In some general terms, an article review is a kind of assignments which describes and summarizes level of the article`s understanding. If you are given a task of article review writing, you do not have to provide your readers with the new information and facts. Instead, your main goal is to survey and analyze the previously published material.
Review articles are usually written in order to get the summarized information about:
- Current debates and discussions around the peculiar topic.
- The most prominent people working in this or that learning area.
- Important discoveries and innovations.
- Progress and advances.
- The major gaps in the research.
- Ideas and thoughts what can happen next.
All students are getting this task from time to time. So, in order to be prepared for writing, check the following step-by-step guide. This will help you to facilitate your work and break a leg with your assignment.
You know, who is well-informed is well-armed. So, before start working on your review, make sure you understand all peculiarities and specifications.
- Understand what an article review is. You should take into consideration the audience your paper will be written for. Your readers will be people who are knowledgeable in the subject you are working with. It will not be just general audience. In order to write an effective review, you have to summarize all main points of the article, take into account all arguments and positions. Besides it, your task is also to evaluate the article`s contributions to the subject and the effectiveness of its findings. Remember that article reviews do not expect only your opinion. You have to work with the text, respond to the ideas presented there as well as contrasting everything with your own research and reasonable argumentation.
- Think about the review organization. This should be done even before you begin reading the article to be reviewed. You need to create a clear structure of your paper and understand how everything should be set up. All in all, your review should contain these elements:
- Summarization of the article, with the attention paid to main points and ideas.
- Discussion of the article`s positive aspects.
- Identification of all contradictions, gaps, and inaccuracies.
- Preview the article you are going to work with. Pay attention to the title, abstract, introduction, headings, opening sentences of each paragraph, and the conclusion, first of all. Then, read each paragraph alongside with the conclusion in order to understand what the author intends to tell the reader. Having done this, read the entire article carefully. It is a good idea to write down all words and notions you do not understand, and look up some concepts you are not familiar enough.
- Read the article accurately. You have to read a chosen article at least 2 times to understand all its main points. While reading, try to use your pen or highlighter to make some notes and highlight the most important ideas. Remember that you will not succeed with your article review in case you do not understand the original article itself.
- Put the article in your own words. If you are able to do so, it means you understand everything in a proper way. Focus on the argument, its research and main points stated. It is very important to be accurate and not to misinterpret some information.
- Write an outline for your article review. Write down all contributions to the field, all claims and interpretation not to miss them while writing. Create a list of the article`s strong and weak sides.
The Process of Writing
- Create an original title. However, keep in mind that it should reflect the main idea of your review. You can choose either declarative title, descriptive title, or interrogative title. All of them fit.
- Cite the article in a proper way. You have to place a citation of the article under a title. Your citation needs to be done in a correct style, specified at the assignment.
- Start your paper with the identifying of the article. Here you have to refer to the title and author of the article, the title of the journal, and the year of publication in the first paragraph. This is an important issue which has to be taken into account while writing.
- Work on your introduction. It should include the identification sentence, alongside with the central article`s themes, and the author’s thesis statement. In case, the thesis statement isn’t clearly presented in the original source, you have to determine it by yourself. Your introduction shouldn’t be very long. It is only 10-25% of the whole review. There should also be a thesis statement presented in the end of this paragraphs, which corresponds the issue above.
- Summarize the article. Here you have to gather all main points, claims, arguments and findings of the article. Make sure you are using everything in a proper way. This can be done in several paragraphs. However, the length also depends on special requirements. While writing, you can use direct quotes from the author. Having finished with it, read this summary. Make sure that you used accurate description of everything said by the author, and didn’t misinterpret the information.
- Write your critique. In this paragraph, you have to express your own opinion concerning the article and how the author managed to address the topic. It should be a clear and meaningful explanation of your point of view, supported by arguments. You shouldn’t just say whether you like the article or no. You need to explain everything in a proper and accurate way, taking into account all the information provided before.
- Make a conclusion for your article review. This is the final part of your paper, where you have to summarize the main points of the article alongside with your own views. It would also be great your conclusion to leave an intend for further discussion and research.
- Proofread your paper. In order to be sure that you have written everything well, reread the review. Check the grammar, spelling, punctuation. Look for unneeded and extra information. Polish your paper until it is perfect.