Revision: how to write a critical essay
 Indicate text titles correctly
In a hand-written essay or a typed essay the titles of poems and short
stories should be in single inverted commas:
‘Home’ by Iain Crichton Smith; ‘In Mrs Tilscher’s Class’, ‘Before You Were
Mine’, ‘Valentine’ and ‘Havisham’ by Carol Ann Duffy.
In a hand-written essay the titles of plays and novels should be
underlined, no inverted commas necessary:
The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald; Romeo and Juliet by William
Shakespeare.
In a typed essay the titles of plays and novels should be italicized, again
with no inverted commas:
The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald; Romeo and Juliet by William
Shakespeare.
 You should write in the present tense
The lovers are married by Friar Lawrence in secret not the lovers were
married by Friar Lawrence in secret. DO NOT switch between tenses
throughout your essay. The only exception to this is when you say who
wrote the text you are writing about, eg:
Two poems which deal with the theme of love are ‘Havisham’ and
‘Valentine’, which were written by Carol Ann Duffy. Both poems are…
 You should write in the third person
Not I think that the characters… but the reader views the characters as…

Learn the correct spelling of the names of your texts and their authors,
and the characters and settings they contain – there is no excuse for
this type of error and it is frowned on heavily by markers
 Use a formal tone
DO NOT use any of the following: slang (rejection has messed with her
head); contractions (the reader can’t be sure if…); abbrevations (Juliet &
Romeo….). If you are still stuck look at the example paragraph on the
next page for an idea of what a formal tone sounds like.
 Evaluation must be based on analysis of the text
Not I believe in love at first sight so I believe it is credible that Romeo
and Juliet fall in love upon meeting one another for the first time but
Shakespeare uses techniques in such a way that the audience is able to
put any cynicism to one side and believe that Romeo and Juliet fall in love
instantly; the sonnet they share in Act I scene v is the first example of
this…
 Punctuate quotes accurately
Short quotes can be run on in your essay but should be indicated by
quotation marks, eg:
The Prologue tells the reader that Romeo and Juliet are “star-cross’d
lovers”.
Longer quotes can also be run on in your essay but should be introduced
by a colon, note also that lines of poetry or drama texts should be
separated by a /, eg:
The first verse begins: “You could travel up the blue Nile / with your finger
tracing the route”.
Longer quotes than two or three lines should be separated from the body
of your text by clear separation, no quotation marks are needed but they
should still be introduced by a colon, eg:
When the audience first encounters Romeo he believes himself to be in
love with Rosaline. It is obvious, however, that his love is not genuine.
This is indicated by his use of oxymorons and exaggeration when he talks
of his love for her:
Why then, o brawling love, o loving hate,
O any thing of nothing first create!
O heavy lightness, serious vanity,
Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms
This language makes it clear that Romeo is confused about the true
nature of love, and correspondingly his feelings for Rosaline.
 Remember POINT-EVIDENCE-EVALUATION
DO NOT include quotes without analyzing them. DO NOT include quotes
to move along your summary of plot or character development. YOU
MUST think about technique used in the quotes you cite: word choice,
imagery, symbolism, tone, structure etc. Please note that theme is NOT a
technique, it is suggested by the content of the text. Eg:
When Romeo talks about Juliet he often does so in such a way that she,
or her beauty, is compared to light. Upon seeing her for the first time he
exclaims: “O she doth teach the torches to burn bright”; later, in the
‘balcony scene’, he says: “Two of the boldest stars in all the heaven, /
Having some business, do entreat her eyes / To twinkle in their spheres
till they return”. The poetry of these lines is a contrast to the forced,
exaggerated tone in which Romeo discusses Rosaline at the start of the
play. Furthermore it becomes obvious that, to Romeo, Juliet and her
beauty symbolize light, and therefore life. She very quickly becomes the
focus of all Romeo’s thoughts and deeds, and the one thing he cannot live
without. All this serves to develop and highlight the play’s central theme
of love.
In this example the POINT is highlighted yellow, the EVIDENCE is
highlighted green, and the EVALUATION is highlighted blue. Look at the
various techniques covered in this paragraph: comparison (compared to
light); contrast, exaggeration, tone (a contrast to the forced, exaggerated
tone); symbolism (Juliet and her beauty symbolize light).