The authors show students how to read critically and how to write using critical techniques. This book is a 'must-have' resource for postgraduate students and early-career academics.

What it means to be critical --Making a critical choice -- A first look : interrogating abstracts -- Getting started on critical reading -- Getting started on self-critical writing -- Creating a comparative critical summary -- Developing your writing skills to communicate effectively -- A mental map for navigating the literature -- Tools for thinking and ways of thinking -- Reasons for conducting the research -- Knowledge claims and their key characteristics -- 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 -- Focusing and building up your critical literature review -- Integrating critical literature reviews into your dissertation -- Critical literature reviews in alternative dissertation structures -- Tools for structuring a dissertation -- Using the literature in research papers, oral presentations and posters -- Developing advanced writing skills.