CRITIQUE PAPER

• Know the purpose or motive of the critiquing - this will help the students to be fair and not judgmental in the process.
• Set or prepare models or guidelines before the process - all feedback about the work must be based on these.
• Evaluate in proper context - this will help students discover the background, motivation and even the audience of the piece of work.
• Use analogy - this is to compare and contrast approaches, methods and solutions.
• Utilize neutral tone - this is achieved by using concrete and clear words that the recipient maybe familiar with.
• Do not impose your personal preferences, perception and perspective on things
• This will help retain artistic originality.
• Construct, not destruct - the critique must have positive and negative feedback, but they must be of equal footing for the improvement of the work
• Explain your judgement - an explanation must be provided to support the judgement.
• Apply sandwich-psychology approach - as explained earlier, the critique must begin with positive feedback, must continue with negative feedback and must end with a suggestion for improvement.
• Act like a mentor - interaction must be done in clear guidelines and mutual respect
• Also critique the creation, not the creator
• 1. Historical or biographical approach reflects primarily on the author's life and the political, economic and sociological context of his time. In other words, this is examining the world behind the text. Understanding the social structure of the time gives the reader greater knowledge as his basis to draw conclusions about the work. This approach works well for those like of John Locke, Jon Stuart Mill and Jean Jacques Rousseau whose writings are merely political in nature.
• 1. Moral/Political approach affirms that the larger purpose of literature is to teach morality and to probe philosophical issues. Practitioners of this approach include authors like Plato, who focused on moralism and utilitarianism, Horace, who affirmed that literature must be delightful and instructional and Matthew Arnold who advocated that great literary works must possess high seriousness. However, some believe that this approach seems judgmental since literature must be gauged not on moral or philosophical content but on the merit of its artistic value.
• 1. Formalism approach also known as Russian formalism centers on the structural purpose of a particular text without taking into account any outside influence. In other words, this approach looks into the work's element of style, structure, tone, imagery, etc. and determines how these elements work together with its content, and examines how it affects the readers.
• 1. Gender Criticism examines how sexual identity influences the creation of a masterpiece.
  2. Masculinist approach centers on the desire to work with mens issues and yields to the political conviction that feminism does not fit with the facts, and needlessly vilifies men.
  3. Feminist approach centers on the impact of gender on writing and reading, analyses how sexual identity influences the reader of a text, and examine how the images of men and women reflect or reject the social forces that have historically kept the sexes from achieving total equality.
• 5. Psychological Criticism is an approach which, in method, concept, or form, is influenced by the tradition of psychoanalysis begun by Sigmund Freud. This argues that literary texts like dreams, express the secret unconscious desires and anxieties of the author, that a literary work is a manifestation of the author's own phobias, obsessions and reservations.
• 6. Sociological Approach centers on the critic's ability to look into a masterpiece in the cultural, economic and political context. Also, this approach focuses on man's relationship to others in society, politics, religion and business. In other words, the critic examines the relationship of characters and their society, prevalent issues and societal dictates and even social forces that shape the perception, perspective and preferences of the people.
• 7. Archetypal Approach focuses on connection to other literature, mythological or biblical allusions, archi-type images, symbols, character and themes utilized by the masterpiece. This type of criticism affirms that archetypes or basic forms are personified in recurring symbols or patterns such as the apple, snake, and crucifixion, which have meaning already when employed in a particular work.