Parts of the article review
Your article review for HUMS 1034 should have 4 main parts:
1. 2. 3.
a heading which provides all the necessary bibliographic information about the article a summary which outlines the article and reports briefly on its purpose, content and overall argument a critique which evaluates the article, analyses its strengths and weaknesses and shows how the article contributes to a field of knowledge
4.
a conclusion which provides your personal response to the article
There are 3 main steps in writing the article review:
1. 2. 3. reading and noting writing the first draft revising and redrafting
Reading and noting
Read the article once and highlight or underline any key ideas that you can identify. Read the article a second time and take notes that answer the following questions:
What is the authors stated purpose? Where and how is this stated? Who is the intended audience? Is it a specialised or general audience? What is the main line of argument? What other arguments does the author use to support the main line of argument? What evidence does the author use to support the main line of argument? Is the evidence well presented, sufficient and convincing? Are there alternative points of view or lines of argument? Where does the author stand in relation to other points of view on this topic? Does the text present or refute opposing lines of argument and evidence?
Your notes on the article should include an outline of the authors argument and the structure of the overall article. This will forms the basis of your summary. Note the relevant bibliographic details about all sources (author, date, title, publisher etc).
Writing the introduction and summary
Introduction
In the introduction you need to provide the required bibliographic information at the beginning: author, title, year of publication, place of publication. Summary A good summary demonstrates that you understood the article well. In the summary you provide readers with:
A clear sense of what the article is describing its main ideas in the same order as in the article An understanding of the authors purpose. This is be done by providing evidence from the article.
Writing the critique
The critique is your evaluation of the article. Critique each of the points in your summary so your critique mirrors the organisation of the summary.
Be explicit about your reasons for your claims of strength and weakness and present the evidence that influenced you. For example, you may decide that the article has valuable ideas but they are difficult to find because the article is not well organised so in this case, you would have to give examples and suggest a clearer structure. Another example might be that you find the writers style very powerful. If this is the case, you need to give examples of powerful phrases, quotes or metaphors the writer uses.
Show how the article contributes to a field of knowledge by comparing it with other authors who are writing on similar topics. Identify whether or not the author is successful in her purpose. For example, if her purpose was to change attitudes or behaviours was her writing convincing enough to change yours?
Writing the conclusion
This is your opportunity to give your overall personal response to the article. In the conclusion you may want to comment on how the article has affected you or changed your views. It may be appropriate to offer recommendations. For example, you might think that the ideas in the article are good but that:
there needs to be more research done OR there needs to be more practical applications given OR you can recommend another authors work on the same topic that is more convincing, better-researched or has more practical suggestions for action.
Revising and redrafting your article review
You need to allow time for revision between the completing the first draft and the final version. Some students find it useful to seek comments on their first draft. You could ask someone whether:
your meaning is clear ? the language is error free ?
Note that your assignment has to represent your workin seeking feedback you should not ask another person to amend or rewrite any part of your work, but you can use their comments as a basis for refining your work. Finally your review needs to meets presentation requirements of length and layout and dont forget that you will need in-text referencing and a referencing list of you refer to the work of other authors in your article review.
