Critical
Essays
If you’re a high school student, you’re going to
have to write a critical essay at some point. The odds of you
doing a number of critical essays goes up even more if you decide to
attend a university or technical college, and these odds skyrocket if
you major anywhere in the humanities, from political science to
communications to English, you’ll be writing more than your
share of critical essays over the course of your college
career. Since you’ll be writing a lot of critical
essays and since a good portion of your grades will be based upon them
(especially if your professors or teachers are fond of giving
essay-based final exams) it’s worth it to learn how to write
a good critical essay.
By far, the most important component of a critical essay is the
thesis. Without a strong thesis, either explicit (outlined in
the text, usually somewhere within the introduction) or implicit
(implied), your essay is probably going to fall apart.
Explicit theses are nice because they give you, the writer, a reminder
of what it is exactly that you’re writing about.
They give you a literary roadmap for the rest of your essay.
Implicit theses are sometimes considered to be a little more stylish,
but if you decide to use an implicit thesis you should write your
actual, explicit thesis somewhere on your rough draft to keep what
you’re writing about in mind while you setup the rest of the
essay. A thesis for a critical essay should explain what
you’re examining, how you’re examining it, and what
you plan to find, and it should usually be placed somewhere in the
introductory paragraph. As you get better at writing critical
essays you may find it works better to save your thesis for your
conclusion, but when you’re starting out it’s good
to start off with the thesis so you can keep it in mind throughout the
entire essay. When writing the essay be sure that you prove
your thesis while not straying outside of its boundaries; this sort of
focus is what makes a good critical essay.
Once you have your thesis it’s important to sketch out a
quick outline for your critical essay. Though many students
loathe outlines, they’re the best tool for making sure that
your essay is well-structured and clear. A rough outline will
give you an idea of the general flow of your essay, while a
well-detailed outline will make writing the actual essay a snap since
you’ll only have to connect the dots you’re setup
for yourself in the outline. Just be sure that you focus on
your thesis and that all of the components of your essay contribute to
proving the thesis and you’ll be on your way to a solid
critical essay.
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