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Learning Objective

This module discusses the principles and uses of a reaction paper, review or critique. It is
designed for use by Senior High School students who aim to develop their skills in the use of
appropriate critical approaches in writing reviews.

In doing this module, please follow these reminders:

1. Take the pretest before working or answering the module.
2. Perform the activities as suggested.
3. Answer all the exercises.
4. Take the Post Test.

PRE-TEST
Write T if the statement is true and F if it is false.

____________ 1. A review or reaction paper involves higher order thinking skills.

____________ 2. A reaction paper, review and critique generally use the same organization of
ideas.
____________ 3. A review must always be organized using a structure.
____________ 4. Feminist criticism relates to conflict between classes.
____________ 5. Marxist criticism involves the analysis of the intrinsic features of a text.
____________ 6. More than half of a review or critique should be devoted to the summary.
____________ 7. The name of an author and tittle of the reviewed article are placed at the end
of the review or critique.
____________ 8. The reviewer’s overall impression of the material being reviewed should be
placed in an introduction.
____________ 9. When writing a review, reaction paper, or critique, only one perspective should
be used.
____________10. Writing a reaction paper, review or critique is exclusive for scholars.

REVIEW
As you have learned from your previous lesson, understanding the thesis statement is
important in understanding the text you are reading. Whatever your academic paper is about, it
should always contain the central idea or a thesis statement. Relatively, outlining is as important
as the thesis statement because it is a helpful tool for organizing your work. Set a series of input,
the outline shows the logical arrangement of ideas to be included in your essay.
In this lesson, you will have a more in depth understanding of principles and uses of a
reaction paper, review or critique.
STUDY TIME

A critique is a careful analysis of an argument to determine what is said, how well the
points are made, what assumptions underlie the argument, what issues are overlooked, and what
implications are drawn from such observations. It is a systematic, yet personal response and
evaluation of what you read. It is a genre of academic writing that briefly summarizes and
critically evaluates a work or concept.

Critiques can be used to carefully analyze a variety of works such as:

 Creative works – novels, exhibits, film, images, poetry

 Research – monographs, journal articles, systematic reviews, theories
 Media – news reports, feature articles
 Like an essay, a critique uses a formal, academic writing style and has a clear structure,
that is, an introduction, body and conclusion. However, the body of a critique includes a
summary of the work and a detailed evaluation. The purpose of an evaluation is to gauge the
usefulness or impact of a work in a particular field.

Writing a critique on a work helps us to develop:

 A knowledge of the work’s subject area or related works.
 An understanding of the work’s purpose, intended audience, development of
argument, structure of evidence or creative style.
 A recognition of the strengths and weaknesses of the work.

How to write a critique

Before you start writing, it is important to have a thorough understanding of the work that will be
critiqued.

 Study the work under discussion.

 Make notes on key parts of the work.
 Develop an understanding of the main argument or purpose being expressed in the work.
 Consider how the work relates to a broader issue or context.

The following are the different approaches in writing a critique:

1. Formalist: This approach regards literature as “a unique form of human knowledge that needs
to be examined on its own terms.” All the elements necessary for understanding the work are
contained within the work itself. Of particular interest to the formalist critic are the elements of
form—style, structure, tone, imagery, etc. — that are found within the text. A primary goal for
formalist critics is to determine how such elements work together with the text’s content to shape
its effects upon readers.

Questions to be Asked for Formalistic Approach

A. How is the work’s structure unified?

B. How do various elements of the work reinforce its meaning?
C. What recurring patterns (repeated or related words, images, etc.) can you find?
D. What is the effect of these patterns or motifs?
E. How does repetition reinforce the theme(s)?
F. How does the writer’s diction reveal or reflect the work’s meaning?
G. What is the effect of the plot, and what parts specifically produce that effect?
H. What figures of speech are used? (metaphors, similes, etc.)
I. Note the writer’s use of paradox, irony, symbol, plot, characterization, and style of narration.
J. What effects are produced? Do any of these relate to one another or to the theme?
K. Is there a relationship between the beginning and the end of the story?
L. What tone and mood are created at various parts of the work?
M. How does the author create tone and mood? What relationship is there between tone and
mood and the effect of the story?
N. How do the various elements interact to create a unified whole?

2. Gender Criticism: This approach “examines how sexual identity influences the creation and
reception of literary works.” Originally an offshoot of feminist movements, gender criticism
today includes a number of approaches, including the so-called “masculinist” approach recently
advocated by poet Robert Bly. The bulk of gender criticism, however, is feminist and takes as a
central precept that the patriarchal attitudes that have dominated western thought have resulted,
consciously or unconsciously, in literature “full of unexamined ‘male-produced’ assumptions.”

