Here is a really great article on giving critiques, from Burlington Writers Workshop. “On Giving Feedback” by Peter Biello: CLICK HERE.
I find one of the things I spend the most time talking with fellow writers about is the balance between trusting your own instincts on your work and trusting the feedback you get from others. The Marco Polo analogy in this article is the best metaphor I have seen to describe something I have spent a while trying to define. In a cacophony of voices calling you to move in different directions, you are the one who has to make your own way through the pool.