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WAYS OF KNOWING CRITICAL ANALYSIS FORMAT

REVISED 01/05/2015
Your name
Ways of Knowing
Date
Critical Analysis: Name of reading
Really Good Title

Consider each of your critical analyses to be a short argumentative essay since you will argue for
the strength or weakness of the authors argument in the reading.
As such you need to:
1) Identify the main claim the author is arguing. After reading the article, take a step back and
ask yourself, what is the main point the author is trying to make and persuade the reader of? In
many cases the author may make a number of smaller claims to support this larger claim. Try to
pick out this larger claim from the smaller supporting arguments.
2) Analyze the argument used by the author to defend the claim. How does the author support the
main claim? An analysis requires you to break down the authors argument into pieces and to
evaluate each of the pieces. In practice this requires you to identify the premises (both explicit
and implicit) of the argument (see Chapter 3 from How To Think About Weird Things), and to
identify the logical structure of the argument (e.g. deductive/inductive reasoning, affirming the
consequent, etc.).
3) Evaluate the authors argument. Did the author provide a strong argument for the main
claim? Does the claim logically follow from premises? Does the argument contain logical
fallacies? Are the premises justified or unsupported? Your thesis is based on your evaluation of
the authors argument.
Required Organization
Introduction
Brief summary of the articles content/theme.
Summary of the authors main claim/thesis (if you do not believe the author is making an
argument, so state).
Double underline the main claim of the author to make it clear to yourself and your
reader
Your thesis (underlined). Your thesis will be a statement of your assessment of the
strength or weakness of the authors claim.
Include one or two brief supporting statements for your thesis, i.e. why do you think the
authors argument is strong or weak?
Body
Analysis of the authors argument including the main premises and the justification the
author provides for the premises (if any). Note that not all premises are explicitly stated.

Your name, Ways of Knowing, Date, Assignment, page number

The author may make unstated assumptions that serve as implicit premises. Discuss these
as well. You may also discuss the type of logic employed by the author, e.g.
deductive/inductive, and the particular argument structure or name, e.g. hypothetical
abduction/enumerative induction, etc.
Your evaluation of the authors argument including an analysis of the arguments logic
and premises. You may find the argument is strong or weak. Explain why. For example
point out premises that are weakly or not justified, invalid logic, logical fallacies, etc.

Conclusion
Summarize your thesis and defense of your thesis

[Word count at end]

Note: I strongly encourage you to write out the explicit argument the author is making including
the premises and the claim being made. Follow the examples in CH3 from How to Think About
Weird Things. This will make it easier for you and your reader to understand your argument. You
can place this after your introduction. It does not need to be in paragraph form.

Format
- 1 margins all around
- Times New Roman or Garamond font 12-point
- Double space (except for info in top left corner of first page)
- Underline thesis, double-underline authors main claim
- Word count at end
- At least 700 words

A-level
Clearly and correctly summarizes authors main argument in introduction including main
premises and conclusion
Student clearly states their own thesis about the strength of the authors argument.
Outlines the organization of the authors argument by listing important premises and
support for premises.
Evaluates the logic that connects the authors premises to conclusion. Evaluates whether
the authors premises are justified.
Provides a defense of thesis.
Avoids personal opinion
Proper format
B-level
Correctly summarizes and analyzes authors argument.
Does not present a thesis for the strength or weakness of argument or poorly defends
thesis
2

Your name, Ways of Knowing, Date, Assignment, page number

Avoids personal opinion

Proper format

C-level

Attempts to summarize authors main argument but misses main points

No attempt made to analyze argument or defend a thesis
Some format guidelines not followed

D-level
No attempt made to summarize or analyze argument
No thesis or attempt made to defend thesis
Mainly consists of personal response to reading
Format guidelines not followed