Reading critically, and writing using critical techniques, are crucial skills you need to apply to your academic work. If you need to engage with published (or unpublished) literature such as essays, dissertations or theses, research papers or oral presentations, this proven guide helps you develop a reflective and advanced critical approach to your research and writing.
New to this edition:
- Two new chapters on basic and advanced writing skills
- More advice on self-bias and perception
- Updates and additional examples throughout
- Updated online resources providing additional support.
A Companion Website provides additional resources to help you apply the critical techniques you learn. From templates and checklists, access to SAGE journal articles and additional case studies, these free resources will make sure you successfully master advanced critical skills.
Table of Content
Part One: Becoming a Critical Reader and Self-Critical Writer
Chapter 1: What it Means to be Critical
Chapter 2: Making a Critical Choice
Chapter 3: A First Look: Interrogating Abstracts
Chapter 4: Getting Started on Critical Reading
Chapter 5: Getting Started on Self-Critical Writing
Chapter 6: Creating a Comparative Critical Summary
Chapter 7: Developing Your Writing Skills to Communicate Effectively
Part Two: Developing an In-Depth Analysis
Chapter 8: A Mental Map for Navigating the Literature
Chapter 9: Tools for Thinking and Ways of Thinking
Chapter 10: Reasons for Conducting the Research
Chapter 11: Knowledge Claims and Their Key Characteristics
Chapter 12: Developing a Critical Analysis of a Text
Chapter 13: A Worked Example of a Critical Analysis
Chapter 14: Developing Your Argument in Writing a Critical Review of a Text
Part Three: Putting Your Critical Reviews to Work
Chapter 15: Focusing and Building up your Critical Literature Review
Chapter 16: Integrating Critical Literature Reviews into your Dissertation
Chapter 17: Critical Literature Reviews in Alternative Dissertation Structures
Chapter 18: Tools for Structuring a Dissertation
Chapter 19: Using the Literature in Research Papers, Oral Presentations and Posters
Chapter 20: Developing Advanced Writing Skills
About the author
Alison Wray is a Research Professor of Language and Communication at Cardiff University. Her research concerns the modelling of lexical storage and processing, particularly in relation to formulaic phrases, and it has been applied to language learning, evolution of language and language disability. Her two monographs Formulaic Language and the Lexicon (Cambridge University Press, 2002) and Formulaic Language: Pushing the Boundaries (Oxford University Press, 2008) are internationally acclaimed. Her current research focusses on dementia communication. Her 2020 book The Dynamics of Dementia Communication won the 2021 book prize of the British Association for Applied Linguistics and came second in the biennial book award of the American Association for Applied Linguistics. She has also published Why Dementia Makes Communication Difficult: A Guide to Better Outcomes (2021), aimed at people with dementia, their families and carers. She has a longstanding commitment to researcher training, including the developing of academic expertise. She is lead author of the popular undergraduate research methods textbook Projects in Linguistics (Hodder, 2012) and co-author of Critical Reading and Writing for Postgraduates (4th edition 2021).
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