Are your Academic Essays giving your nightmares, and no matter how well you write, your Professor still says the essay is not critical enough? Well, critical analysis can become a major problem for students if they are not taught how to indulge in critical analysis adequately. Critical analysis means the subjective analysis of a particular topic using research works while analyzing the findings or the claims made by these works using your own ideas.
Here are four easy steps that you can follow to enhance the critical nature of your Academic Essays-
Extensive Research
For writing a critical academic essay, you need to ensure that your essay is backed by extensive research. For instance, you need to ensure that each argument you present, along with the supporting evidence for it, is supported by recent and relevant literature. The same thing holds true for the counterarguments you are offering. This, while lending the critical touch to your essay, will also help the Professor understand the effectiveness with which you can work with a large volume of literature to analyze a particular topic.
Personal Analysis of the Research Claims
An important trick for ensuring that your academic essay is critical in nature is to indulge in a personal analysis of the claims or the arguments that you are presenting in the essay. You need to understand that essay is not a literature review wherein you will state what different researchers have said regarding the topic. Instead, the Professor wants to see how well you have understood the findings of those research works, and an easy way to do this is by offering your own analysis of their findings.
Counterargument and Rebuttals
Providing counterarguments to the main arguments presented in the essay is another crucial strategy to enhance the critical nature of an essay. This allows you to present or acknowledge other perspectives regarding the topic you have presented while helping the Professor understand the breadth of research undertaken for the completion of the essay. Further, merely providing the counterargument is not enough; you also need to give rebuttals for refuting the counterarguments. Again, this helps you reinforce the main arguments you presented in the essay.
Writing Style
The benefits of a good writing style are often overlooked while discussing the aspect of critical analysis. Having a good writing style can help you significantly alleviate the critical nature of your essay through different linking or connecting words and phrases. Further, it can also help you signpost the arguments, counterarguments and rebuttals you are using in the essay to make it easier for the readers to understand them. Thus, you must also focus on using an effective writing style alongside extensive research.
So, what are you waiting for? Try implementing these steps the next time you write an academic essay to enhance your essay's critical nature and for getting a good grade!
