HOW TO CRITIQUE A JOURNAL ARTICLE

So your assignment is to critique a journal article. This handout will give you a few guidelines to follow as you go. But wait, what kind of a journal article is it: an empirical/research article, or a review of literature Some of the guidelines offered here will apply to critiques of all kinds of articles, !ut each type of article may provoke questions that are especially pertinent to that type and no other. "ead on. #irst of all, for any type of journal article your critique should include some !asic information: $. %ame&s' of the author&s' (. Title of article ). Title of journal, volume num!er, date, month and page num!ers *. Statement of the pro!lem or issue discussed +. The author,s purpose, approach or methods, hypothesis, and major conclusions. The !ulk of your critique, however, should consist of your qualified opinion of the article. "ead the article you are to critique once to get an overview. Then read it again, critically. -t this point you may want to make some notes to yourself on your copy &not the li!rary,s copy, please'. The following are some questions you may want to address in your critique no matter what type of article you are critiquing. &.se your discretion. These points don,t have to !e discussed in this order, and some may not !e pertinent to your particular article.' $. /s the title of the article appropriate and clear

(. /s the a!stract specific, representative of the article, and in the correct form ). /s the purpose of the article made clear in the introduction *. 0o you find errors of fact and interpretation &This is a good one1 2ou won,t !elieve how often authors misinterpret or misrepresent the work of others. 2ou can check on this !y looking up for yourself the references the author cites.' +. /s all of the discussion relevant 3. 4as the author cited the pertinent, and only the pertinent, literature /f the author has included inconsequential references, or references that are not pertinent, suggest deleting them. 5. 4ave any ideas !een overemphasi6ed or underemphasi6ed Suggest specific revisions. 7. Should some sections of the manuscript !e e8panded, condensed or omitted 9. -re the author,s statements clear :hallenge am!iguous statements. Suggest !y e8amples how clarity can !e achieved, !ut do not merely su!stitute your style for the author,s. $;. <hat underlying assumptions does the author have $$. 4as the author !een o!jective in his or her discussion of the topic ( /n addition, here are some questions that are more specific to empirical/research articles. &-gain, use your discretion.' $. /s the o!jective of the e8periment or of the o!servations important for the field (. -re the e8perimental methods descri!ed adequately ). -re the study design and methods appropriate for the purposes of the study

*. 4ave the procedures !een presented in enough detail to ena!le a reader to duplicate them &-nother good one1 2ou,d !e surprised at the respecta!le researchers who cut corners in their writing on this point.' +. Scan and spot=check calculations. -re the statistical methods appropriate 3. 0o you find any content repeated or duplicated - common fault is repetition in the te8t of data in ta!les or figures. Suggest that ta!ular data !e interpreted of summari6ed, nor merely repeated, in the te8t. - word a!out your style: let your presentation !e well=reasoned and o!jective. /f you passionately disagree &or agree' with the author, let your passion inspire you to new heights of thorough research and reasoned argument. #irst of all, in looking for an instructional we!site on how to write a critique of a journal article, / found nothing online giving the steps to take to structure a critique of a journal article. So, here goes> what /?m going to do is give you the elements of putting together a journal article critique !elow from an old instructional course !ook for political science writers. The following steps are taken from The @olitical Science Student <riter?s Aanual, *th Bdition, !y Cregory A. Scott and Stephen A. Carrison: $. The first step is to select an appropriate journal article> the !est articles are taken from scholarly journals. (. Browse journals until you find a topic that interests you> this makes for a !etter critique. ). Select an article that fits your current level of knowledge. 0o not include statistics unless you are versed in those statistics. *. Try to select articles that are current> pick an article written within the preceding $( months. +. <riting the critique will cover five areas, after you have read the article thoroughly: thesis, methods, evidence of thesis support, contri!ution to the literature, recommendations. 3. Tips on the five elements: &$' :learly state the thesis. &(' .nder methods, answer the following questions. D<hat methods did the author use to investigate the topic <ere the appropriate methods used 0id the author?s approach to supporting the thesis make sense 0id the author employ the methods correctly 0id you discover any errors in the way the research was conducted D &)'

Bvidence of Thesis Support: D<hat evidence did the author present in support of the thesis <hat are the strengths of the evidence <hat are the weaknesses 4ow did the author support the thesis D &*' :ontri!ution to the literature: D:onduct your own research and include at least five other authors on the su!ject. Bvaluate the contri!ution that your selected article makes to a !etter understanding of the su!ject.D &+' "ecommendation: DSummari6e your evaluation of the article. <ho will !enefit from reading this article <hat will the !enefit !e 4ow important and e8tensive is that !enefit :learly state your evaluation of the article in the form of a thesis for your own critique.D 5. #ind yourself a paper format in which to put your critique and follow assigned or selected citing methods, as well, when giving support for your thesis or quoting your source materials.

