Constructive criticism

“Constructive criticism is criticism kindly meant that has a goal of improving some area of another’s person’s life or work.”

themes.pppst.com

It took me a while to understand that “Criticism” doesn’t have to be a bad word. For example, for Research Methodology we are working on a thesis that will take the whole year to complete. While working on this thesis, we need to constantly consult with the lecturer for guidance and “criticism”. We submit sections at the end of each term and the lecturer then gives us feedback. She gives valuable insight into how we can improve the thesis for the next sections of the thesis. After the lecturer weighs the importance or usefulness of the feedback, we are able to rewrite or revise the thesis to make it better for the final presentation at the end of the year.

Being given constructive criticism helps me to see things in a different light, or to notice something that I hadn't thought about before. Receiving constructive criticism makes me want to learn more, it motivates me and makes me want to improve on what I’m being criticized on.

So whenever I am asked to give feedback on something, I try very hard to be as constructive as possible and this also forces me to think about what it is I'm going to be giving feedback on.