text. Try to find what kind of things the author used to persuade the readers to the certain viewpoint: remember you are making the critical analysis, so your own essay should contain this information.
- Write a strong thesis for the essay. Start your work with a thesis statement that will define your research and help you to understand what are you going to write about.
- Cite your sources properly. When you use citations from the text without references, the teacher can blame you for plagiarism. Remember you should cite all sources correctly in your essay to avoid this problem.
How to Structure My Critical Essay Properly?
Before you start to write a critical essay, it is important to create a good outline. Follow our sample of the critical essay structure to make your own paper:
- A hook - this is an optional step that will help to grab the audience's attention;
- Background facts - you should provide your readers with some information about the piece of text you are going to analyze. Provide the audience with all the needed details to make sure they have got an idea about the chosen article or book;
- Main information about the text - include here facts about the work's title, author, the purpose of writing the author made in his/her work;
- Thesis statement - indicate the author's reaction to the certain work;
Interpretation - this is a subjective opinion about the text included in the critical essay. You should base your own opinion only on the sources to reflect your own meaning through facts;
- Discuss the organization of the paper in the critical essay;
- Discuss the style of the text;
- Discuss the chosen topic in your critical essay;
- Discuss what this piece of text brings to the certain group of readers;
Conclusion - when you have finished writing the body of your critical essay, you should restate a thesis to bring the audience to the main goal of your essay. In the conclusion, you should summarize all the arguments of your critical writing shortly and finish your essay logically. Sometimes finishing a critical essay with a rhetorical question is a great idea.
A Good Critical Analysis Essay Example
For many students, it is easier to create their own critical essay if they have a successful example. In this guide, we want to share with our readers a great sample of a critical essay.
For many homeless people, camping is a way of life. In Scott Bransford's article "Camping for Their Lives" he delivers a refreshed perspective into the lives of today's homeless community. Bransford takes the reader into the lives of tent city residents and the events that had led them to their journey of tent living, and to bring awareness to the issue. The article is persuasive and successful at bringing awareness to its readers because of the real-life examples, tone and word choice, non-bias approach, and well-written refutations.
The article begins with Bransford recalling his interview with a couple that has made their home with scraps of wood and a tarp. They live in a city dubbed as the Taco Flat, with a population of 200 people. It's assumed that the reason tent cities are among us is that of the poor economy and that it is only temporary. Tent cities have been around since as early as the 1930s, and they were commonly called Hoovervilles, in reference to the blame on President Herbert Hoover for the Great Depression.
Bransford indicates that the cause of tent cities is real estate speculation and a hard social policy. There might be a factory, call center, or construction job available to struggling Americans in a better economic time. Some state official's solution to getting rid of the homeless issue is conducting raids and destroying tent city resident's personal property. Officials on Ontario, California have started formal camps for tent city residents that have many rules, which left residents feeling like prisoners. Portland, Oregon has established Dignity Village, a community where homeless people can feel safe and free, and work to keep their homes and village in good condition. Bransford thinks that other states could take a cue from Dignity Village and work on a similar solution for their states homeless issue.
One of the ways that "Camping for Their Lives" is persuasive to its readers is by bringing in the real-life element. Bransford interviews residents of tent cities to get their true story. Marie and Francisco Caro "were tired of sleeping on separate beds in crowded shelters..." The Caro's situation is described as "in crisis for years, building squatter settlements as a "do or die" alternative to the places that rejected them". Frankie Lynch is a major of the Taco Flat and has been "drifting too, unable to find the construction work that use to pay his bills". Not all homeless people are homeless because they've made bad choices, or suffer from a mental illness. Melody Woolsey describes her life at an organized encampment in Ontario, California to Bransford as "it's like a prison". These real-life people and their experiences bring an emotional hook to the readers.
Throughout the entire article Bransford's tone is neutral and informative. You don't hear the author's feelings when he's writing. You hear about the issue and the facts that support it. The language attracts a wide audience because it is friendly and easy going. A high-school education would be able to comprehend the article easily, since the word choice fairly simple and to the point.
Bransford doesn't appear to the bias to any particular side in the article. You can definitely tell he wants to bring awareness to the homeless problem in our country but doesn't bash anyone specifically to make his article persuasive. No personal opinion is stated, and he doesn't make his article about his stand on the issue of the homeless. Bransford makes sure to lay out the facts and quotes from residents of the tent city community to bring awareness to the issue.
Unlike a lot of articles today, there are no fallacies in "Camping for Their Lives". Bransford does an excellent job of keeping information accurate. When reading the article you will notice that no assumptions are made, everything is either fact, commonly known knowledge, or direct quotes from tent city residents and experts on the subject. One refutation that is in the article is "journalism, eager to prove that the country is entering the next Great Depression, blame the emergence of these shantytowns on the economic downturn, calling them products of foreclosures and layoffs". Bransford partially discredits this with "the fact is that these roving, ramshackle neighborhoods were part of the American cityscape before the stock market nosedived, and they are unlikely to disappear when prosperity returns". This is an example of a perfect refutation. The way what Bransford attempts to discredit what journalism is eager to prove is fantastic, because he considers opposing viewpoints, but makes an argument as to why it isn't correct.
Bransford's "Camping for Their Lives" is an article that brings awareness to the countries homeless, and how we can move forward with this issue. This article is persuasive because of the real-life elements, neutral and informative tone, easily understood language, unbiased viewpoints, and appropriate refutations. The author is very persuasive in his writing and bringing the issue of the homeless to the greater light.
How to Order a Critical Essay Online?
We hope that our guide helped you a lot in creating a persuasive and interesting critical essay. But for some readers, it may be still difficult to make a good work. Thanks to modern technologies, you can always order a great critical essay online without problems! All you need to do is to find a reliable writing company and make your order in a few minutes. This is a great way to make a wonderful essay for people with low skills in writing. Ordering a critical essay online is also a great decision if you have not enough time to do it by yourself.
