Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
Regional Office IX, Zamboanga Peninsula

10 Z est for P rogress Z

eal

of P
artnership

English
Quarter 3 – Module 7:
Critiquing A Text

Name of Learner: ___________________________

Grade & Section: ___________________________
Name of School: ___________________________
 What I Need to Know

Reading different literary pieces expands our imagination and develops our
appreciation of different cultures and human experiences. However, diving deeper opens a
new perspective of what lies within the literary piece.

When a reader captures the main points of a material he read, he summarizes. When
he puts ideas or information together or dissects it to check how it works, he analyses. And,
when he evaluates the material, he critiques.

This module is done to understand what critiquing a text is and how to critique a
chosen selection.

In this module, you are expected to;

a. define critique in the context of literary text evaluation;
b. identify the steps in writing a critique, and
c. compose an independent critique of a chosen selection.

What I Know
TRUE OR FALSE
Directions: Identify if the statement in each item is correct or wrong. Write TRUE if it's
correct and FALSE if it's wrong. Write your answer on a separate sheet of paper.

________ 1. Critiquing a short story is an in-depth evaluation of the story.

________ 2. It is written in an essay form.
________ 3. The developmental paragraphs in a critique paper must be of the same length and
number.
________ 4. It's okay to make a critique paper without reading the whole story.
________ 5. When we do a critique, it should always be constructive.
________ 6. Author’s purpose is not important.
________ 7. Literary techniques and devices used by the author are essential to understand the
story better.
________ 8. Its purpose is to give the reading public an insight into the story.
________ 9. The reaction of the critique writer is not important.
________ 10. Elements of the story must be taken into consideration when writing a critique.

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 Lesson
WRITING A SHORT
STORY 1 CRITIQUE

Critiquing a short story usually takes the form of an essay. It is an in-depth evaluation
of the story to give the reading public insight into the story. Writing a critique requires you to
reassemble the elements so that your intended audience has a better understanding of the
story's strengths, weaknesses, and highlights.

Criticism may sound negative, but in the academic sense, critiquing is not being
negative or mean. Rather, it's a constructive way to understand the material we are working
with.

What's In

In writing a critique for a short story, one must recall the literary devices, literary
techniques, literary elements, and author's purpose.

Literary Devices have two aspects. They can be treated as either Literary Elements of
Literary Techniques.

Literary Elements are not the writer's use of techniques. Some of the many literary
elements that can be found include theme, characterization, conflict, and setting. They
may be about the book's setting, the story, or the characters.

On the contrary, Literary Techniques are structures usually word/s or phrases in

literary texts that writers employ to achieve not merely artistic ends but also readers a
greater understanding and appreciation of their literary works. Examples are metaphor,
simile, alliteration, hyperbole, allegory, etc.

An author writes with one of four general purposes in mind:

1. To relate a story or to recount events, an author uses narrative writing.
2. To tell what something looks like, sounds like, or feels like, the author uses
descriptive writing.
3. To convince a reader to believe an idea or take a course of action, the author uses
persuasive writing.
4. To inform or teach the reader, the author uses expository writing.

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 What's New
Read and analyze the sample of Short Story Critique and answer the activity that
follows.

SAMPLE CRITIQUE
Lee, published by Crime Factory
Posted in Short Story Reviews, tagged Cameron Ashley, Crime
Factory, Eric Beetner, fiction, Lee Marvin, publishing, reading,
short the story, The Dirty Dozen, writing on May 28, 2013, |

I recently finished a fiction anthology called Lee. The book features seventeen short
stories, all written by crime writers and inspired by Lee Marvin — his life, his movies.
The stories flow in chronological order, with the first taking place in 1944 and the last in
1987, just after Lee died. Frankly, I thought the concept was a little goofy, and I didn't
really expect the book to be that good. I bought it only because its publisher, Crime
Factory, had published two of my short stories. I liked what they'd done in their journal
and figured I'd check out what else they've brought to the world.

I'm happy to admit that I was very wrong. Not only is every story in the collection
excellent, but it turns out that the concept worked. In a word, the book rocks! It was fun
to see how the different authors tackled the task of writing a Lee Marvin-inspired story.
I particularly liked the stories: "1966: Just Swell," Cameron Ashley; "1967: The Gun
Hunter," Eric Beetner. Beetner's novel The Devil Doesn't Want Me has now moved up
to number three on my reading list, which hopefully means I'll get to it in June.

