Academic Skills Advice

How to Read Journal Articles

using Critical Analysis

This workshop will

− Introduce you to the idea of critiquing and analysis tools

− Show you how to apply one model of reading analysis

− Highlight how to find gaps in an author’s logic and points to critique

Teaching Points:

1. Understanding critiquing tools

2. Applying the Code to introductions

This booklet extensively adapts from Shon (2012)

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This workshop focuses on reading journal articles; we run other workshops of finding journal
articles on-line; how to undertake a literature review and how to choose the appropriate articles
for your question/brief/research project. For more information, please visit our website.

A key skill for students is to read critically, and as journal articles are a major source for
assignments, you will need to know how to read these important pieces of literature. But how do
you do it? How do you keep track of what it relevant? How do you identify a gap in the author’s
article? How do you discover whether there is anything to critique in an article? How do you cross
reference one article with others to build up your case?

1. Understanding Critiquing Tools

There are a variety of especially designed critiquing tools that different disciplines can use to
review and evaluate research. These tools are designed to offer question prompts or criteria to
critically analyse (take apart and evaluate) research studies in order to:

A) understand how research is done and what it has found out

B) assess the quality of research by questioning what has been written

They provide a methodical way of working through articles and recording your responses so that
you can justify the topics and evidence that you use in your essays and assignments.

Before we focus on one critiquing tool, on the following pages are two examples of others you
may wish to use. There will be a list of sources for additional tools at the end of the booklet.

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Research questions: guidelines for critiquing a quantitative research study Adapted from Coughlan et al (2007)
Elements influencing believability of the research
Elements Questions
Writing style Is the report well written – concise, grammatically correct, avoids the use of
jargon?
Is it well laid out and organized?
Author Do the researcher’s qualifications/position indicate a degree of knowledge in
this field?
Report title Is the title clear, accurate and unambiguous?
Abstract Does the abstract offer a clear overview of the study, including the research
problem, sample,
methodology, findings and recommendations?
Elements influencing robustness of the research
Elements Questions
Purpose/research problem Is the purpose of the study/research question clearly identified?
Logical consistency Does the research report follow the steps of the research process in a logical
manner?
Do these steps naturally flow and the links clear?
Literature review Is the review logically organised?
Does it offer a balanced critical analysis of the literature?
Is the majority of the literature of recent origin?
Is it mainly from primary sources and of an empirical nature?
Theoretical framework Has a conceptual or theoretical framework been identified?
Is the framework adequately described?
Is the framework appropriate?
Aims/objectives/research Have aims and objectives, a research question or hypothesis been identified?
question/hypotheses If so, are they clearly stated?
Do they reflect the information presented in the literature review?
Sample Has the target population been clearly identified?
How was the sample selected?
Was it a probability or non-probability sample?
Is it of adequate size?
Are the inclusion/exclusion criteria clearly identified?
Ethical considerations Were the participants fully informed about the nature of the research?
Was the autonomy/confidentiality of the participants guaranteed?
Were the participants protected from harm?
Was ethical permission granted for the study?
Operational definitions Are all the terms, theories and concepts mentioned in the study clearly
defined?
Methodology Is the research design clearly identified?
Has the data gathering instrument been described?
Is the instrument appropriate?
How was it developed?
Were reliability and validity testing undertaken and the results discussed?
Was a pilot study undertaken?
Data analysis/results Are the data collection strategies described?
Are the strategies used to analyse the data described?
Did the researcher follow the steps of the data analysis method identified?
Was data saturation achieved?
Discussion Are the findings linked back to the literature review?
If a hypothesis was identified, was it supported?
Were the strengths and limitations of the study including generalizability
discussed?
Was a recommendation for further research made?
References Were all the books, journals and other media alluded to in the study a
accurately referenced?

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 Academic Skills Advice
Does the title reflect the content?

Are the authors credible?

Does the abstract summarise the key components?

Is the rationale for undertaking the research clearly outlined?

Is the literature review comprehensive and up-to-date?

Is the aim of the research clearly stated?

