There are various ways to critique a book, but here are the general here are
the basics for doing any reading:
WHAT YOU SHOULD BE LOOKING FOR WHEN YOU READ
1. What is the author saying? Is it an empirical study? A conceptual overview? A theoretical elaboration?
2. How might the article be written if it were from a different theoretical
or ideological perspective?
3. What is there in the article that can be developed for further empirical
research? What are the implications for further work?
4. What insights does *this* article provide into *other* realms of what
we're studying?
5. Is there a theory explicit or implicit in the work?
6. Can you identify any social or political ideology in the work? That is,
does it challenge existing social relations? Re-affirm them? Does it suggest
a critique or society?
7. Is the article convincing?
8. How can the ideas be applied to action? (that is, to policy, to life,
to anything?)
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