3. Feminist criticism attempts to correct this imbalance by analyzing and combating such
attitudes—by questioning, for example, why none of the characters in Shakespeare’s play
Othello ever challenge the right of a husband to murder a wife accused of adultery. Other goals
of feminist critics include “analyzing how sexual identity influences the reader of a text” and
“examining how the images of men and women in imaginative literature reflect or reject the
social forces that have historically kept the sexes from achieving total equality.” Feminist
Criticism examines images of women and concepts of the feminine in myth and literature; uses
the psychological, archetypal, and sociological approaches; often focuses on female characters
who have been neglected in previous criticism. Feminist critics attempt to correct or supplement
what they regard as a predominantly male-dominated critical perspective.

Questions to be asked for Feministic Approach

A. How are women’s lives portrayed in the work?
B. Is the form and content of the work influenced by the writer’s gender?
C. How do male and female characters relate to one another? Are these
relationships sources of conflict? Are these conflicts resolved?
D. Does the work challenge or affirm traditional views of women?
E. How do the images of women in the story reflect patriarchal social forces that have impeded
women’s efforts to achieve full equality with men?
F. What marital expectations are imposed on the characters? What effect do these expectations
have?
G. What behavioral expectations are imposed on the characters? What effect do these
expectations have?
H. If a female character were male, how would the story be different (and vice versa)?
I. How does the marital status of a character affect her decisions or happiness?

4. Historical: This approach “seeks to understand a literary work by investigating the social,
cultural, and intellectual context that produced it—a context that necessarily includes the artist’s
biography and milieu.” A key goal for historical critics is to understand the effect of a literary
work upon its original readers.

Questions to be Asked for Formalistic Approach

A. How does it reflect the time in which it was written?
B. How accurately does the story depict the time in which it is set?
C. What literary or historical influences helped to shape the form and content of the work?
D. How does the story reflect the attitudes and beliefs of the time in which it was written or set?
(Consider beliefs and attitudes related to race, religion, politics, gender, society, philosophy, etc.)
E. What other literary works may have influenced the writer?
F. What historical events or movements might have influenced this writer?
G. How would characters and events in this story have been viewed by the writer’s
contemporaries?
H. Does the story reveal or contradict the prevailing values of the time in which it was written?
Does it provide an opposing view of the period’s prevailing values?
I. How important is it the historical context (the work’s and the reader’s) to interpreting the
work?

5. Reader-Response Criticism: This approach takes as a fundamental tenet that “literature” exists
not as an artifact upon a printed page but as a transaction between the physical text and the
mind of a reader. It attempts “to describe what happens in the reader’s mind while interpreting
a text” and reflects that reading, like writing, is a creative process.
6. Structuralism focused on how human behavior is determined by social, cultural and
psychological structures. It tended to offer a single unified approach to human life that would
embrace all disciplines. The essence of structuralism is the belief that “things cannot be
understood in isolation, they have to be seen in the context of larger structures which contain
them. For example, the structuralist analysis of Donne’s poem, Good Morrow, demands more
focus on the relevant genre, the concept of courtly love, rather than on the close reading of the
formal elements of the text.

7. Sociological focuses on man’s relationship to others in society, politics, religion, and business.

Questions to be asked for Sociological Approach

A. What is the relationship between the characters and their society?

B. Does the story address societal issues, such as race, gender, and class?
C. How do social forces shape the power relationships between groups or classes of people in the
story? Who has the power, and who doesn’t? Why?
D. How does the story reflect the Great American Dream?
E. How does the story reflect urban, rural, or suburban values?
F. What does the work say about economic or social power? Who has it and who doesn’t? Any
Marxist leanings evident?
G. Does the story address issues of economic exploitation? What role does money play?
H. How do economic conditions determine the direction of the characters’ lives?
I. Does the work challenge or affirm the social order it depicts?
J. Can the protagonist’s struggle be seen as symbolic of a larger class struggle?
K. How does the microcosm (small world) of the story reflect the macrocosm (large world) of
the society in which it was composed?
L. Do any of the characters correspond to types of government, such as a dictatorship,
democracy, communism, socialism, fascism, etc.? What attitudes toward these political
structures/systems are expressed in the work? Now, you have learned the basic principles of
writing criticisms. Let us apply our skill by doing these activities.

In general, the critique should be organized.

KEY POINTS

A critique is a careful analysis of an argument to determine what is said, how well the
points are made, what assumptions underlie the argument, what issues are overlooked, and what
implications are drawn from such observations.

Different Approaches in Writing a Critique

1. Formalist: This approach regards literature as “a unique form of human knowledge that needs
to be examined on its own terms.”

2. Gender Criticism: This approach “examines how sexual identity influences the creation and
reception of literary works.”

3. Feminist Criticism examines images of women and concepts of the feminine in myth and
literature; uses the psychological, archetypal, and sociological approaches.

