'A systematic, coherent approach to developing critical reading and writing skills that are applicable to a range of different levels of analysis and types of reading and writing tasks. The authors are to be commended for the clarity of their writing and the way scaffolded advice and tasks are integrated into the text. The book could form the core text for a course on critical reading and writing and a useful reference tool for the academic recently entered upon writing for publication.' - Educate Journal 'A very clear, accessible introduction that will be invaluable to postgraduate students trying to engage with reading and writing in a critical way' - R.M. Lee, Professor of Social Research Methods, Royal Holloway University of London This guide to critical reading and self-critical writing is a 'must-have' resource for postgraduate students and early-career academics. Packed with tools for analysing texts and structuring critical reviews, and incorporating exercises and worked examples drawn from the social sciences, the book offers step-by-step advice on how to: " read any text critically and analyse it in the depth appropriate to one's project " develop a self-critical approach to one's own academic writing " ask questions in order to evaluate authors' arguments " keep a review manageable by using focused review questions " structure a comparative review of multiple texts " build up a convincing argument " integrate critical literature reviews into a dissertation or thesis " make the transition from postgraduate to professional academic writer Essential reading for novice researchers, the book will also be invaluable for supervisors, methods course tutors, and academic mentors who teach and support the development of critical reading and self-critical writing skills.

Table of Contents:
Part One: Becoming a critical reader and self-critical writer What it means to be critical Making a critical choice Getting started on critical reading Getting started on self-critical writing Creating a Comparative Critical Summary Part Two: Developing an in-depth analysis A mental map for exploring the literature Components of your mental map Developing a Critical Analysis of a text A worked example of a Critical Analysis Developing your argument in writing a Critical Review of a text Part Three: Constructing a critical review of the literature Focusing and building up your Critical Literature Review Integrating Critical Literature Reviews into your dissertation Tools for structuring a dissertation Building your academic career on critical reading and self-critical writing