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Basic Education Department

LESSON 6: Writing the Reaction Paper/Review/Critique

At the end of the lesson, the students will be able to:

a. Forms opinions based on facts
b. Present ideas convincingly.
c. Use appropriate critical approaches in writing a critique
d. Write an objective/balanced reaction/review or critique of a
work of art, an event or a program
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WHAT IS A REACTION PAPER/REVIEW AND CRITIQUE?

 Specialized forms of writing in which reviewer or reader evaluates

any of the following:
 SCHOLARLY WORK (e.g academic books, articles)
 A WORK OF ART (e.g performance art, play, dance, sports,
films, exhibits)
 DESIGNS (e.g industrial designs, furniture, fashion design)
 GRAPHIC DESIGNS (e.g posters, billboards, commercials and
digital media)

 A Reaction Paper is/does/must…

 A reaction to something you have read or seen.

 Be organized
 Have citations and references
 Include your opinions but be careful to support your opinion
with evidence.
 Summarize what you are reacting to in the beginning of the
paper.
 Explain your reaction(s) to the topic and explain why you
think this way about the topic.
 Judge, analyze or evaluate the issues of the topic
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 Identify and discuss the polarizing issues of the topic.

 When you review a journal article…

 You must answer these questions:

o What is this about?
o Why is the topic important?
o What was done?
o Key result (or what happened?)
o What was lest unanswered (according to the
authors?)
 Don’t make hostile, insulting or defamatory remarks. Rather
support your points with evidence.

 What is a critique?

 A paper that gives a critical assessment of a book or article.

 Systematic analysis of a piece of literature that discusses its
validity and evaluates its worth.
 Its main purpose is not informational, but analytic and
persuasive.
 In analyzing the content and context within which the book
(or article) was written the writer of a critique argues
whether it is worth reading or not.

CRITICAL APPROACHES IN WRITING A CRITIQUE

 Formalism
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 Mainly to do with structural purposes of a particular text. It
is the study of a text without taking into account any outside
influence.
 The name of the author is not important.
 The time in which the author lived is not important.

 The political belief of the author is not important.

 The actual reader is not important.
 Intrinsic properties and treats each work as a distinct work
of art.
 The key understanding a text is through a text itself.
 Common aspects looked into in formalism:
o Author’s techniques in resolving contradictions within
the work.
o Central passage that sums up the work
o Relationship of the form and the content
o Unity in the work

 Feminism

 The advocacy of women's rights on the basis of the equality

of the sexes.
 Feminist literary criticism recognizes that since literature
both reflects culture and shapes it, literary studies can either
perpetuate the oppression of women or help to eliminate it.
 Presents women as subjects of sociopolitical, psychological
and economic oppression.
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 Common aspects looked into in feminism:

o How culture determines gender.

o How gender equality is presented in the text

o How gender issues are presented in literary works.

o How women are socially, politically, psychologically

and economically oppressed by patriarchy.

 Reader Response Criticism

 Reviewer’s reaction as an audience of a work.

 A text does not have meaning until the reader reads it.
 Common aspects looked into in reader response:
o Interaction between the reader and the text in creating
meaning.
o The impact of reader’s delivery of sounds and visuals on
enhancing and changing meaning.
 Marxist Criticism
 It is the belief that literature reflects this class struggle and
materialism
 It investigates how literature can work as a force for social
change.
 Differences between economic classes and implications of a
capital system.
 Continuing conflicts between the working class and the elite.
 Common aspects looked into in Marxism:
o Social class as represented in the work
o Social class of the characters
o Conflicts and interactions
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 Other critical approaches you can use:
 Postmodern criticism
 Post-colonial criticism
 Structuralism
 Psychological criticism
 Gender criticism
 Ecocriticism
 Biographical criticism
 Historical criticism
 Mythological criticism

STRUCTURE OF A REACTION PAPER

 Introduction (5%)
 Title of the book/article or work
 Writer’s name
 Thesis statement
 Summary (10%)
 Objective or Purpose
 Methods used (if applicable)
 Major findings, claims, ideas, or messages
 Review/Critique (in no particular order 75%)
 Does the writer explicitly state his/her thesis statement?
 What are the assumptions?
 What are the contributions of the work to the field where
it belongs?
 What problems and issues are discussed or presented in
the work?
 What kind of information are presented in the work?
 Conclusion (10%)
 Overall impression of the work.
 Scholarly or literary value of the reviewed article, book or
work.
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 Benefits for the intended audience.
 Suggestion for future direction of research.

REACTION PAPER W/ NO PRESCRIBED STRUCTURE

 Introduction
 Basic details about the material (title, director or artist name
of exhibition/event)
 Main assessment of the material (for films and
performances)
 Analysis or interpretation
 Discussion or analysis of the work (critical approach)
 What aspects of the work make you think it is a success or a
failure.

 Were there unanswered questions or plot lines? If yes? How

did they affect the story?
 How does the work relate in other ideas ore events in the
world?
 What stood out while you were watching the film or the
performance?
 Reinforcement of main assessment
 Comparison to a similar work.
 Recommendation of the material (if you liked it)
 Conclusion or Evaluation
 Reinforcement of main assessment
 Comparison to a similar work.
 Recommendation of the material (if you liked it)

GUIDELINES

 For Articles and Journals

 Read to the work to be reviewed carefully.
 Relate the content of the work to what you already know about the topic.
 Focus on discussing how the book treats the topic (this book /work
presents/author argues)
 Report the NORTHWESTERN
type of analysis or mode ofUNIVERSITY
presentation.
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 Examine whether the findings are adequately supported
 Suggest points for improvement of the reasoning ‣ Point out other
interpretations that the writer missed out.
 For artworks and other media
 Use speculative verbs (evoke, create, appear, & suggest)
 Make sure to describe it to the reader (do not spoil key events)
 Describe the material in simple terms (artworks)
 General note:
 Did the work hold your interest?
 Did the work annoy or excite you?
 Did the work prompt you to raise questions to the author?
 Did the work lead you to some realizations?
 Did the work remind you of other materials that you have read, viewed or
listened to?

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