Understanding Critical Writing Basics
This activity is taken from Cottrell (2003) and allows you to begin to understand
differences in basic descriptive written text and the kind of writing you need to produce
when at university: critical writing.
Read the extracts below and decide which of them is descriptive and
which is critical.
1.
My name is John. I live at 33 Acacia Drive. I have five sisters
and brothers. I am good at team games, and enjoy football,
cricket and baseball. Team games were encouraged by both
my parents. All of my family took part in sport. Our teachers at
Beckfield School were very interested in sports sciences. We
were encouraged to drink lots of water to improve our
performance. Our team always did well, so it seems to have
worked. I also like to go running. I live in the beautiful Welsh
borders, so it is a pleasure to take a healthy
run each day.
2. At Beckfield School, teachers took a scientific approach to
school sports over a ten-year period. In particular, pupils were
encouraged to monitor they intake of fluids. All pupils were
required to drink a minimum eight glasses of tap water a day. The
school did consistently well in sports competitions over this period,
and the teachers claimed that this was proof of the importance to
good performance of liquid intake. However, it is not clear that
the school’s sports performance can be attributed to water intake. Beckfield School’s
claims were investigated by an independent researcher, Martinez (2002). Martinez
argued that although Beckfield’s performance was good, its performance in
competitions was consistent with what would be expected of a school of its size. In
addition, interviews with pupils showed that most had not followed the school
regulations on drinking water. Most pupils stated that they drank less than one glass of
tap water a day. Although other research does suggest that water intake benefits
performance (Fredo, 1997; Mitsuki, 1997), Beckfield School’s claims about the benefits
of tap water in its sports success have not been proved.
COTTRELL, S. (2003) The Study Skills Handbook, Palgrave Study Guides, Basingstoke:
Palgrave Macmillan.
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Answers
Of course, extract 1 is descriptive because it:
- Simply gives basic information the subject;
- It uses first person and is highly personalised in tone;
- It makes no attempt at demonstrating a ‘deep’ understanding of the topic it
explains;
- No supporting material needs to be read and referenced in order to produce it.
Extract 2 is critical because it:
- Is attempting to take a formal style, avoiding the use of the first person singular
pronoun (I);
- It considers sides of a potential debate raised by someone’s investigation;
- It ‘assumes’ an argument: it tries to argue that the research at Beckfield School,
and so the benefits of increased hydration, are inconclusive.
- It cites sources which the writer has consulted in order to find an argument to
pursue and then references these sources as potential evidence.
Now make a decision about the following extracts: descriptive, critical
or both?
1. In the West, all life forms are divided into one of two categories: plant or animal.
Animals move and take in food. Plants are rooted into the earth in someway and
lack locomotion. They photosynthesise their food. Zoologists study animals, and
botanists study plants. Bacteria were classified as plants because many kinds of
bacteria photosynthesise their food. However, they also have locomotion. Recent
research has shown that there is an enormous variety of bacteria. Some are able to
survive at extreme temperatures and in the absence of oxygen. Most plants cannot
usually survive those conditions. Therefore, even though bacteria photosynthesise,
they are not now regarded as plants.
2. The difficulty in categorising bacteria was partly based on the assumption that all
life forms were divided into two main categories, plants and animals.. Organisms
that photosynthesised and lacked mobility were classified as plants; those that had
locomotion and ingested food were classifies as animals. Bacteria were traditionally
categorised as plants because many forms of bacteria photosynthesised their food
like plants. However, bacteria also have locomotion, associated with animal life.
Genetic research has now shown that there are at least eleven major divisions of
bacteria, all of which are more genetically distinct than plants are from animals
(Fuhrman et al., 1992). In addition, the minute organisms formerly described as
‘bacteria’ are now found to consist of several major kingdoms and domains of
unicellular and multi-cellular life (bacteria, archaea, eucarya) (Woese, 1994). This
research is significant as it has shown that the fundamental division of all life forms
into ‘plant’ or ‘animal’ was an error, and that plants and animals form only a very
small part of a much more diverse range of living organisms.
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3. Scientists do not agree about the extent to which creativity can be linked to activity
in the right hemisphere of the brain. It is known that the biochemistry of the two
hemispheres of the brain is different. For example there is more of the neurotransmitter, norepinephrine, in the right hemisphere than the left (Oke et al., 1978)
Norepinephrine is associated with increased alertness to visual stimuli. It has been
suggested by Springer and Deutsch (1981) that this may lead to increased righthemisphere specialisation for visual and spatial perception. However, this link is not
yet proven. It is not yet clear whether one hemisphere of the brain can be
responsible for any creative task. Moreover, although it might seem reasonable to
assume that responsiveness to visual stimulus may be an important factor of
creativity, this has also not yet been proved.
4. The brain contains millions of neurons. These communicate with each other
through electro-chemical activity at the synapses found at the end of each neuron.
The chemicals that enable this communication to take place are known as neurotransmitters. Each neuro-transmitter is associated with different kinds of message.
The different messages to the brain influence the way we respond to events that
take place in our internal or external world. Some neuro-transmitters are associated
with mood swings, with depression, with rapid responses, and so forth.
5. Bowlby’s Attachment Theory argues that child development is affected by the
closeness of the bond between a mother and its child. Bowlby claimed that even
short spells away from the mother during infancy could have a profound effect
upon a person later in life. This became known as ‘maternal deprivation theory’.
According to this theory, the relationship with the mother during an early ‘critical
period’ gives the developing child an ‘internal working model’. This model then
forms the foundation of all future relationships.
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Answers
1. This is mainly descriptive writing. The statements are not linked and ordered in
such a way that they build towards a conclusion.
2. Critical. It gives a reasoned account of the difficulties in classifying bacteria. It
draws on research and evaluates the research’s significance.
3. This is critically analytical. It evaluates the evidence for the theory. It draws out
current findings that may have implications in the long term. It questions
‘reasonable assumptions’.
4. This is descriptive.
5. This is descriptive! It describes Bowlby’s theories but does not critically evaluate
them.
The end...
This has given a basic beginning in understanding critical analysis. Critical texts and
descriptive texts have distinct features. Most of your writing at degree level is expected to
be more critical and less descriptive.
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