Exercise: Critical strategies

I have returned to my Critical Review and looked again at the work I have completed so far, together with the feedback I have received. At this stage, I feel that the main ideas are there, but I need to develop the relationship between my research and my own practice more clearly.

One of the areas I need to focus on is making sure that the artists, writers and ideas I discuss are not simply included as references, but are connected directly to the questions I am exploring in my own work. I want the Critical Review to show how research has influenced the way I think about memory, identity, migration, mythology and personal experience, and how these ideas have affected the work I am making.

I also need to be more critical in the way I discuss sources. Rather than only describing an artist or a theory, I need to consider why it is relevant to my practice, what I agree or disagree with, and whether it has changed the way I approach my work.

As I develop the second draft, I will return to the Critical Strategies material and the academic support resources to help me strengthen the structure of the review and make my argument clearer. I will also check the assessment outcomes again so that I can make sure the Critical Review demonstrates the level of research, critical thinking and reflection expected at this stage.

I also need to make sure that all the sources I use are referenced consistently using Harvard referencing, with a complete bibliography at the end. This will help me distinguish clearly between my own reflections and the ideas or information I have taken from other sources.

My aim for the second draft is therefore not simply to add more research, but to make the relationship between research, critical thinking and my own creative practice much clearer.