CRITIQUE OF A JOURNAL ARTICLE Format Name of the authors (including affiliations) Title of the article Title of journal, volume

ume and issue number, date, and page numbers Content 1. Thesis A thesis is a treatise advancing a new point of view resulting from research. clearly state the thesis 2. Methods What methods did the author use to investigate the topic? Were the appropriate methods used? Did the author's approach to supporting the thesis make sense? Did the author employ the methods correctly? Have the procedures been presented in enough detail to enable a reader to duplicate them? Did you discover any errors in the way the research was conducted? 3. Evidence of thesis support What evidence did the author present in support of the thesis? What are the strengths of the evidence? What are the weaknesses? How did the author support the thesis? 4. Contribution to the literature Conduct your own research and include at least five other authors on the subject. Evaluate the contribution that your selected article makes to a better understanding of the subject. 5. Recommendations Summarize your evaluation of the article. o Is the title of the article appropriate and clear? o Is the abstract specific, representative of the article, and in the correct form? o Is the purpose of the article made clear in the introduction? o Do you find errors of fact and interpretation? You can check on this by looking up yourself the references the author cites. o Is all of the discussion relevant?
Prepared by A. R. Caparanga, Ph.D. for ENV304

o Do you find any content repeated or duplicated? A common fault is repetition in the text of data in tables or figures. Suggest that tabular data be interpreted or summarized, not merely repeated, in the text. o Has the author cited pertinent, and only pertinent, literature? If the author has included inconsequential references, or references that are not pertinent, suggest deleting them. o Have any ideas been overemphasized or underemphasized? Suggest specific revisions. o Should some sections of the manuscript be expanded, condensed, or omitted? o Are the authors statements clear? Challenge ambiguous statements. Suggest by examples how clarity can be achieved, but do not merely substitute your style for the authors. o What underlying assumptions does the author have? o Has the author been objective in his or her discussion of the topic? Who will benefit from reading this article? o What will the benefit be? o How important and extensive is that benefit? Clearly state your evaluation of the article in the form of a thesis for your own critique. 6. References

Prepared by A. R. Caparanga, Ph.D.

for ENV304