Critique vs. Criticism

How to give good feedback and still benefit from bad.

Peer review in engineering depends upon an understanding of critique. As differentiated from criticism, critique is motivated by the intention to serve the author’s or designer’s goals (rather than the critic’s).

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Criticism is personal, destructive, vague, inexpert, ignorant, and selfish.

Example: “Your presentation sucks because you don’t even do the math right, and I wanted to know the best option for the truck because I’m thinking about buying one. You also mumble too much and speak too quiet so I can’t hear what you said so I just skipped ahead in the video to the conclusion.”

Critique is impersonal, constructive, specific, expert, informed and selfless.

Example: “The presentation could be improved by including a comparison of net present values calculated for the truck’s lease and finance options with multiple discount rates to allow the audience to identify more closely with the analysis. There is an audio problem with the recording that made it difficult to hear, so I recommend re-recording the audio using an external microphone to ensure high sound quality.”

In general, criticism is judgmental and focused on finding fault, while critique is descriptive and balanced. Here are some more differences:

Both criticism and critique are forms of feedback, but it should be obvious that critique provides a better learning environment. Still, those who lack expertise may consider themselves underqualified to provide critique.

One place to find examples of critique and criticism is in the comments on YouTube channel videos.

Here’s a good example of criticism of New Car Buying vs Leasing, Part 1.

On the other hand, these are good critiques of New Car Buying vs. Leasing, Part 4.