Are all ethical issues identified and addressed?

Is the methodology identified and justified?

Quantitative
Qualitative

Is the study design clearly identified, and is the Are the philosophical background and study design identified
rationale for choice of design evident? and the rationale for choice of design evident?

Is there an experimental hypothesis clearly stated?

Are the key variables clearly defined? Are the major concepts identified?

Is the population identified? Is the context of the study outlined?

Is the sample adequately described and Is the selection of participants described and
reflective of the population? the sampling method identified?
Is the method of data collection auditable?

Is the method of data collection

valid and reliable? Is the method of data analysis
credible and confirmable?

Are the results presented in a way that is appropriate and clear?

Is the discussion comprehensive? Adapted from Caldwell et al

(2011)

Are the results Is the discussion

generalizable? www.brad.ac.uk/academic-skills comprehensive?
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Shon has devised a simple coding system to enable students to read critically whilst managing the
amount of information collected. It uses fourteen acronyms which you jot down next to passages
within the article which are either directly related to critical reading, or are used to critique the
article and encourages you to generate new ideas about what you are reading. All of his codes are
placed in the right hand margin. This is so your own thematic codes/notes can be placed in the
left hand margin.

The full code is below. These codes represent what you should look out for in an article to ensure
you analyse it fully and to assist with your own review or research project.

Code Location in Code Meaning

Text
Intro/Lit Review WTD What They Do: what the author(s) purport to do in a
paper/book; this code captures the main research
question that the author is posing in the text

Lit Review SPL Summary of Previous Literature: the sentence,

paragraph, or page describes a simple summary of the
results from prior studies. This process entails a
tremendous amount of condensation, taking complex
ideas and reducing them into paragraphs, sentences, and
if the author is brilliant, one word.

Lit Review CPL Critique of Previous Literature: the author is providing

a critique and a limitation of the previous and existing
scholarly works. CPL is conceptually related to POC, GAP,
and SPL since the deficiencies in the existing works
provide a theoretical, methodological, and analytical
justification as to why the current work is warranted. CPL
usually follows SPL since the author has to fist proffer a
body of ideas before it can be criticized.

Lit Review GAP Gap: the author is (probably in some systematic way)
pointing out the missing elements in current literature.
When GAP and CPL are done properly, a reader should be
able to anticipate the RAT even before the author declares
it.

Lit Review RAT Rationale: the author is providing the justification of why
the work is necessary and warranted. RAT should be
deduced and logically follow if the author had CPLed and
GAPed previous literature.

Results/Discussion ROF Results of Findings: describes the primary results of the

current article. This code is usually found in the abstract,
results section, and conclusion since this point must be
hammered home.

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Discussion RCL Results Consistent with Literature: describes the

findings of the current work that are consistent with the
existing literature. That is, the author’s own work supports
the work that others have done.

Discussion RTC Results to The Contrary: describes the findings of the

current work that are inconsistent with the existing
literature. That is, the author’s own work does not support
the work that others have done.

Conclusion WTDD What They Did: what the author(s) have done in a
paper/book; a logical and sequential cognate of WTD. This
code captures the main research question that the author
has answered and contributed to the body of literature on
the chosen topic.

Conclusion RFW Recommendations for Future Works: the current

work is not complete: the author is providing a map of
what is still lacking (GAP) in the literature and
recommending that others do in future work.

Reading Strategies
POC Point of Critique: a deficiency in the current article or
literature that YOU (the student author) could critique and
exploit as a way of remedying the gap in the literature for
a future paper.

MOP Missed Obvious Point: the author that you are reading
has missed an obvious theoretical, conceptual, and
analytical connection to earlier works. (MOP usually occurs
when the article’s author has not read sufficiently or
widely.)

RPP Relevant Point to Pursue: and mine in another paper.

Although this code does not pint out any limitations and
gaps in the current work, the stated point could be used
as a POC in a future paper. Obviously, RPP entail MOP and
GAP.

WIL Will this theoretical and conceptual connection be

logically teased out to its conclusion to reconcile a text
that is fraught with tension and needs resolving?

