How to critically analyse a text
NESA defines it as: “Use interpretation and reasoning to assess a range of evidence and make judgements based on detailed analysis.”
The word critically trips a lot of students up: it does not mean criticise or find fault. It means judge. You analyse closely, as always, then take the extra step of reaching a reasoned position on what the evidence shows.
New here first? Start with breaking down the whole question, then come back for this.
Analyse, then judge
Critical analysis is ordinary analysis with a verdict attached and defended.
- 1
Do the analysis
Work the technique-to-purpose Explanation as you would for any analyse question.
- 2
Add a verdict
Weigh what the evidence proves and take a clear interpretive position on it.
- 3
Reason across evidence
Let several quotes build toward a judgement, rather than each merely illustrating the point.
The shape of the paragraph
The paragraph opens with an interpretive claim that is already a judgement, proves it, then reasons to a conclusion.
Topic sentence (an interpretive judgement)
Open with a claim that already takes a position, not a neutral observation.
Watch out:'The court is powerful' observes; 'the court's power depends on forbidding doubt' judges.
Evidence and analysis
Work the Explanation on a quote, showing how the technique makes meaning.
Watch out:Keep the analysis feeding your judgement, rather than wandering.
Reasoned judgement
Weigh what the evidence, taken together, proves, and commit to a conclusion.
Watch out:This is what 'critically' adds. Analysis with no view attached is not critical analysis.
Return line
State the judgement the evidence has forced, tied to the question.
Watch out:Sound decided. A reasoned position should close, not hedge.
A model paragraph, labelled sentence by sentence
Here is the structure at work. Read the paragraph straight through first: it should sound like one continuous argument, not a checklist. Then read the label beside each sentence to see the job it is doing. It is written to support this thesis:
The thesis
The court in The Crucible is not a flawed instrument of justice but an engine for manufacturing certainty, and Miller's real target is the seductive authority of institutions that cannot admit doubt.
The paragraph, read straight through
Read critically, Danforth's court is less a failed search for truth than a system designed to make doubt impossible. When Danforth insists “there be no road between” loyalty and treason, the false dichotomy does more than bully; it abolishes the very space in which evidence could be questioned, so that the court's authority rests not on being right but on forbidding the question. Weighing this against the trials' outcomes, we can conclude that Miller indicts not merely cruel men but the structure of unaccountable power itself, which is why the play outlives its McCarthy-era occasion. Critically, then, the court's danger lies in its certainty, and that is the judgement the evidence forces.
Read critically, Danforth's court is less a failed search for truth than a system designed to make doubt impossible.
When Danforth insists “there be no road between” loyalty and treason, the false dichotomy does more than bully; it abolishes the very space in which evidence could be questioned,
so that the court's authority rests not on being right but on forbidding the question.
Weighing this against the trials' outcomes, we can conclude that Miller indicts not merely cruel men but the structure of unaccountable power itself, which is why the play outlives its McCarthy-era occasion.
Critically, then, the court's danger lies in its certainty, and that is the judgement the evidence forces.
Every quotation above is verbatim from The Crucible (Arthur Miller) and verified against the source text.
See it done on your own paragraph
Paste your essay and we will show you, sentence by sentence, where your writing stops short, and rewrite your own lines toward Band 6. Free, about a minute.
Mark my essay — free →The other key words
Back to all the key words, or learn the techniques that give you something to write about.
The definition is quoted from NESA's Glossary of Key Words. The structure, teaching and model paragraph are our own, aligned to the 2017 English Advanced syllabus (2019–2026 prescriptions).