Objective
Writing critiques will help you develop critical thinking and
teach you how to evaluate and extract deep understanding from
original research papers.
Reading
You should expect to read for one to four hours for each week
and to think and write for an additional hour or two to
develop an interesting critique. Your emphasis should be on
the innovation and insights that the papers provide and the
avenues of new research that these papers pave.
Format
Critiques are due at the beginning of the class. If you are
presenting and leading the discussion, you are not required to
write a critique.
Your critique should not exceed two pages and must reflect
on what you learned and thoughts provoked by the paper. The
critique must includes a short summary of the paper, but most
of it should be based on your original thoughts about the
paper, what you learned form the paper, and your new ideas
provoked by the paper. Please seek concision and clarity and
avoid unnecessary commentary. Your and my time is priceless!
Make sure that you use an active voice in your critique.
The following specific format is required.
- Please submit your readings on gradescope. You can join the class with the entry code: MYDPPY
- First, set the stage and start with a paragraph (quarter
page) that states the problem addressed in the paper,
describes the proposed solution, and summarizes the insights
resulting from the empirical study.
- Second, state the strength(s) of the paper in one to three
sentences.
- Third, state the weakness(es) of the paper in one to three
sentences.
- Forth, include two of the following and discuss
each in a separate paragraph:
- What future research directions should be explored?
- What ideas or thoughts does the paper provoke?
- What potential impact does it have on the field?
- Why will the papr be cited?
- What questions remain open?
- What experiments can provide deeper understanding
about the work?
- How does it relate and extend the previous research?
- Why the work in not interesting?
- In which situations the approach will work or will
not work?
- How can your own research be mixed with the insights
provided in the paper?
- Other interesting analyses and commentary.
Grading
I will evaluate your critiques on a ten-point scale. You can
also get a bonus point; however, I expect most critiques to
receive a ten.
- Required sections (8 points): summary (1 point),
strengths (1 point), weaknesses (1 point), analytical
discussion (each 2.5 point).
- Grammar and spelling (1 point).
- Clarity and grace, i.e., clear, well organized arguments
in well organized paragraphs (1 point).
- Deep analysis and/or surprising me with a really
interesting idea (1 bonus point).
Late policy
For each assigned paper, critiques are due at the beginning
of the corresponding class. I will not accept late critiques,
except in the case of illness.
Reading material for writing critiques