ArticleReview

Thepurposeofanarticlereviewistoprovideasummaryandevaluationofapieceof
writing.Whenalecturerreadsanarticlereviewwrittenbyastudent,theywanttosee
evidencethatthestudenthasnotonlyunderstoodthetopicofthearticle,butisableto
evaluatethearticleinrelationtotheirownknowledgeofthetopicandotherrelevant
knowledgeinthefield.Theannotatedexamplebelowprovidesusefulguidanceonhowto
organiseinformationwithinyourarticlereviewandhowtoselectanduselanguage
strategieswhichhelpmakeyourwritingmoreevaluative.

AnnotatedExampleofanArticleReview
Thisisanauthenticexampleofstudentwriting.Thereforeyoushouldnotviewthisasa
modelwhileitcontainsmanyattributesofasuccessfularticlereview,itisnotaperfect
pieceofwriting.Thecommentsontherighthandsidedrawyourattentiontoboth
strengthsandweaknessesinthereview,butarenotcomprehensiveandassuchyou
shouldnotassumethatsectionsofthearticlereviewwhichdonothavecommentsare
withoutproblems.Pleasenotthatthelanguageinthisarticlereviewisnotwithout
grammaticalerrors.

Functionalelements ArticleReview:Introduction Language

resources

Citation:tellsthe Fabricius(2002),inherarticle
readerwhicharticleyou
arereviewingand
OngoingchangeinModern

providesreferencing RP:Evidenceforthe Reportingverb
details disappearingstigmaoft carefullyselected
glottalling,focusesonthe toaddmore
Overview:summarises replacementofthe/t/atthe specificmeaning
forthereaderthemain (comparefocuses
pointsandgoalsofthe
endofwords/syllableswith
onwith
article(thisisimportant theglottalstop//in discussesinthis
yourmarkerwantsto ReceivedPronunciation(RP), sentence)
seethatyouareableto aprestigioussociolectin
identifythesethings) Britaintypicallyascribedto

theroyalfamilyandtheBBC.

Thisfeatureistraditionally
associatedwithmorelocalised
varietiesofBritishEnglish Verbgroup
(e.g.Scots,Cockney).The carefullyselected
authoraimstohighlightthe tosignpostthe
students

changingnatureofbothRP identificationof
itselfandalsoattitudes thegoalsofthe
towardswhethertheinclusion article
ofphoneticvariationssuchas
tglottallingcanstillentail

Overviewofcritical
acceptableRP. Semitechnical
assessment:tellsthe terminology
readeraboutyour Thisarticleissignificant shows
overallassessmentof giventhatstudiesofsociolects familiaritywith

