# Critical appraisal

## Tool

1. What?
What is being argued? Identify the key assertion being made. Break the assertion down into its different parts. This may involve identifying the logical stages or series of points in an argument.
2. How?
How is the argument being made? Identify the evidence being used to clarify and support an argument. How recent is the evidence or is it perhaps already outdated? Does the author rely on ideas and evidence from others, their own experience and/or empirical research? Are sources referenced? Are suggestions simply stated or argued, through, for example, the use of rhetoric or metaphor in order to assert a particular viewpoint?
3. Why?
Why is this argument being made? Identify the key concepts and theoretical perspectives used or implied. How are terms defined (or not)? What assumptions are being made? How are these being used to drive the narrative?
4. Where?
Where in your own practice do you see this being relevant? How may it enhance practice? How may it diminish it?