Lecture notes
Criticality in Law Essays
- Institution
- Lancaster University (LU)
This document provides information on how to add criticality into your law essays, ensuring effective writing and a higher grade.
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Criticality in Law EssaysBeing critical means finding fault with the arguments, analysis, interpretations etc of others.
Interpreting the subject allows for you to show your thoughts on the matter and it is your
thoughts which are crucial in assessments, as opposed to merely regurgitating literature,
handouts, textbooks etc
Types of Writing
Descriptive writing is fact-based, examples include:
○ Facts and figures about a particular issue
○ Description of a background to a case study
○ Details of an organisation
○ An account of how research was undertaken
○ A summary of a sequence of events
○ Descriptions of what happened in an experiment
Critical writing is more complex, and involves more discussion, analysis and evaluation than
does descriptive writing:
○ Engaging with evidence
○ Open-minded and objective enquiry
○ Presenting reasons to dispute a particular finding
○ Providing an alternative approach
○ Recognising the limitations of evidence: either your evidence or the evidence provided
by others
○ Thinking around a specific problem
○ Applying caution and humility when challenging established positions. Critical writers
might tentatively suggest an independent point of view, using such phrases as ‘it could
be argued that…’ or ‘an alternative viewpoint might suggest that…’
Critical writing is an involvement in an academic debate. It requires ‘a refusal to accept the
conclusions of other writers without evaluating the arguments and evidence they provide’
Developing a Critical Mindset
○ Develop your own argument, based on reading, research and thinking
○ Write it clearly supported by relevant sources from the literature
○ Your Aim: to respond objectively to what you’re reading or thinking through, you need to
keep an open mind and be prepared to question the author’s claims
○ This means that you should try to be aware of any preconceptions you have that might
be skewing the way you think about an argument
Critical Reading
○ Identify the general thrust of the argument within the information you are reading
○ At this stage you are simply trying to define and be aware of the subject matter
, ○ Try to identify the main points of the argument, the claims being made, evidence used
and conclusions reached
○ Analyse the material: does it make sense? Is it clear? How old is it? Balanced
argument?
○ Compare and apply information: weaknesses? Lack of coverage? Implications of one
piece for another?
Read the Question Critically
○ Evaluate: Assess, defence, support, you will need to prepare a reasoned judgment
based on your analysis
○ Apply: Demonstrate, illustrate, interpret,solve, you will need to apply the subject (to a
given situation)
○ Develop: Formulate, arrange, you are expected to combine the material with other
materials you read in the course
○ Compare: Contrast, discriminate, distinguish, examine, you will need to analyse the
argument
○ Define: List, name, order, you will need to identify the content
Structuring Your Essay
○ Use context and examples
○ Use themes
○ Link and signpost
Types of Evidence
- Statistical: Based on statistics
- Observational: Based on what the person has observed
- Causal: Based on what has caused a particular result
- Experimental: Based on what experience shows
Things to Avoid
○ Failure to interpret the essay title
○ Lack of structure/coherence
○ Lack of analysis
○ Lack of supporting evidence Journal
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