ABSTRACT
As an adult scholar you should criticize earlier work. Think about what ‘critical’ means in British and American academic culture. What are the synonyms for ‘critical’? If you are unsure how to be critical, or evaluative, get one key paper (recommended by a supervisor, or cited in your supervisors’ work, or by a big name in your area) and force yourself to find things (and make brief bullet point notes) you can evaluate negatively and positively. Then ask your supervisor(s) if they will look at these points to see if you are learning to evaluate published work.
