How to Write a Critical Essay on Police Brutality

When you are tasked with writing a critical essay on police brutality, there are a few steps you should take:

Defining the Critical Essay

The critical essay is a critical review of a specific work, often a book, movie, or some other arts related item. The critical writing assignment is something that goes above and beyond merely summarizing the work completed by another, but to also provide the reader with what your personal opinion is regarding the value of that work. When writing the critical essay you want to remain objective and present to the reader positive and negative attributes of the work.

• This essay is informative and not an opinionated piece. This means you have to present your opinion about the value of the work with evidence.
• Do not use first person.
• Follow the general essay format of:
  • Title
  • Introduction
  • Body
  • Conclusion

Formatting the Essay

1) Title

The title comes first. This is where you reflect upon what value you are going to present to the reader and use that to craft the perfect title. For example: instead of saying “An Examination of Movie X” you might choose the title “An Examination of the Use of Dialogue in Movie X”. You might even need to narrow it down to something such as “How the Voice of Male Actor Added to Male Actor Character” or “How Character A’s Dialogue Contributes to the Plot of Movie X”.

2) Introduction

The introduction is where you introduce to the reader the work that you are going to critique as well as the artist or the author. This is also a good time to introduce the arguments that you are going to present in your body. You want to use relevant background or historical information in order to indicate to the reader why your work is important.

3) Body

The body is where you provide support for the position you have taken on the topic. You should develop each argument you make with facts. These facts should explain the position you have taken, compare that position to expert opinion, and evaluate the value of the work.

Remember that the critical essay should show evidence for both your view and the contrary view. This means you should not just tell the reader what the opposing view it, but explain what strengths it has and why the strengths of your view are stronger. This will make for a very good essay.

Organizing the Conclusion

The conclusion is where you restate the position you have taken and summarize for the reader not just the points you presented but the evidence you presented in support of your points.

You must remember to restate the title of the work you are critiquing as well as the author.

Final Tips:

This essay should function as an informative review which is based upon expert evidence. In order to do this, you need to properly cite the sources you have used to present authoritative evidence. Ask your teacher which citation formation they require.