Youth Justice
Your critique must be about young offenders/youth justice and be from a reputable publication. Use a Canadian article. organize your critique in five sections: introduction, summary, analysis of the text, your response to the text, and conclusion.
Introduction. Introduce both the article under analysis and the author. State the author’s main argument and the point(s) you intend to make about it.
Summary. Summarize the author’s main points, making sure to state the author’s purpose for writing.
Analysis of the text. Evaluate the validity of the author’s presentation. Comment on the author’s success in achieving his or her purpose by reviewing three or four specific points. You might base your review on one (or more) of the following criteria:
Is the information accurate/significant?
Has the author:
Defined terms clearly?
Used and interpreted information fairly?
Argued logically?
Your response to the article. Respond to the author’s views. With which views do you agree? Disagree? As you discuss your reasons for agreement or disagreement, take a point of view and tie these reasons to both the author’s and your own assumptions. You should also base your response on the following questions:
Is the article valuable?
Did you learn anything from the material?
Was the article entertaining?
How did the article contribute to your growing knowledge of the course’s subject matter?
Conclusion. State your conclusions about the overall validity of the article your assessment of the author’s success at achieving his or her aims and your reactions to the author’s views. Remind the reader of the weaknesses and strengths of the article.
Beware of simply responding mechanically to the discussion questions or your critique could degenerate into a series of short, disjointed responses. You need to organize your reactions into a coherent whole: the critique should be expressed as a consistent point of view.
