How to write Critiques?
Each critique should a paragraph (no more than half a page) long. For
every paper, we want you to write two critques. The purpose of a
critique is not to summarize the paper; rather you should choose a
point about the work that you found interesting. Examples of questions
that you might address are:
- What problem does this paper solve, and what are the strengths
and limitations of its approach?
- Is the evaluation fair? Does it achieve it support the stated
goals of the paper?
- Does the method described seem mature enough to use in real
applications? Why or why not? What applications seem particularly
amenable to this approach?
- What good ideas does the problem formulation, the solution, the
approach or the research method contain that could be applied elsewhere?
- What would be good follow-on projects and why?
- Are the paper's underlying assumptions valid?
- Which important issues in the field does this paper illuminate
and how?
- Did the paper provide a clear enough and detailed enough
description of the proposed methods for you to be able to implement
them? If not, where is additional clarification or detail needed?
Avoid unsupported value judgments, like ``I liked...'' or ``I disagreed
with...'' If you make judgments of this sort, explain why you liked or
disagreed with the point you describe. Avoid comments on form/style of
paper. We want you to critique the content.
This is an important exercise, and this skill of critical reading and
concise articulation will do you well in life, besides of course, this
class.
Last updated Paritosh, 11/10/04