Critical analysis is essential in your literature review, and there are 4 things you need to do to do it properly. I'll be sharing my 4-step critical analytical process with you in this video.

This video is Part 3 of a four-part series on how not to mess up your literature review, so be sure to check out the other parts - links below!

I know critical analysis can be frustrating, and that’s often because no one ever sits us down to explain what it is, or exactly how to do it.

It almost feels like it’s some big secret that you’ll never get let in on, unless you stumble across the answers yourself.

It gets even more awkward when you get to masters or PhD level. Everyone around you just ASSUMES you’ll be able to do it, because, well – you just SHOULD know this stuff by now, right?

Side note: I most certainly did NOT know how to do critical analysis properly when I was a postgraduate at Aston Business School in the early noughties!

You get to a point where you believe that some people can ‘do’ critical analysis, and other people (i.e., you!) can’t. As if it’s some innate ability.

It is most certainly NOT an innate ability.

It’s something you can learn, and quite simply, it has four stages: description; interpretation; evaluation; synthesis.

I’ll take you through each of them, drawing on examples as we go.

Here’s a little more about each of the stages.

Description: Whilst we’re told to avoid being descriptive, description is actually the basic foundation of critical analysis. If you can’t describe what you’re looking at, you certainly can’t critically analyse it! The trick is to be super concise and relevant to your own thesis.

Interpretation: This is about considering how something applies to what you’re doing. What are its implications for your research? If you accept what its arguing, what does that mean for your thesis?

Evaluation: Here, you’re making a judgement about the value of something for your thesis. What does it contribute? Are its arguments based on solid evidence? What are its strengths and weaknesses.

Synthesis: Now, you need to look at how different items of literature come together around your thesis, or specific questions you’re asking in your thesis. How does the literature work together to help answer your questions, or raise new questions? Is there a good degree of coverage in specific areas, but others are a little sparse? When you knit it all together, where are the holes?

Chapters:
0:00 1:16 Introduction and overview
1:17 - 1:45 About critical analysis
1:46 - 3:00 Describe
3:01 - 5:52 Interpret
5:53 - 8:20 Evaluate
8:21 - 9:37 Synthesise
9:38 - 10:07 Conclusion

// Literature Review Tips series //
Literature Review Tips | Four habits holding your dissertation back | Part 1 - Chasing a word count [ Ссылка ]
Literature Review Tips | Four habits ruining your literature review | Part 2 – Procrastinating [ Ссылка ]

// Other videos you’ll find helpful //
WRITING A DISSERTATION INTRODUCTION Do's and don'ts from 20 years examining social science theses [ Ссылка ]
My secret literature review hack to supercharge your dissertation [ Ссылка ]
How to write a literature review for your dissertation - five step process [ Ссылка ]
How to be more critical in your dissertation literature review - 3 key questions to ask [ Ссылка ]
Literature review search strategies for postgraduates - 3 tips for scholarly, relevant literature [ Ссылка ]

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The PhD journey can be a tough one, and my weekly emails are written with that in mind! They’re full of advice and easy-to-implement tips, as well as, “It’s okay, the way you’re feeling is completely valid” type stuff. If that sounds good to you, sign up here and grab yourself a free literature review cheat sheet too:
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Need some quick wins? Try my Cheat Sheet Library [ Ссылка ]
Want me to walk you through each of your PhD chapters, step-by-step? Check out my PhD Survival Guides [ Ссылка ]
Are you doing Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis and feeling massively stuck? I have a self-study course for that [ Ссылка ]
Is your literature review a mess? Sort it out with my LITERATURE REVIEW RESCUE PLAN course [ Ссылка ]
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