4. Historical: This approach “seeks to understand a literary work by investigating the social,
cultural, and intellectual context that produced it—a context that necessarily includes the artist’s
biography and milieu.”
5. Reader-Response Criticism: This approach takes as a fundamental tenet that “literature” exists
not as an artifact upon a printed page but as a transaction between the physical text and the mind
of a reader.

6. Structuralism focused on how human behavior is determined by social, cultural and

psychological structures.

7. Sociological focuses on man’s relationship to others in society, politics, religion, and business.
 ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES

Name: Strand and Section:

WORKSHEET 5

ACTIVITY 1

Directions: Summarize what you have read by completing the table with what you understood.

APPROACHES IN WHAT IT IS (DEFINITION) HOW IT IS DONE

LITERARY CRITICISM (TECHNIQUE IN WRITING)
Example: Formalism This approach regards A primary goal for formalist
literature as “a unique form of critics is to determine how
human knowledge that needs elements of form (style,
to be examined on its own structure, tone, imagery, etc.)
terms.” work together with the text’s
content to shape its effects
upon readers.
ACTIVITY 2

Directions: Read or silently sing this song entitled “Bahay” by Gary Granada. Make your
criticism by completing the graphic organizer below.

Gary Granada
Isang araw ako'y nadalaw sa bahay tambakan
Labinglimang mag-anak ang duo'y nagsiksikan
Nagtitiis sa munting barung-barong na sira-sira
Habang doon sa isang mansyon halos walang nakatira

Sa init ng tabla't karton sila doo'y nakakulong

Sa lilim ng yerong kalawang at mga sirang gulong
Pinagtagpi-tagping basurang pinatungan ng bato
Hindi ko maintindihan bakit ang tawag sa ganito
Ay bahay

Sinulat ko ang nakita ng aking mga mata

Ang kanilang kalagayan ginawan ko ng kanta
Iginuhit at isinalarawan ang naramdaman
At sinangguni ko sa mga taong marami ang alam
 Isang bantog na senador ang unang nilapitan ko
At dalubhasang propesor ng malaking kolehiyo
Ang pinagpala sa mundo, ang dyaryo at ang pulpito
Lahat sila'y nagkasundo na ang tawag sa ganito
Ay bahay

Maghapo't magdamag silang kakayod, kakahig

Pagdaka'y tutukang nakaupo lang sa sahig
Sa papag na gutay-gutay, pipiliting hihimlay
Di hamak na mainam pa ang pahingahan ng mga patay

Baka naman isang araw kayo doon ay maligaw

Mahipo n'yo at marinig at maamoy at matanaw
Hindi ako nangungutya, kayo na rin ang magpasya
Sa palagay ninyo kaya, ito sa mata ng Maylikha
Ay bahay

Source: Musixmatch

Sociological

Structuralism

Reader-Response
POST-TEST
Read each statement below carefully. Encircle the letter of the correct answer that
corresponds to the question.

1. Which of the following is NOT true about the reaction paper?

A. It purely expresses one’s opinions on certain issues and concerns.
B. It conveys incisive insights into its analysis of events.
C. It may include the main purpose of the event.
D. It is mainly written to communicate a fair assessment.

2. Which of the following can be a form of a reaction paper?

A. Romantic Poem
B. News Report
C. Book Review
D. Incident Report

3. Which of the following is needed to make objective assessment?

A. Facts
B. Objectives
C. Assessment
D. Personal Views

4. Which of the following is NOT a form of reaction paper?

A. Appeal
B. Protest
C. Reflection
D. Sports Report

5. Why should we cite specific source?

A. It makes the reaction paper reliable.
B. It makes the paper more substantial.
C. It is an additional creative part of the paper.
D. It can attract many readers to read your paper.

6. Which critical approach focuses on understanding ways gender roles are reflected or
contradicted by texts?
A. Reader-response
B. Feminism
C. Historicism
D. Marxist

7. Which critical approach focuses on ways texts reflect, reinforce, or challenge the effects of
class, power relations, and social roles?
A. Reader-response
B. Feminism
C. Historicism
D. Marxist

8. Which critical approach focuses on understanding texts by viewing texts in the context of
other texts? A. Reader-response
B. Feminism
C. Historicism
D. Marxist
9. Which critical approach focuses on each reader's personal reactions to a text, assuming
meaning is created by a reader's or interpretive community's personal interaction with a text?
A. Reader-response
B. Feminism
C. Historicism
D. Marxist

10. Which critical approach focuses on "objectively" evaluating the text, identifying its
underlying form. It may study, for example, a text's use of imagery, metaphor, or
symbolism?
A. Reader-response
B. Media Criticism
C. Historicism
D. Formalism