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2. Applying the Code to introductions

We will not go through each code but those we will use in the activities and practice dealing with
introductions, and the data and methods sections.

Introductions are like a blueprint and a map: it shows the path, with signposts, the reader will
follow through the article. Introductions tend to be between two and four paragraphs.

Structural Properties and Classification of Kinematic

and Dynamic Models of Wheeled Mobile Robots: Introduction
Adapted from Campion, Bastin, and D’Andréa-Novel (1996)

1Wheeled Mobile Robots (WMR) constitute a class of mechanical systems

characterized by kinematic constraints that are not integrable and cannot
therefore be eliminated from the model equations. 2The consequence is that the
standard planning and control algorithms developed for robotic manipulators
without constraints are no more applicable. 3This has given rise recently to an
abundant literature dealing with the derivation of planning and control
algorithms especially dedicated to specific simplified kinematic models of ‘trailer-
like’ or ‘car-like’ rigid WMR (see, for instance and among many other relevant
publications, [1]-[8]). 4However, commercial WMRs available on the market
have generally a constructive structure which is much more complex than the
simple models usually considered (for instance, robots with three or four
motorized steering wheels) and for which the modelling issue (which is often a
prerequisite to motion planning and control design) is still a relevant question.

First paragraph: 3rd and 4th sentences are SPL (Summary of Previous Literature). Part of last
sentence is GAP. i.e. ‘for which…..relevant question.’

1The aim of the present paper is to give a general and unifying presentation of
the modelling issue of WMR.2 Several examples of derivation of kinematic
and/or dynamic models for WMR are available in the literature, for particular
proto-types of mobile robots (see, for instance, [9]-[11] and [1]), as well as for
general robots equipped with wheels of several types. 3A systematic procedure
for model derivation can be found in [12] and [13]. 4In this paper we also
consider a general WMR, with an arbitrary number of wheels of various types
and various motorizations. 5Our purpose is to point out the structural properties
of the kinematic and dynamic models, taking into account the restriction to the
robot mobility induced by the constraints. 6By introducing the concepts of
degree of mobility and of degree of steeribility, we show that, notwithstanding
the variety of possible robot constructions and wheel configurations, the set of
WMR can be partitioned in 5 classes. 7This analysis is carried out in Section II
and illustrated in Section III with practical examples of robots belonging to the
five classes. 8We then introduce four different kinds of state space models that
are of interest for the understanding of the behaviour of WMR.

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Second paragraph: Rat (Rationale) can be found in the 5th Sentence; they use the word ‘purpose’.
They say what they are going to do, i.e.WTD, in the 6th sentence. SPL is also in this paragraph
and can be found in 2nd and 3rd sentences.

Many of you will not be engineers but the important element in this paragraph is to notice the
phrases and signposts which are common to articles in other disciplines. Notice the emboldened
sections below:

1Wheeled Mobile Robots (WMR) constitute a class of mechanical systems

characterized by kinematic constraints that are not integrable and cannot
therefore be eliminated from the model equations. 2The consequence is that the
standard planning and control algorithms developed for robotic manipulators
without constraints are no more applicable. 3This has given rise recently to
an abundant literature dealing with the derivation of planning and control
algorithms especially dedicated to specific simplified kinematic models of ‘trailer-
like’ or ‘car-like’ rigid WMR (see, for instance and among many other relevant
publications, [1]-[8]). 4However, commercial WMRs available on the market
have generally a constructive structure which is much more complex than the
simple models usually considered (for instance, robots with three or four
motorized steering wheels) and for which the modelling issue (which is often a
prerequisite to motion planning and control design) is still a relevant
question.

