Overview of an Article Critique

As a scholar, you are likely to come across an article critique assignment in your studies.
This will require you to demonstrate effective skills on how to summarize and critique an article.

These skills include the basics on how to write an assignment. First, you need to understand what is an article critique.

Per se, an article critique entails:

“The standard practice in the examination of materials in research whether it is for dissertations, thesis papers, or capstone projects.”

It therefore allows you to show that you can effectively evaluate the validity of research or claims of other writers.

While an article critique assignment requires you to demonstrate that you have read the article by providing a summary of its claims, the bulk of the paper should contain your views about the quality of its assertions.

This requires that you present the best possible version of the author’s views when summarizing the arguments in the article.

Note that good skills on how to write an article critique go beyond basic critique of inadequately restated arguments, but seeks to reveal a good understanding of the issues.

If you ineffectively paraphrase the article’s views, you would not do justice to the author, and you would also fail to add to the knowledge the article seeks to disseminate.

You should also ensure that you cover the article’s main ideas while analyzing the article rather than examining issues that are not essential to the author’s claims.

You can only produce a worthy critique by scrutinizing the strongest arguments or the most pertinent issues in the article.

How to Write an Article Critique

The key to a good critique is a balanced discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the article’s observations. Consequently, you should evaluate

1. The importance of the subject,

2. The soundness of the research methods employed, and

3. the skill with which the author presents ideas.

The Subject

The subject is quite central to how to summarize and critique an article. When evaluating the subject, you should state whether the subject of the article is worth analysis.

If the article attempts to reestablish discounted ideas, the author should provide enough evidence to support the views.

You should not as such automatically dismiss minority views if they have some support.

Instead, you should analyze the strength of the author’s claims based on other researcher’s views, the emergence of new data, and the nuance of the article’s treatment of the subject.

To identify whether the article’s subject is worth analysis, you should use other reputable sources, citing their views to show whether they agree with those of the author.

Part of how to write an article critique requires you to state whether significant differences exist between established ideas and those stated in the article.

If the author simply rehashes established opinions, you should show that the article is not adding value to available knowledge about the subject.

Research Methods

Research methods feature prominently when it comes to how to write an article critique.

In showing whether an article is bringing about new ideas, you should analyze the suitability of the research methods the author utilizes.

Specific research methods have their own weaknesses and strengths.

Consequently, you should reveal how the utilized research approach affects the reliability of the researcher’s claims.

If the approach is not suitable for examining the subject –for example, it may be prone to introducing significant measurement errors, you should dismiss the implied significance of the author’s claims.

Additionally, if the approach improves upon previous research by others, you should state the importance of the new findings to the field.

You should also analyze whether the article’s conclusions or recommendations follow from the research approach employed.

Presentation

The effectiveness of an argument is partly owed to the sophistication of the author’s presentation of ideas.

Therefore, you should evaluate the author’s ability to present ideas in a logical and convincing manner.

This demands that you examine whether the sources the author presents as significant are reputable.

Additionally, if there are established ways for structuring an article in the field, you should examine whether the author follows it effectively.

If the author uses a new organizational approach, you should state whether it improves the effectiveness of the claims in the article.

Essence of Structure on How to Write an Article Critique

Structure is very important when it comes to how to write an article critique.

This is because it determines the content to include as well as the flow of ideas. Generally, the structure of an article critique should encompass three key parts that include:

1. Introduction,

2. Body, and

3. Conclusion

Introduction

A good introduction is a primary element in how to write an article critique.

In the introduction of your critique you should state the author’s name as well as the title and subject of the article.

You should only provide a brief and comprehensive restatement of the article’s views because reader’s can access the article for an in-depth investigation.

Because an author who is an expert on the subject is likely to have greater credibility, you should identify the qualifications of the author for examining the subject.

However, the author’s standing should not be the primary criteria for analyzing the article.

Instead, you should utilize independent standards to establish the weaknesses and strengths of the article’s claims.

You should also establish your own view about the effectiveness of the article’s examination of the subject.

If you agree or disagree, or have qualified opinions about the majority of its claims, you should state so at the beginning of the critique.

Body

This part requires you to demonstrate extensive skills on how to write an article critique.

Note that the main body of your article critique should restate the main points briefly before analyzing whether they are true or effective arguments.

Besides stating your own opinions on the article, you should also provide credible support for your supportive statements or counterclaims.

While it is possible that you agree with all the author’s claims, you should also provide some negative critique of the arguments – most arguments have weaknesses that can be analyzed and defended against.

Conversely, you should not provide an entirely negative critique of an article. Instead, you should find some defensible claims that the article makes and identify their merits.

To enhance the effectiveness of the critique you should present the most effective arguments before weaker ones. Additionally, you should examine your alternative views briefly at the end of your critique.

Scrutinizing them last ensures that the strength of your primary judgement of the article’s quality is preserved in the reader’s view.

Conclusion

This is the last part of an article critique assignment. It tests your skills on how to summarize and critique an article.

In the critique’s conclusion, you should restate the author’s main claims and your own judgement of their merit.

Your conclusion should also state the significance of the article for the research field.