Have you ever been assigned to write a critical analysis of a research paper? Good to know that you have actually worked on this thing. So, were you successful or failed at explaining things clearly? Apparently, it looks like you were unsuccessful, and that is why you are here to know how to critically analyse research and draw powerful conclusions from it. Well, you have come to the right place to learn about analysing a research study.

Undoubtedly, analysing a research paper or any scholarly text is a very challenging task. It requires the analyst to have strong analytical skills and full knowledge of how researchers communicate in research papers. Keeping this view that you are unaware of these things, today’s post is all about explaining how to critically analyse research. There will be a mention of all the steps involved in this process. But before moving towards the original topic, let’s explain the meaning of critical analysis.

What Is Meant By Critically Analysing A Research Study?

We, as humans, always do the analysis of things. We analyse the milk before buying it for its freshness. Just like this, the researchers go deep into the scholarly texts and evaluate the ideas of other’s writers or authors. This is called as doing a critical analysis of a research study. This kind of writing is subjective in nature, which explains your take on the other writers’ points of view who share the same academic field as you. For example, you may critically analyse research on climate change and discuss the potential lackings or points that must be there in the research. Hence, this is what is meant by critically analysing a research study or paper.

Is Summarising Research Different From Critically Analysing It?

Yes. A summary is completely different from a critical analysis of a research study or a research paper. The summary is all about discussing the key points discussed in the study. The aim of summary writing is to let the readers know the key points discussed in the paper. On the other hand, critical analysis is about evaluating the concepts discussed in the research study. The researcher takes a deep look into the main arguments given in support of the study and gives his analysis or interpretation.

How To Critically Analyse Research?

Critically analysing a research study, as discussed above, is not an easy task to do. This process requires some extraordinary research and analysis skills so that the researcher can effectively evaluate all the ideas and arguments given in the text. However, a brief description of the steps involved in critically analysing research for dissertation writing is as follows:

Go Through The Whole Research Study

The first step in writing the critical analysis of a research study is to go through the whole document. Take a good look at the target document and skim through it. This technique will expose the main arguments made in the study. Also, when you read the whole study, you get an idea of what it is about and get a sense of the writer’s tone and language used in the scholarly work. So, you must go through the whole study once.

Make Notes Of The Key Points

The second step tells you to make notes of the key points discussed in the text. It is necessary because the whole of your research is going to revolve around those points. If you cannot identify the main points, how can you evaluate the arguments given in their support? Hence, look at every key piece of information discussed in the body paragraphs and make notes that you can understand at the time of writing.

Write The Critical Analysis

After performing the two steps mentioned above, the next step to critically analyse research is to start writing. Yes, you now have enough information to write the analysis of the chosen text. Start by summarising the key points discussed in the text and then take those points one by one and analyse them critically. As the evaluator, you must not forget to back your analysis with proper shreds of evidence. If you cannot find concrete pieces of evidence, hire a masters dissertation help.

Conclude The Analysis Well

Finally, it is time to conclude the critical analysis that you have done. In your conclusion, you need to do the following things:

• Summarise the key points of your critical analysis
• Close the analysis by giving a statement about the research study and whether it is resourceful enough or not.

Conclusion

Conclusively, this post has explained all the steps to critically analyse research. The steps mentioned above are only the primary ones and give you a broader overview of how to analyse a scholarly text. For more detailed information, you should go to Google right now and search for the steps to write a critical analysis.

Read: Step by Step Guide to Formulate a Research Problem