1The aim of the present paper is to give a general and unifying presentation of
the modelling issue of WMR.2 Several examples of derivation of kinematic
and/or dynamic models for WMR are available in the literature, for particular
proto-types of mobile robots (see, for instance, [9]-[11] and [1]), as well as
for general robots equipped with wheels of several types. 3A systematic
procedure for model derivation can be found in [12] and [13]. 4In this paper
we also consider a general WMR, with an arbitrary number of wheels of various
types and various motorizations. 5Our purpose is to point out the structural
properties of the kinematic and dynamic models, taking into account the
restriction to the robot mobility induced by the constraints. 6By introducing
the concepts of degree of mobility and of degree of steeribility, we show that,
notwithstanding the variety of possible robot constructions and wheel
configurations, the set of WMR can be partitioned in 5 classes. 7This analysis
is carried out in Section II and illustrated in Section III with practical examples
of robots belonging to the five classes. 8We then introduce four different
kinds of state space models that are of interest for the understanding of the
behaviour of WMR.

These phrases act as indicators or signposts to the reader about what the writers are going to
cover in their paper and are often seen in other papers whether about nursing, media, social
work, computer science, or any other field. If you look for them or phrases like them, you will find
understanding and critically analysing texts more straightforward.

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Activity 1: Coding an introduction

Read the following extracted introductions, and find and highlight the five codes we have
discussed. When you have finished, confer with your neighbours to see how they have allocated
the codes.

 WTD What They Do: what the author(s) purport to do in a paper/book

 SPL Summary of Previous Literature
 CPL Critique of Previous Literature
 GAP Gap: pointing out the missing elements in current literature
 RAT Rationale: why the work is necessary and warranted

Race, gender, and the newsworthiness of homicide incidents: Introduction

Extract from Gruenewald, Pizarro and Chermak (2009)
First paragraph:

1It is nearly impossible to escape crime imagery in the news media. Scholars

have found that crime is generally a staple of news programming, comprising

from 10 to 50 percent of all news stories (Chermak, 1995; Ericson, Baranek, &

Chan, 1991; Graber, 1980; Klite,Bardwell, & Salzman, 1997; Maguire, Sandage,

& Weatherby, 1999;Yanich, 2005). 2In addition, not all crime is presented

similarly by the news media. In particular, research has consistently shown that

crime is distorted in favour of uncommon events (Chermak, 1995; Ericson et al.,

1991; Fishman, 1980; Gans, 1979; Tuchman, 1973). 3This same research has

generally found that violent crimes such as homicides, for instance, are

overrepresented while minor, more common crimes are ignored or de-

emphasized. 4Consequently, research examining media coverage of crime,

particularly homicide, has increased in recent years (Buckler & Travis, 2005;

Johnstone, Hawkins, & Michener, 1995; Lundman, 2003; Paulsen, 2003; Peelo,

Francis, Soothill, Pearson, & Ackerly, 2004; Pritchard, 1985; Pritchard & Hughes,

1997; Sorenson, Manz, & Berk, 1998; Weiss & Chermak, 1998; Wilbanks, 1984).

5Despite such increased attention, an empirical void remains in the literature

regarding the factors that contribute to the decision-making process of whether

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to cover, and how much to cover, a particular homicide incident. 6To date, few

studies (i.e., Gilliam & Iyengar, 2000; Lundman, 2003;Pritchard & Hughes,

1997) have seriously considered how the gender and race of homicide victims

and offenders, and their interaction, affect news media selection and

prominence decisions, and whether these interactions supersede incident

characteristics in increasing the newsworthiness of a particular homicide.

Second paragraph:

1The scholarly understanding of newsworthiness criteria is important for several

reasons. 2First, examining how homicide victim and offender characteristics

affect news media coverage decisions is a step toward understanding the

construction of homicide as a social problem. 3Second, the public generally has

limited direct experience with crime and depends primarily on news media for

information about crime and the response to crime by criminal justice agencies

(Surette, 1998; Yanich, 2005). 4Therefore, news media's emphasis on particular

types of homicides and neglect of others could affect public perceptions and fear

of crime, and in turn, lead the public to support punitive criminal justice policy

alternatives. 5Moreover, emphasizing homicides involving offenders and victims

that align with dominant race/ethnic and gender stereotypes, and neglecting

those that conflict with such stereotypes, may serve to reinforce prejudiced

social structures, ideologies, and social practices (Meyers, 1997).

