Published: 27 July 2020
Understanding and learning from criticism is an important skill for any student. At university, you can expect to get a lot of feedback. Each of your assignments will be returned to you with notes from your lecturer on what you’ve done well and what you can work on.
A lot of people struggle with taking constructive criticism, but it’s just information aimed at helping you get better. It’s part of being a student, learning and improving. So try out a few of our tips to make the most of the notes your lecturers give you.
1. Read the feedback with an open mind
Your instinct when you see feedback will be to have some kind of emotional reaction - whether that’s being happy, sad, worried or anything in between. While those thoughts are understandable, making you feel bad is not the reason for constructive criticism. Before you even look at your grade, prepare to stay calm.
2. Think about why you’re getting feedback
The next step is to remind yourself of the reasons you’re getting feedback. The number one purpose of constructive criticism is always to help you improve in the future. Make the most of it and really understand that you’re not being judged. Remember, your lecturers are invested in your studies. If you think something is unclear, just ask them to explain it.
3. Act on the feedback
Thirdly, learn from what you’re being told. One helpful trick is to bullet point the feedback you get on your assignments. Write down in your own words what you can do to improve next time. Then, when you’re editing your next piece, go through the list and make sure you’ve acted on each point.
What constructive criticism could look like
Finally, we thought it might be helpful to see some examples of the most common kinds of constructive criticism. That way you won’t be surprised when you come across it.
“This is too descriptive”: This really just means “make things more simple”. A lot of people try to fill the word count with descriptive writing. Academic assignments need to be to the point and clear.
"Use more scholarly sources": When you hear this, you’re being told you need to back your arguments up with examples from the experts. Try going through journals and books for academics that are relevant to the points you’re making.
"You need to proofread": This normally means you’ve misspelt words or your grammar needs work. Make sure you go through everything you write carefully. You can also try a spell checker like Grammarly.
Assignment writing is a skill, but one with a real purpose. You’ve come to the University of Sunderland in London to challenge yourself and become a better you. Essays are a great way of doing that. Our advice is to get all the constructive criticism you can and see how much you can learn.
There are loads of study skills to help you with your time at the University. Visit the Library website for information on academic reading, writing, listening and much more.
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