Critical review

In this paper, I will review the article, “The similarities and differences between public and

private universities”. This article features compare and contrast text type. I do agree with the

author that public and private universities have their own advantages and disadvantages that

brings them to have similarities and differences between them. Students are supposed to

choose their choice of institutions by comparing and contrasting the capability of the institution.

The author has stated the thesis statement very clear in the introductory paragraph stating that

students should be able to “compare and contrast the strengths and weaknesses of both types

of institutions based on the course available, the course fees charged and the competitiveness

of the universities”. The text followed the block structure. All the differences are stated first and

then followed by the similarities. This helps the reader to have a clear picture of both aspects

with proper evidences. For instance, the author mentioned that the types of courses that public

and private universities offer vary significantly. As a result, the author stated that “business

programmes in public universities include various degrees in business administration like

Islamic banking and insurance”. The text is also well organised with the sequence of topic

sentences, supporting details, examples and followed by concluding sentence in each body

paragraphs.

Moreover, there are some signal words that shows the compare and contrast text type. For

instance, the author used words like “in contrast, another difference, compared, whereas,

however and despite these differences”. Some set phrases are also been used in this text to

make the reader find the connection between each point. For instance, the phrases like “in

addition” is used to provide additional information, “firstly, one significant are, moreover” are

used to introduce a number points, words like “but and however” are used to contrast the

information whereas phrases like “thus and in fact” shows the logical connections and relations

between each paragraph and sentences.

Meanwhile, the usage of cohesive devices is found in this article. The author used some

language structures to emphasise the similarities and differences. For example, when the

author wanted to compare the similarities between public and private universities, he used

languages like, “likewise and similar”. While, the author used languages like, “in contrast,

however and apart from that” when he wanted to emphasise the differences between the public

and private universities.

The findings of the author in the first body paragraph are very clearly presented using

appropriate examples and supporting details. For instance, the author points out that public

universities offer “a whole range of courses” while private universities only give priority to

“programmes that have higher market value”. This statement is supported by Dazim Daud

(2019), saying that public universities tend to offer more degree programmes because the

number of students in public universities are more than the students counts in private

universities. Private institutions are funded by scholars and shareholders. I do agree with the

author when he says that some private universities are profit-driven institutions. This result is

consistent with the sayings of Erin Fox (2016), that profit universities run as a business based

and ignore the important programmes that should be given priority.

However, the target audience of this article is not sure because the author did not provide any

information regarding the target audience. There is no information about the publishment of the

article whether it was published popularly or scholarly. Likewise, the author’s background is not

stated in this essay which makes the reader to have lack of information about the author’s

background. The author did not mention his identity to the audience. Though, the author used

everyday language in this article so that the audience can easily understand the points. The

language doesn’t apt for scholars because the author did not use technical language and

citations in the essay. Citations would ease the scholars to get extra knowledge from the text

and other sources but this essay does not contain any in text citations. Therefore, this article is

not suitable for scholars.

In addition, there are some flaws found in this article. Although the text organisation is good at

some point, the organization has some weaknesses too. From the text written, I found that the

restatement of thesis statement in the concluding paragraph is not clear. The author made a

general statement in the conclusion. The author has stated that “Thus, it is up to students to

compare the similarities and differences between a public university and a private university

before deciding which institution to pursue their tertiary education in”. From here, the reader

could not find the main points that have been stated in the thesis statement. Whereas, there

should be a clear rephrase of the thesis statement.

Besides that, the article is not considered as an authentic text. Authentic text is an original text

produced by the real writer for a real audience. In detail, these texts are usually designed for
real use of the language and not for language learning. Those texts are also not produced for

the purpose of teaching. From reviewing the essay critically, I found that the writer has written

for the purpose of student learning. This is because, I found that the article is very well

organized in terms of text structure. The article has a clear presentation of thesis statement,

topic sentences and concluding paragraph. The linking words and the effective supporting

details along with examples help the reader or a student to draw attention towards the important

points stated in the article. As a result, “students need to compare and contrast the strengths

and weaknesses of both types of institutions based on the courses available, the course fees

charged and the competitiveness of the universities.” This sentence clearly provides the

importance of thesis statement in an academic text.

In this review, I have discussed the author’s article ‘The similarities and differences between

public and private universities.’ This text covered some important elements of critical review

such as text structure, text organisation, cohesive devices, language, authenticity and target

audience. The author needs to develop in the element of target audience to advance his text.

(1020 words)

Reference

1. Martin Davies. (2011). Writing Critical Review: Step-by-Step Guide. Study skills for

international postgraduates (pp.151-163).

2. Kathleen Rowlands. (n.d.). Understanding text structures. Expository reading and writing

course. The California State University.

3. D.W. Lehman, K.O’Connor, B.Kovas, G.E. Newman. (2018). Authenticity. The Academy

of Management Annals 13(1).

4. Authenticity-an overview / ScienceDirect Topics.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/authenticity

5. Dazim Daud. (n.d.). Themes on Malaysia Private Universities’ Information on the

Policies. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Themes-on-Malaysia-Private-Universities-

Information-on-the-Policies_fig3_336632029

6. E.Fox. (2016). 5 reasons Why a private