Third paragraph:

1This study examined the relationship between homicide participant and incident

characteristics and news media decision-making in the city of Newark, New

Jersey over a nine-year period (1997 to 2005). 2One research question was

posed: what homicide characteristics most contribute to the newsworthiness of

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homicide occurrences? 3In answering this question, this study employed data

from the Newark Police Department's Homicide Squad and linked actual

homicide occurrences with their respective media coverage in order to identify

what types of homicide characteristics lead to increased news coverage and

what types lead to less coverage. 4Additionally, this study evaluated both

relative frequency and “cultural typification” based on race/ethnic and gender

stereotypes as two important and substantively different criteria of

newsworthiness. 5In doing this, race/ethnicity was disaggregated in order to

examine homicides involving Hispanics. 6An examination of this sort is

imperative for the literature because it is currently unknown whether Hispanic

ethnicity is important in shaping news media decision making.

Physiotherapy Management of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: Introduction

Extract from Pollard (2013)

1Most physiotherapists either have encountered, or will encounter, a challenging

case of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), often, but not necessarily

following a patient’s injury, myocardial infarction, or stroke (De Mos 2007,

Velman 1993). 2Traditionally, physiotherapy treatments have focussed mostly on

attempted modification or management of peripheral symptoms, often with

limited efficacy. 3More recently, spurred by scientific advances identifying the

significant role of the central nervous system in the pathogenesis of CRPS,

techniques which focus on central processes, including mirror therapy, Graded

Motor Imagery, tactile discrimination training and exposure therapy have been

explored in one guise or another. 4However, there is little in the literature as to

how these worlds of scientific evidence and best clinical practice come together.

5This paper addresses and attempts to bridge this divide, reviewing the scientific

research that informs our adoption of these novel treatment techniques.

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List of critiquing tools:

Qualitative

Baxter, H. (2001) Understanding research: 3. Critiquing findings and conclusions. Journal of

Wound Care. Vol. 10 (No. 9) pp. 376-379 [online] Available at:
http://www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/pdf/10.12968/jowc.2001.10.9.26118 [Accessed 31.8.2014]

Beck, C. (2009) Critiquing Qualitative Research. Association of perioperative Registered Nurses

Journal. Vol. 90 (No. 4) 543-554. Available via Bradford University Library: Summon.

Boulton, M. and Fitzpatrick, R. (1997) Evaluating Qualitative Research. Evidence-based

Healthcare. Vol. 1, (No. 4) Dec. pp. 83–8 [online] Available at:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1462941005800786 [Accessed 31.8.2014]

Carlson, D., Kruse, L., and Rouse, C. (1999) Critiquing nursing research: A user-friendly guide for
the staff nurse. Journal of Emergency Nursing. Vol. 25 (No. 4) pp.330-332. Available via Bradford
University Library: Summon.

Clissett, P. (2008) Evaluating qualitative research. Journal of Orthopaedic Nursing Vol. 12. (No. 2)
pp. 99–105. Available via Bradford University Library: Summon.

Quantitative

Russell, C. (2005) Evaluating quantitative research reports. Nephrology Nursing Journal. Vo. 32
(No. 1) pp. 61-64.

Both

Carnwell, R. (1997)Critiquing Research. Practice Nursing. Vol. 8. (No. 12) pp.18-21. Available via
Bradford University Library: Summon.

Marshall, G. (2005) Critiquing a research article. Radiography. Vol. 11 (No. 1) pp. 55-59. Available
via Bradford University Library: Summon.

For further support on Critical Analysis, please visit our website with our workshops and clinics
listed. Please also refer to the books in the list below.

For examples of students’ essays and other assignments, visit the excellent website
https://wrasse.plymouth.ac.uk

To provide feedback or comments on any aspect of Academic Skills, please visit our website
(www.brad.ac.uk/academic-skills), click ‘About us’; ‘Feedback’; ‘feedback board’ where you will
find plenty of space to tell us what you think. Alternatively, we now have a ‘Comments, complaints
and compliments’ box in Chesham B0.23; just fill in a paper slip and post in the box.

