Hi,

I understand that when reporting results from a study for example, one can be critical of the methodology used for example, or the claims made.

However, if I am reporting on say a given policy on an issue or a government initiative, how do I be critical? I have mentioned 'however critics argue X..' But not much reference to the strength of the argument.

I suppose I'm trying to ascertain how much criticality the literature review needs? I think what I've written currently is on par with a literature review in a journal paper, but I'm not sure that is sufficient for a literature review in the thesis?

Any advice much appreciated! :)

I'm not trying to be critical about everything that's in my lit review - some stuff is in there just to describe the state of play with my field, and I'm being more critical with the parts where I'm identifying gaps or debates that will feature in my data chapters. I'm not sure whether this is 'critical' enough, but I think it would be hard to dig into absolutely everything you read in order to be critical about it.

I guess since a lot of people publish their lit reviews, journal papers are the standard to aim for!