Critiquing

Critiquing is the disciplined act of examining and judging a work, argument, performance, or idea according to explicit criteria. It aims to reveal strengths and limitations and to explain why those judgments matter, rather than simply expressing personal taste. Effective critiquing is evidence based, transparent about assumptions, and oriented toward understanding and improvement.

Practices often follow a descriptive-analytic-evaluative sequence. A critique describes the work and its aims, analyzes how its parts function and relate, interprets its meaning or purpose, and evaluates its success against predefined criteria such as clarity, coherence, originality, technical quality, and impact. A structured critique uses concrete examples and supports judgments with justification rather than opinion alone.

Critiquing occurs across fields: art and literature critiques assess meaning and craft; design and user experience critiques examine usability and aesthetics; scientific and scholarly critiques appraise methods and evidence; classroom peer critiques provide feedback to learners. Ethical critique focuses on the work, avoids ad hominem or dismissal of the creator, and acknowledges potential biases while citing criteria and evidence.

Tips for effective critiquing include stating purpose, summarizing the work concisely, sticking to observable features, grounding judgments in criteria, providing specific, actionable feedback, and balancing strengths with areas for improvement. The goal is to inform understanding and support improvement, not merely to disparage.