Journal Critique Assignment

Assignment: :ritique ) journal articles each with a different research design to make e8plicit how they are or are not e8amples of the use of feminist methodologies. Ene of the ) selections may !e a literature review chapter from a dissertation. Aost selections will pro!a!ly come from research journals. :heck with me if you are unsure a!out your selections. :lick here to find feminist research. Guiding questions or !our "ritique: $. B8amine how knowledge is constructed and deployed. (. B8amine how interdisciplinary feminist perspectives inform research methods. ). B8amine how feminist analysis redefines traditional categories and disciplinary concepts through its attention to gender and other social categories social as race, class, culture, se8ual orientation, and age. *. B8plore practical guidelines for feminist interventions for social change and policy revision. +. 4ow is the research article/te8t/ video an e8ample of the use of feminist methodologies Er is it 3. <hat counts as evidence in the study <hat sources did the feminist scholars look to for information 5. 4ow were the o!jects/su!ject/ interpreters of the research treated in the study 7. <hat questions guided the feminist research 9. <hat is the relationship !etween the o!ject of research and the researcher

-lso refer to the course presentations and our discussions concerning what is feminist research methodologies. #ue: A$ril %%& 'Wort( )*+ o t(e "ourse grade, -ur$ose: To critically read and evaluate pu!lished feminist research. -re$aration: <e will continue to study different research designs to prepare you to do this assignment. 4owever, / thought that you might want the assignment now so that you could select ) articles to critique !etween now and -pril $$. Ay e8perience has !een that students increase in their a!ility to read and critique pu!lished research as the course progresses. / have provided tradtional formats to critique research articles descri!ed in the DStandardsD section !elow. .tandards: / have provided DStandards of -dequacyD as links so that you use them to critique your selection of ) research articles comparing the study to what is e8pected for each type of study. .se these guidelines or standards to evaluate the research within the traditions to help you see how the feminist research adheres or differs from these standards: 'lin/ %, an introduction on how to read resear"( &read this first' 'lin/ ), how to read quantitati0e research 'lin/ 1, standards of adequacy for true e2$erimental designs3 quasi4 e2$erimental designs3 and single4su56e"t designs 'lin/ 7, standards of adequacy for des"ri$ti0e resear"(3 "orrelational resear"(3 sur0e! resear"(3 and ex post facto resear"( 'lin/ 8, standards of adequacy for a narrati0e literature re0ie9 &use these criteria to critique a literature review chapter in a dissertation' 'lin/ :, standards of adequacy for qualitati0e designs44"ase studies 'lin/ ;, standards of adequacy for et(nogra$(i" met(odolog! 'lin/ <, credi!ility standards for analytical research such as (istori"al and legal studies 'lin/ =, guidelines for a resear"( $ro$osal &these guidelines will !e used to constructively critique your research proposal due on Aay 5, (;;(' Bach link has the type of research methodology written on the top and the page num!ers from the AcAillian, F. and Schumacher, S. &$995'. Research in education: A conceptual introduction &*th edition' te8t!ook so that you may refer to it for further clarification. 0efinition of terms may !e found in the chapter or in the glossary of this te8t!ook.

Conne"tions: 2ou may chose articles that relate to your pro!lem statement and/or that utili6e the research methodologies that you are most interested. #or e8ample, you could select an article that reported survey findings, another that analy6ed policies, and a third that reported a case study design. /f so you would use: &a' link * with its 5 criteria listed for survey research> &!' link 7 in with its criteria for credi!ility for analytical research> and &c' link 3 on the standards of adequacy of a case study. Er you might choose a literature review, an analytical study, and a qualitative study. Er you might choose three qualitative studies that use different theoretical frameworks, data collection processes, and different analysis strategies. -nother option could !e to choose a survey research study, a literature review, and an e8 post facto study. These are some e8amples of the range of com!inations. 2ou select the com!ination that is most useful to you