A review of a journal article examines a scholarly article’s strengths and weaknesses in terms of what the article is attempting to accomplish. Your review should include description, paraphrases, and your own analysis. Any analysis included should help readers to assess the article’s value without having to necessarily read the articles themselves.
To write a review properly, you first need to read the article twice, at the very least. The assignment begins even before you begin to write.
Things to Consider Before Reading:
Initial assumptions based on the title
Assumptions based on the sub-titles
Read the abstract. Initial thoughts?
Look over the References. Have you read any of the sources? Should you? What do they
indicate?
Search the Web for the author of the article. Is the author established in his/her field?
Does the author speak with authority?
Second Reading Exercise. Things to consider:
What information is fact? What information is opinion?
What opinions are supported? How well are they supported?
Is there a gap in information? In logic?
Can you find instances of bias?
Is the author successfully persuasive?
