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How to Write Article Summaries, Reviews & Critiques

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Writing an article REVIEW

A journal article review is written for a reader who is knowledgeable in the discipline and is interested not just in the coverage and content of the article being reviewed, but also in your critical assessment of the ideas and argument that are being presented by the author.

Your review might be guided by the following questions:

Attribute   Question
Objectives   What does the article set out to do?
Theory   Is there an explicit theoretical framework? If not, are there important theoretical assumptions?
Concepts   What are the central concepts? Are they clearly defined?
Argument   What is the central argument? Are there specific hypotheses?
Method   What methods are employed to test these?
Evidence   Is evidence provided? How adequate is it?
Values   Are value positions clear or are they implicit?
Literature   How does the work fit into the wider literature?
Contribution   How well does the work advance our knowledge of the subject?
Style   How clear is the author's language/style/expression?
Conclusion   A brief overall assessment.

Additional Resources

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How to Write an Article Review (from Essaypro.com)

How to Review a Journal Article (from University of Illinois Springfield)

Writing Critical Reviews (from Queen's University Library)