Critical review

What is a critical review and why write one? • A critical review is an exercise in critical thinking and evaluation. • Critical thinking is not just being negative. It means thinking carefully and clearly – thinking about both strengths and weaknesses in the material under eview. • It should help you develop your ability to comprehend and summarise the material presented for review, to think clearly and critically about it, and to exercise judgment on it in the light of what you know, or what you can find out, about the issues dealt with. • A critical review is also an exercise in effective reading, writing aand speaking.

• You should aim to make your presentation concise and clear. • The following notes provide some guidelines on the sort of things your review should include. In addition, most of the academic journals held in the Library contain book reviews; you could consult them to see the sort of thing that is required.