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References
Bastin, G., Campion, G, and D’Andréa-Novel, B. (1996) Structural properties and classification of
kinematic and dynamic models of wheeled mobile robots. IEEE Transactions on Robotics and
Automation. Vol 12 (1, February) 47-62. http://perso.uclouvain.be/georges.bastin/paper37.pdf
Accessed 17 July 2014.

Caldwell, K., Henshaw, L., and Taylor, G. (2011) Developing a framework for critiquing health
research: an early evaluation. Nurse Education Today. Vol. 31 (No. 8) e1-e7.

Coughlan, M., Cronin, P., and Ryan, F. (2007) Step-by-step guide to critiquing research – Part 1:
quantitative research. British Journal of Nursing. Vol. 16 (No. 11) 658-663.

Gruenewald, J., Pizarro, J., and Chermak, S. (2009) Race, gender, and the newsworthiness of
homicide incidents. Journal of Criminal Justice. (37) 262–272.
file:///C:/Users/lclivese/Desktop/Predicting%20Crime%20Story%20Salience.pdf Accessed 17 May
2014.

Pollard, C. (2013). Physiotherapy management of complex regional pain syndrome. New Zealand
Journal of Physiotherapy. Vol: 41(2/July) 65-72
http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=1661dca1-fb3d-4e3a-b91e-
3a0b80676ae9%40sessionmgr198&vid=2&hid=125 Accessed 17 July 2014.

Pritchard, D. and Hughes, K. (1997) Patterns of Deviance in Crime News. Journal of

Communication. Vol:47 (3/Summer) 49-67. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1460-
2466.1997.tb02716.x/pdf Accessed 17 May 2014.

Shumaker, D. and Prinz, R. (2000) Children who murder: a review. Clinical Child and Family
Psychology Review. Vol: 3. (2) 97-115
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023%2FA%3A1009560602970#page-1 Accessed 3 June 2014.

Shon, P. (2012) How to read journal articles in social science. London, Sage Publications Ltd.

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Answers
Activity 1: Coding an introduction
Race, gender, and the newsworthiness of homicide incidents: Introduction
Extract from Gruenewald, Pizarro and Chermak (2009)

First paragraph:

It is nearly impossible to escape crime imagery in the news media. Scholars

have found that crime is generally a staple of news programming, comprising
from 10 to 50 percent of all news stories (Chermak, 1995; Ericson, Baranek, &
Chan, 1991; Graber, 1980; Klite,Bardwell, & Salzman, 1997; Maguire, Sandage,
& Weatherby, 1999;Yanich, 2005). In addition, not all crime is presented
similarly by the news media. In particular, research has consistently shown that
crime is distorted in favour of uncommon events (Chermak, 1995; Ericson et al.,
1991; Fishman, 1980; Gans, 1979; Tuchman, 1973). This same research has
generally found that violent crimes such as homicides, for instance, are
overrepresented while minor, more common crimes are ignored or de-
emphasized. Consequently, research examining media coverage of crime,
particularly homicide, has increased in recent years (Buckler & Travis, 2005;
Johnstone, Hawkins, & Michener, 1995; Lundman, 2003; Paulsen, 2003; Peelo,
Francis, Soothill, Pearson, & Ackerly, 2004; Pritchard, 1985; Pritchard & Hughes,
1997; Sorenson, Manz, & Berk, 1998;Weiss & Chermak, 1998; Wilbanks, 1984).
Despite such increased attention, an empirical void remains in the literature
regarding the factors that contribute to the decision-making process of whether
to cover, and how much to cover, a particular homicide incident.

The first five sentences summarize previous literature, so the code SPL (Summary of Previous
Literature) ought to be inserted in the available margin.

However, the last sentence of the first paragraph does something different: it identifies a GAP in
knowledge. This ought to be inserted in the right hand side margin.

Already, in one paragraph, the authors have summarized the literature, and identified a gap in
the existing literature.