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thearticle deemedtobeofahigher important
(herethestudent statusthanothers
evaluatesthearticlein
(predominantlyasaresultof
termsofsignificance
and speakershigher
accessibility) socioeconomicprofile)are
relativelyrare.
relatively 1However
asaresultofthehighly
technicalnatureofitsanalysis
andsomewhatabstract
implications,thearticlewould
perhapsonlybeof
perhaps
interesttorelevantexperts
wellversedinsociolinguistic
theoryandstatistical
processes.
Functionalelements ArticleReview:Body
Summaryofanaspect: 2Afteradetailedbackground
summarisesforthe
readeranaspectofthe
reviewofbothRPitselfand
article(the thenumerousstudiesofit,the
methodological authorturnsherattentionto
approach) themainfocusofthestudy:an
originalquantitativeanalysis
Evaluationofthis ofglottallinginRP.Thedatais
aspect: takenfrom24interviews
evaluatesthisaspectof conductedamongstuniversity
thearticle(herethe
students,allofwhomwere
studentevaluatesthe
originality,rigourand
deemedofasimilar,higher
credibilityofthe socialclass,categorisedthus
methodological bytheapplicationofthe
approach)
CambridgeScaletotheir
parentsoccupationscoupled
withtheireducational
background.Aswellassocial
class,theinterviewees
linguisticprofilewas
evaluatedbyprofessional
conceptswithin
thediscipline
Contrastive
conjunctionused
tolinkthe
positiveand
negativeaspects
oftheassessment
M odalterm
odalterm
1Yourmarkerwantsto
usedtoreduce
seethatyoucanrelate
thestrengthof
thecontentofthearticle
thereviewers tootherknowledge
assessmentof withinthediscipline
thearticle inthiscasethestudents
negativeevaluationis
toogeneralto
demonstratethistypeof
understanding.
Language
resources
Evaluative
vocabularyconveys
thereviewers
positiveassessment
oftherigourand 2Notehowthestudent
originalityofthe
hasintegrated
approach
summaryand
evaluationthroughthe
useof(sometimes
implicitly)evaluative
termsandphrases,
suchasdetailedand
evaluatedby
Implicitpositive professional
phoneticiansto
evaluationofthe
summarisethisaspect
credibility/rigourof ofthearticle.Good
themethodological criticalwritingoften
approachisconveyed doesthis.
throughmentionof
theCambridge
Scale/professional
phoneticians
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 phoneticianswhodeemed
thoseincludedtobeRP
speakers.
Summaryofanaspect: Usingavarietyofstatistical
summarisesforthe methodstheauthor
readeranaspectofthe demonstratesanumberof the
article(thefindingsof
thestudy)
interestingfindings.A
frequencyanalysisshows
thattglottallingoccursmore
Evaluationofthis readilyinnaturalspeechthan suggestsinthis
aspect:
evaluatesthisaspectof informalreading,revealing
thearticle anelementofstyleshiftingin
(herethestudent RPdependentonthesituation
evaluatesthevalidityand perceivedbythespeaker.A
significanceofthe
findings) regionalcrosstabulation
showshowspeakersfrom
LondonandtheSouthEastof
Englandaremorepronetot
glottalling,3confirming
hypothesesonthediffusionof
thisfeaturefromitshistorical
epicentre(London)madeby
UniversityCollegeLondon
professorofphoneticsJC
Wellsandcitedbythearticles mentionof
author.Additionally,an
ANOVA(analysisofvariance)
testonparticipantsreactions
totwoidenticalbodiesof
speech,differinginthelevel
andvarietiesoftglottalling
containedwithineachone,
revealsthatcertainusagesof
tglottallingaremore
acceptablyRPthanothers.
4Whilethesefindingsare
certainlyofinterest,the
authorssomewhat
somewhat
overbearingattentionto
detailinoutliningtheminutiae
ofherstudywasexacting
Evaluative
vocabularyconveys
thereviewers
positiveevaluationof
validity/credibility/si
gnificanceofthe
findings(forexample
compareshowsto
context)
3Notehowthestudent
hasrelatedthe
findingsintheoriginal
articletoother
findingsinthefield.
Implicitpositive Thisallowsthemto
evaluationofthe
demonstrate
validityofthefindings knowledgeofthefield
isconveyedby anditsconcernsand
usethisknowledgeto
similarcredible supporttheir
findings evaluations.Themore
evidenceyouuseto
backupyour
evaluationsthebetter.
4Whenyouare
evaluatinganaspectof
anarticleyouneedto
usetermsof
Contrastive
evaluationthatare
conjunctionusedto
bothspecifictothe
linkthepositiveand
disciplineandits
negativeaspectsof
concernsand
theassessment
objective.Theuseof
generalandpersonally
Modaltermusedto
Modalterm loadedtermssuchas
reducethestrengthof overbearingattention
todetailandpointof
distractiondetracts
fromthevalidityofthe
Page3of3
studentsevaluation.
almosttothepointof
almost thenegative
evaluation
distraction.Forinstance,the
inclusionofthemakeand
modelnumberofher
Dictaphoneusedtorecordand
transcribetheinterviews,an Evaluative
unnecessarydetail vocabularyconveys
extraneoustotheinterestof thestudentsnegative
assessmentofthe
thereader.Whileanelementof degreeofdetail
thoroughnessinthereview, includedinthearticle
methodologicalconsiderations
andexpositionofresultsisof
courseessentialinanyresearch,
andparticularlyacademic
research,itmustnotgosofaras
todistractfromtheindividual
findingsandtheiroverall
implications,aswascertainlythe
casehere.

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Functionalelements ArticleReview:Conclusion Language
resources

Summaryofevaluation: Inconclusion,Fabriciusarticle Evaluative
summarisesforthe
providesacomprehensive vocabularyconveys
readerthemainpoints thereviewers
madeintheReviewstage reviewofpastresearchinto
positiveassessment
intermsofyour RPandpresentsinteresting oftherigourand
evaluationofeachaspectfindingsfromtheauthorsown significanceofthe
studyandnegative
thoroughstudyofthe
assessmentofthe
changingnatureofRPand degreeofdetailand
attitudestowardsthischange lackoffocus
withregardstothe
replacementofthe/t/sound
attheendsofwords/syllables
withthe//glottalstop.
Contrastive
However,theauthorsfailure conjunctionusedto

toexplainfindingsinsimple linkthepositiveand

termsandproviderealworld negativeaspectsof
examplesrendersthis theassessment

researchinaccessibletolay

audienceswhoare

neverthelessstakeholdersin

thestatusofRP(e.g.media

commentators,thoseinthe
dramaticarts).



Overallassessment: Therelevanceofthis
tellsthereaderwhat otherwisecomprehensive
youroverallassessment andcontemporarystudyis Modaltermusedto
Modalterm
ofthearticleis(here reducethestrengthof
positiveassessmentin therefore5somewhat
somewhat thenegative
termsoftherigourand compromisedbyits evaluation
significanceandnegative relativelyrestricted
assessmentintermsof
accessibility) accessibility. 5Theuseofmodal
termsandtempering
vocabularyis
importantasby
reducingthestrength
ofyourclaimsand
evaluationsyouleave

lessroomforyour
readertodisputeyour
claimsandevaluations.

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