Writing Article Review

Reviewing of an article or research paper in the domain of the subject being delivered is acknowledged to be an effective method for learning in almost all professional education programs. The article review method builds in the students important skills like research, reading, comprehension, critical thinking and oral & written expression. It further helps enhancement of students participation, involvement, commitment and achievement. This method with due support from faculty guide nurtures maturity, empathy, responsibility and sense of dignity into the students undertaking this review. The student in this method of learning is first required to conduct a search for suitable article from resources like newspapers editorials, newspaper supplements, business magazines, trade journals, seminar papers, research reports, eventspecific or subject-specific collections of presentations, etc. Articles for the purpose are available both in print and cyber media. As the next step, the article searched by the student is submitted along-with details of source of the article, for the approval of the faculty guide. The faculty also ensures to avoid any duplication with the articles selected by other students and the relevance of the article to the subject of learning. Subsequent to approval, the student undertakes the reviewing of article under advice of the faculty as and when needed. It is needless to say that all the steps in the method are bound by scheduled tine period. It is to emphasize that the faculty has to bring in the sense of completion within Deadlines. Someone has nicely said that deadlines are supposed to be met rather than crossed.

Article Review Process: A good article review requires careful reading, critical thinking, and clear, wellorganized writing. 1. READ Read the article several times: once quickly to get the big picture and once or more slowly to understand the details. Determine the author's main idea/thesis/argument and supporting points. (Check the intro, conclusion, section headings, summaries to each section, etc.) Map the main points. (Headings may be helpful.) 2. WRITE TO THINK Reflect on the author's main points by free-writing about them for yourself. This helps you uncover your ideas and find language to express them. After reading each section (on one of the author's points), write answers to questions such as these: What is the author saying in this section?
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Why is he/she saying this? How does this point fit with his/her other ideas? How does this point fit with ideas from your course? How does this point fit with your own experience and opinion? So what? What are the implications of this idea? 3. WRITE TO COMMUNICATE Plan your paper. A review usually contains a summary of the author's main ideas (refer to your map) and your evaluation or assessment of these ideas. Determine your overall opinion/assessment of the author's ideas: positive, negative or mixed. Then find reasons backed by evidence (examples) to support your opinion. Arrange your ideas hierarchically. Write your paper quickly, following your plan. Don't edit as you write. Focus on communicating your ideas. Fix up your paper by working on one concern at a time. 1) Content: Make your points clear and developed 2) Organization: Present ideas in chunks introduced by summaries. 3) Language: Edit for conciseness. Correct errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation.

Structure of the Article Review: Article reviews will generally have a distinctive structure as outlined below: Introduction Body o Summary o Critique Conclusion Each section will have particular information in it. Read the assessment task very carefully to see if all of these sections are required and what exactly is expected in your particular review.

Introduction (about 10% of your word length) The introduction will have a sentence that introduces the title of the article or book, the year it was published and the name of the author (the bibliographic details). You will also need to outline the central themes of the article and what point of view the writer presents. You may also wish to give your overall impression of the article, remembering to write in formal academic English i.e. this may mean avoiding personal statements like I believe that

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Body (about 80% of your word length) The body of an article review will generally have two parts to it: (a) Summary and (b) Critique. The relative word lengths for each of these sections can vary from assessment to assessment, so you must read your course information details carefully. (a) Summary In sentences and paragraphs, summarize the main points of the article in the same order the writer uses. Omit any descriptive details such as statistics and examples. Stick to the main points. Avoid using the same word combinations that the author uses. Write the main points in your own way. If writing in your own words, summarizing or paraphrasing, you do not need to identify the author as you normally would when writing an essay. If you use quotations from the article, use quotation marks to make this clear. (b) Critique This is where you are expected to provide some critical response to the article. A critical response can include both positive and negative statements. This can be done using some of the following questions: What is the main point or argument in the article? What is the writers perspective or theoretical position? Are the writers ideas similar or different to those of other writers? Do the writers ideas help or hinder their argument? Is the writer biased in any way? Is the writer qualified to write in this area? Do you agree with the writers ideas? Why? Why not? Is the text easy to understand or written in a very complicated way, with gaps in its definitions and/or methodology? How does the writer use other sources?

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Does the writer simplify complex ideas or make simple concepts difficult to grasp? Would you recommend this article to someone else interested in this subject?

Sometimes the summary and critique section (the body) can be ordered on a pointby-point basis, for example: Point 1 summary and critique, Point 2 summary and critique, Point 3 summary and critique, etc.

Conclusion (about 10% of your word length) Briefly sum up the article. Make some statement on the overall usefulness of the article on the topic e.g. who would or would not find it of interest and why?

Good Reviews and Bad Reviews GOOD REVIEW supportive, constructive, thoughtful and fair identifies both strengths and weaknesses offers concrete suggestions for improvements acknowledges the reviewer's biases where appropriate justifies the reviewer's conclusions BAD REVIEW superficial, nasty, petty, self-serving, or arrogant focuses exclusively on weaknesses offers no specific suggestions for improvement indulges the reviewer's biases with no justification Candid and non-committal conclusion

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