Second paragraph:

To date, few studies (i.e., Gilliam & Iyengar, 2000; Lundman, 2003;Pritchard &
Hughes, 1997) have seriously considered how the gender and race of homicide
victims and offenders, and their interaction, affect news media selection and
prominence decisions, and whether these interactions supersede incident
characteristics in increasing the newsworthiness of a particular homicide .
Therefore, the question of what newsworthiness criteria are most important in
shaping news media decisions on how to cover homicide occurrences remains
unanswered. Moreover, the examination of gender and race/ethnicity
interactions in this area of research is nonexistent. Previous studies have
concentrated on racial categories (i.e., White and Black), and in doing this, have
ignored ethnic groups such as Hispanics. Consequently, it is currently unknown
whether Hispanic ethnicity is important in shaping news media decision making.
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The first sentence points to a critique of the existing literature: few studies…have seriously
considered. The rest of the sentences go on to show other holes in the literature. So, write CPL
and GAP in the appropriate place.

In this second paragraph, the authors have found more GAPs that exist in the literature. So
what?

Third paragraph:

The scholarly understanding of newsworthiness criteria is important for several

reasons. First, examining how homicide victim and offender characteristics affect
news media coverage decisions is a step toward understanding the construction
of homicide as a social problem. Second, the public generally has limited direct
experience with crime and depends primarily on news media for information
about crime and the response to crime by criminal justice agencies (Surette,
1998; Yanich, 2005). Therefore, news media's emphasis on particular types of
homicides and neglect of others could affect public perceptions and fear of
crime, and in turn, lead the public to support punitive criminal justice policy
alternatives. Moreover, emphasizing homicides involving offenders and victims
that align with dominant race/ethnic and gender stereotypes, and neglecting
those that conflict with such stereotypes, may serve to reinforce prejudiced
social structures, ideologies, and social practices (Meyers, 1997).

The authors provide reasons, that is, they answer the ‘so what?’ question which in turn is the
Rationale for the study or RAT. This, again, goes in the right hand margin.

Final paragraph:

This study examined the relationship between homicide participant and incident
characteristics and news media decision-making in the city of Newark, New
Jersey over a nine-year period (1997 to 2005). One research question was
posed: what homicide characteristics most contribute to the newsworthiness of
homicide occurrences? In answering this question, this study employed data
from the Newark Police Department's Homicide Squad and linked actual
homicide occurrences with their respective media coverage in order to identify
what types of homicide characteristics lead to increased news coverage and
what types lead to less coverage. Additionally, this study evaluated both relative
frequency and “cultural typification” based on race/ethnic and gender
stereotypes as two important and substantively different criteria of
newsworthiness. In doing this, race/ethnicity was disaggregated in order to
examine homicides involving Hispanics. An examination of this sort is imperative
for the literature because it is currently unknown whether Hispanic ethnicity is
important in shaping news media decision making.

This tells the reader what will be done in the paper, i.e. WTD (What They Do). Jot this down next
to the paragraph.

…the authors have provided us with both the content and the likely flow of the article.
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Physiotherapy Management of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: Introduction

Extract from Pollard (2013)

1Most physiotherapists either have encountered, or will encounter, a challenging

case of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), often, but not necessarily
following a patient’s injury, myocardial infarction, or stroke (De Mos 2007,
Velman 1993). 2Traditionally, physiotherapy treatments have focussed mostly on
attempted modification or management of peripheral symptoms, often with
limited efficacy. 3More recently, spurred by scientific advances identifying the
significant role of the central nervous system in the pathogenesis of CRPS,
techniques which focus on central processes, including mirror therapy, Graded
Motor Imagery, tactile discrimination training and exposure therapy have been
explored in one guise or another. 4However, there is little in the literature as to
how these worlds of scientific evidence and best clinical practice come together.
5This paper addresses and attempts to bridge this divide, reviewing the scientific
research that informs our adoption of these novel treatment techniques.

SPL: 1st, 2nd and 3rd sentence

CPL: 4th sentence
GAP: 4th sentence
RAT: Last sentence: ‘attempts to bridge this divide’
WTD: Last sentence

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