Hi,

My supervisor is breathing down my neck about not asking adequate critical questions. At my literature review stage, please does anyone have any suggestions about what questions I should ask him to show my critical analysis skills or that am engaging with the literature/project. As it is any question I ask doesn't seem to be the right one. Please help. Thanks.

Hi, Is he asking you to ask him critical questions? Or raising critical points/questions in your lit review?

If it is the former I can see how this is stressful. If you try to force yourself to think of some questions, you'll probably just get stressed! If you are reviewing the literature and writing, questions/issues will just emerge. It may be that you have come across some "issues" that you could bring up to discuss. It may not be that you need to actually be asking questions in the interrogative form. Does that make sense? For example, (depending on your field and topic) maybe you have reviewed some studies and found some conflicting results - they found X, they didn't, or they found Y. This could be something to discuss... as it makes you want to ask why there seems to be this discrepancy. And out of that, your own project could be developed more.

Personally, I don't find it helpful when I'm told to bring a certain type of questions to a supervision meeting... real questions emerge as you go along. Trying to think of some just to please someone is annoying and stressful. I once said in a supervision meeting, "I don't have any questions at this stage - I'm sure they'll emerge later". And sure enough, they have.

Hope this helps.

Hi, thanks for the response. it's both actually. I have identified some questions about issues relating to the project that i may want to ask, but as am currently working on the lit review i have been asked to focus my questions around this area, which is kind of difficult for me. Also if i define a particular concept in a way i understood it from reading the lit, and ask if that was an accurate explanation of the meaning of the concept, he refuses to answer saying that wasn't exactly a question. Would take your advice and identify 'issues' in the literature that I can bring up for discussion. it's beginning to stress me out cos am half way through and my topic is already clearly defined at this point so any new issues will most likely not be addressed by my thesis anyway.

Hi there,

From my experience, 'critical questions' related to the literature review really pertain to the framing/originality of your research question. For example, whereas X and Y identify this, my research identifies a gap/builds upon a key concept... It's about interrogating and building on gaps in research, and how they have led you to your research question. You might have texts you think you can expand on, or some you wish to contest.

You say your topic is clearly defined, so I think it might be helpful to look at it through the lens of hindsight - how was the topic formed, and which critical literature helped that process? How did you engage with the literature in your field to come to your question? The good news is you have your topic (that is the hard part!) - now you just have to set this process out for your reader.

Best of luck!