BABC9803 – International Culinary Strategies

Review Essay #1

Please write a review of one of the two scholarly articles referenced below. You have choice.
Only select one article. The due date for this review essay is Thursday, 18 October (before
4:30pm). Please submit a paper copy to me in class or to my office mailbox (E 108). The
articles can be accessed from the BABC9803 Blackboard site.

Kemp, S., & Dwyer, L. (2003). Mission Statements of International Airlines. Tourism
Management, 24(6), 635-653.

Litvin, S. (2011). Good, Better, or Best: Selecting the Right Strategy. Tourism Review
International, 14(1), 47-54.

The purpose of this exercise is to provide a summary and evaluation of a piece of writing that
addresses some aspect of business strategy. I am seeking evidence that you have not only
understood the topic(s) addressed by the article, but that you are able to evaluate the article.
Do you understand the arguments made the author(s)? What is the main point – or what are
the main points – of the article? Can you analyze the contents of the article in a coherent
manner?

This essay should not exceed four typed pages (excluding the title page and reference page – if
a reference page is necessary). You are to include a title page. Please include a reference page
if you consulted other sources for this essay. The essay should be double spaced and you
should use 12-point font. You are welcome to double side the pages. Please number the pages
too. We will use the referencing system developed by the American Psychological Association
(APA).

Your essays should be polished and professional pieces of work. Please proofread your work
carefully before submission. Headings are optional but they can be helpful to the reader. Use
them sparingly. For example, do not insert a heading before each paragraph of your essay. An
essay of this length probably only has three or four headings. Headings, again, are optional.

Your review essay should include these components:

1. A title that reflects the thrust of your review
Your title cannot simply be “Review Essay #1” or similar.
2. A full bibliographic reference for the scholarly article you have reviewed, in proper
style, just below your title
The full reference should follow the APA format for referencing. Follow the format as
demonstrated near the top of this first page.
 3. An introduction
The length of the introduction should be around a paragraph. You could discuss the aim of the
article and summarize the main findings or key argument(s). Conclude the introduction with a
brief statement about your evaluation of the article. This evaluation can be positive or
negative, but it can also be a mixed review. The conclusion to your introduction should signal
your position regarding the article’s quality or usefulness.
4. Write a summary of the article
This summary could be one to three paragraphs (of courses, paragraphs can vary in length).
What does the article set out to do? What are the central concepts? What is the central
argument or point made by the author(s)? What sources are used to support the argument?
Did the author(s) collect and analyze data?
5. An appraisal of the article
I am not simply interested in reading a straightforward summary of the article under review. I
want to read a critical assessment of the ideas and the argument(s) that are being presented by
the author. You do, however, need to be clear about the author’s (or authors’) own
argument(s) before you evaluate or criticize it/them. I will weigh your appraisal of the
scholarly article heavily when grading the essay.

Does the author’s (or authors’) argument support the main points he or she (or they) make(s)?
Is the evidence convincing? If not, what types of evidence could have been used? How could
he or she (or they) have used this evidence? How clear is the author’s (or authors’) writing?
You could include a range of recommendations in your review. How could the article be
improved? If the article is an older one, how could it be updated?

How would practitioners benefit from the contents of the article? What advice would you offer
to practitioners after reading this article? Should practitioners read it? Why? In other words,
how could the contents of the article be applied to the world outside of academia?
6. A conclusion
Bring your review to a satisfactory conclusion. Summarize the contents of your essay. Try to
keep the conclusion to one paragraph. You could identify avenues for future research or
enquiry.

Some Advice:
1. Read the entire article. Many scholarly articles can be quite complex and use
complicated wording and statistics. You may need to read the article the few times
before you fully grasp its contents/argument. However, your initial reading of the
article can be an initial scoping exercise. Read the title, the abstract, and the
introduction. You could also then read the conclusion. These sections of the article
should provide some idea about the central focus of the article. You might want to
 review any tables or diagrams in the article. Why do you think the author wrote the
article?

2. If a review essay is an unfamiliar assignment, you may find it helpful to read published
review essays. You could search the database Hospitality and Tourism Complete (or
other databases) using the terms “review essay” or “review article”. This database is
available electronically via the Niagara College Libraries and Learning Commons website.
The college subscribes to other databases as well. Many academics in the field of
hospitality and tourism management use the database Hospitality and Tourism
Complete for their own research.

3. You can use reporting verbs and phrases. “The author describes…”, “Smith (2012)
argues that…”, or “Smith (2012) demonstrates that…”

Some Reminders:
1. Make sure you reference direct quotations from the article. Use the author’s (or
authors’) name(s), the year of publication, and the page number in the in-text citation.
The APA approach to referencing is to be used.

2. Paraphrasing means putting ideas into your own words. Paraphrasing offers an
alternative to using direct quotations in your essay. If you include distinctive phrases
from the article, use quotation marks.

3. Please observe (as noted) the standard formatting conventions. Essays should be typed
in 12-point font and double-spaced.

4. Please include a title page and (if necessary) a reference page.

Important Information:
Make sure your essay has a title page that features your name, student number, and a title.
This essay is worth 15% of your final course grade. The criteria for assessment are as follows:

 a thorough command of the task assigned (in other words, have you followed the
instructions and does your review essay feature the necessary components?) – 10
marks

 an ability to organize and integrate ideas that makes sense to a reader – 5 marks

 a capacity to think critically and creatively about the subject matter (evidence of some
original thinking). Have you provided more than a summary of the article under review?
– 7.5 marks
 a concise writing style that expresses ideas fluently (correct spelling and grammar) – 5
marks

 a mastery of essay writing conventions: title page, proper formatting, and correct
referencing – 2.5 marks