. . .involves the use of secondary sources (articles and/or books about a particular work usually, but not always, written by someone other than the author of that work) that address themes, styles, mood, use of language, genre, etc. to gain a better insight and understanding of a particular work of literature; be it a novel, short story, poem, etc.
As a student assigned to critique a particular work of literature your job is to locate appropriate secondary sources and use them as a basis to develop a somewhat unique analysis of the work or to support your "take" on what the author and his/her work are attempting to communicate to the reader.
| Biography | A factual book about someone's life written by someone other than the subject. |
| Autobiography | A book about a person's life, written by the subject. |
| Criticism | A book or article that analyzes and interprets a literary work. |
| Author | The writer of an article, book, poem, etc. |
| Subject | The focus or theme of the writing; can be a person. |
| Secondary source | An article or book that critiques a previously published literary work. |
| Work | In the field of literature, something created by an author. |