Critical writing is about the confidence and refusal to believe what other writers conclude without giving an evaluation of the arguments and evidence provided by them. It has a balanced explanation and demonstration of the reasons behind the conclusion given by other writers who can be accepted or critiqued. The writer gives his or her own evidence and arguments leading to their conclusion and at the same time recognizes what their evidence, argument and conclusion lack.
It is a normal circumstance for a student to receive feedback about the need to get involved in criticizing the material. The typical comments the tutors make are: ‘not enough analysis given’, or ‘has too much description’.
In order for a piece to be called critical writing, it needs to give where the research was set, an overall description of the chosen piece of art or literature. In any essay, there are measurements taken which needs to be indicated in the critical essay as well. It is also important to tell when the research was done and should serve as an account of a key figure or disciplines or biographical details. A critical writing piece must give a short summary of the history, pointing to an event or decision.
There is another form of writing that is different from critical writing and it is called descriptive writing. When talking about descriptive writing, it is not about creating an argument and the writer is merely setting the foundation in the argument that can come up. The writer is showing and talking about the situation without giving any form of analysis or discussion. There should be a transition from description to providing an analysis and evaluation. This means the writer should say how he or she is interpreting the facts and explain the importance, effects, and what the statements imply.
Compared to the critical writing, descriptive writing is:
1. Simpler, but there is a trap that the writer can exceed the word limit because of the descriptions available. In terms of giving only a description, there is a presentation, but without changing any information which is reporting ideas but not forwarding them.
2. If descriptive writing is used to write a homework, the student will only get a low grade. When working on critical writing, the writer gets involved in academic debate. This makes it more challenging because it will be necessary to evaluate the evidence and others’ arguments.
Another form of writing being compared to critical writing is narrative writing. Typically, a narrative pertains to:
1. The story being told and the order of the manner it is told. There are times when it is narrated, sometimes a character/s tells how the story goes.
2. The majority of non-fiction pieces makes the author become the story’s narrator. People narrate their lives to everyone they talk to. For instance, something happens at home, the person goes to the mall, and then tell all the details to the person in an order that seems right to the narrator. This one is a narrative story.
3. The narrative writing is structured, using details and these details give clues telling the purpose of the author. One example of a story is about a man who experienced a lot of challenges before succeeding in his field. Obviously, the author that gives emphasis on the hardships of a person in the story intends to show how the person overcame adversity to reach success.
In a broad sense, narrative writing is sometimes called story writing, which is a form of writing that uses a main character in a setting who experiences a problem or involves oneself in an experience. This experience will be told in an interesting manner in order to captivate the reader. The event that happens to the main character is referred to as the plot. The plot has a start or beginning, middle or main event, and the denouement or end. The middle part of the story is the most significant one and it is a part of the story that involves the problem or conflict that will be solved with an important life experience. This life event or experience is done by the main character. The authors compose narrative stories so that readers will be entertained, and this is referred to as the author’s purpose.
This type of writing differs from others because:
1. Authors of these are good in organization and they have a full grasp of the narrative story’s shape and the characteristics in this writing.
2. They are able to create beginnings that will entertain people so that their attention is there from the very start and in every story, it should be told in complete detail. If the author gives too much at the start or without proper timing, the suspense can be ruined and that should not happen.
3. When describing the main event, this part should be fully elaborated and the story ending should be satisfying to captivate the audience until the last part of the story.
Critical writing can be challenging, but any dedicated writer will be able to conquer it.
Critical Essay Sample Outline
Gay couples adopting children
- Children adoption by gay couples is no different than heterosexual couples adopting children.
- Structure of the passage
- Description of the work
- Purpose of the work
- To clear out the stigma against gay couples adopting children
- To raise awareness against discrimination against gay couples wanting to have children
- Summary
- Conclusion