I feel good that I'm associated with these writers, at least tangentially in my little way.

Finishing Lee has also made me more interested in Lee Marvin's movies. I watched
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence during a film class in college and was blown away
by his performance, but I don't think I'd seen another one of his movies. And I consider
myself something of an old film buff. I took a step toward correcting this oversight last
night by watching The Dirty Dozen — awesome!

LET'S TRY!
Below is a checklist of the parts of a SHORT STORY CRITIQUE. Write YES/NO in
the box if you can find it in the given an example and write the corresponding
phrase/sentence taken from the text. Write your answer on a separate sheet.

CRITERIA YES/NO Phrase/Sentence taken from the text

Name of author and work
Brief Summary/
Description of work
Analysis
Interpretation
Overall Interpretation

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 Critical Assessment of the
value/worth of the text

What Is It

When we critique, we identify, evaluate, and respond to the author's ideas, positively and
negatively. Readers are expected to engage with the material rather than just summarizing it. And
when we do critique, we interrogate. Our opinions and ideas become part of the textual analysis.
We even question the text, argue with it, and dig into it for deeper meanings.

In writing a critique, you may use the following guide.

What genre is it? Adventure? Science Fiction?

CONTEXT Fantasy?

What is the author trying to accomplish with the

AUTHOR’S story? If the story is meant to be funny and isn't,
INTENTION or is meant to be a morality tale but doesn't quite
pull it off, then it has failed in at least one respect.

Note your reactions as you read. Either keep a

YOUR REACTIONS spare piece of paper with you or mark your
reactions on the margins of the text.

Figures of speech used in the story and its

LITERARY DEVICES purpose

Ask yourself if these literary techniques make

LITERARY the reading experience more enjoyable or
TECHNIQUE strengthen the story.

ENDING OF THE Decide how the ending relates both to the story
as a whole and to its beginning. Does the
STORY ending resolve the plot and bring closure to the
crisis of the characters?

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 The most crucial step in the critical writing process is to read everything you are
going to criticize carefully. The kind of "close reading" that is important to the process of
writing a successful critique should not be confused with the kind of casual reading that we
do during leisure time like reading your favorite Harry Potter book or newspapers, magazines
or browsing over articles in the internet.

Close reading is a type of reading in which the reader interacts with the text critically
to interpret it, challenge it, analyze it, and form an opinion about it. This is a way of reading
where the reader has to slow down and focus on every step of the way.

Close reading includes taking notes: writing down the most important points of the
text, paraphrasing, summarizing, and so forth.

Once you have critically and carefully read your short story, check to make sure you
can answer all questions of fact surrounding the story (the who? what? where? when?
questions). Besides, consider:

• What's this story about? Is there a visible point to the story, or is the meaning difficult
to discover? (These are questions to help you formulate your thesis.)

• Why does the author tell us this story? What assumptions has the author made about
his/her readers? (These questions should help you decipher the author's purpose.)

• What (if anything) do readers need to know about the author or about the place and
time in which this story takes place? How much does the author reveal? (Critical
reading means recognizing the intended audience for a piece of writing; these
questions should help you discover that audience profile.)

• What impression does the story leave with you? What attitude does the storyteller
have toward his/her audience? (These questions should help you articulate the
author's tone. By realizing tone, you may consider challenges to your value system
and/or recognize emotional or prejudicial manipulation by the author.)

Guidelines in Writing a Critique Paper

Like writing an essay, a critique paper comprises paragraphs: introductory,

development, and closing paragraphs.

It is not primarily a summary; rather, comments and evaluations of the work in the
light of specific issues and theoretic concerns.

1. INTRODUCTORY. This paragraph gives the background of the material, your

opinion on the work as a whole. The background includes all of the relevant
information like, who wrote the material, when and where he wrote it, and of course,
what his purpose was, why he wrote it.

2. DEVELOPMENT. These paragraphs can vary in length and number. The paragraphs
may focus on the different parts or elements of the story or how you assess the story's

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 plot. Contents in these paragraphs may be positive or negative, depending on your
assessment as a reader.

3. CONCLUDING. Here you give your general impression of the story. Did you enjoy
it? In general, are the descriptions clear, overemphasized, or not clear enough? You
should also briefly summarize all the issues under discussion. Any additional opinions
on the subject would be appropriate at this time, as well as any conclusions.