This is the complete guide on how to review a journal article step-by-step.
Whether you plan to evaluate a journal to determine whether it can be a great source for your research or your teacher has asked you to comment on an article, you will find this post incredibly helpful.
The right way to start is to have the right mindset. In addition to being thorough and constructive, it’s also important to offer fair criticism on the journal article without being biased.
You also need to spend enough time on the assignment because it requires a lot of reading, writing notes, and commenting on the work.
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With that said, let’s look at the steps involved in reviewing a journal article.
How to Review a Journal Article: The Step-by-Step Process
Journal article is a systematic process, so you have to follow the steps in the right sequence to get the assignment right.
So in this guide, we look at the steps to review a journal article the right way.
1. Read the Journal Article Extensively
The first step in reviewing a journal article is to set aside enough time to evaluate the article.
Start by looking at the publication’s style guide to get a clear idea of how to analyze the article and outline your review.
Since you’ll be reviewing a journal article as a school assignment, it’s important that you look at the guidelines your instructor provided.
Proceed to skimming the article to understand its structure. By reading the title, abstract, and heading of the journal article, you should get a clear picture of the organization of the work.
Skimming the article is also important because it helps you to identify the issue that the work is trying to address.
Skimming the article isn’t enough, though. Go the extra mile and read the article from start to finish. Doing so will help you to determine what the main argument of the article is.
Read the article again, and, this time, take notes. Make sure you scrutinize it section by section and don’t hesitate to comment on the article if you have to.
In addition to gauging whether the article addresses the central problem, you also should check the document for formatting problems, organizational issues, typos, and terminological inconsistencies.
2. Evaluate the Article Thoroughly
Now that you have a clear picture of the journal article in question, it’s time to go a step further and start evaluating the document.
Read the journal's abstract and the introduction again to determine how the author mapped out the article.
Determine how well the abstract summarizes the article, what problem it addresses, the writing technique used, and the overall results.
Check whether the introduction maps out a comprehensive structure of the article.
Remember, a good introduction is one that clearly lays out the groundwork of the journal article and gives readers a clear view of what to expect in the other sections.
Moving on, examine already existing studies and reference.
- Does the review of the existing literature summarize the sources?
- Do the sources used in the journal article give more information on the field of research?
You may have to spend some time looking at the sources used in the journal article to understand the context of the existing literature on the subject the article is trying to address.
Evaluate the method section of the journal article. Here’s where you determine whether the methods are appropriate and reasonable enough to solve the problem in question.
Does the author propose the best possible means of setting up an experiment or structuring an investigation?
Look at how the journal article under review presents data and results.
Do the tables, visuals, and diagrams help to present information in an organized way? Does the author give a sufficiently clear summary and interpretation of data?
A journal article may have non-scientific analyses and evidence, and you have to account for them should this be the case.
In such a case, it’s important that you check how well the author presents the evidence in support for the argument they present in the journal article.
Determine whether the evidence presented in the article is relevant and useful.
The last thing you need to do in this step is to assess the author’s writing style.
Remember, academic writing requires clear, concise, and correct presentation of information, and journal articles aren’t an exception.
The language used should be clear and unambiguous, with less jargons so that it easily makes a clear argument. The grammar, punctuation, and terminologies used should be correct.
3. Write a Review for Your Journal Article
Reading and evaluating a journal did take too much of your time, but that was worth it because all you have to do now is present your findings.
Write a Thesis & Create an Outline
Refer to your notes and come up with a declarative sentence . Then create an outline that you’ll use to support your declarative sentence.
If possible and where necessary, you should include examples that point to the strength and weaknesses of the journal article.
Don’t overthink your thesis statement.
As long as the sentence is constructive and thoughtful enough to point to the strength and weaknesses of the journal article, that should be enough.
Write Your First Draft
This is where you write a complete, comprehensive review for the journal article under investigation.
The structure you use here will depend on the guidelines issued by the publication.
You can still follow some standard academic writing guidelines to come up with a comprehensive composition.
- The introduction paragraph should introduce your review and include a thesis. The thesis should be one or two sentence, and it must appear at the very end of the first paragraph.
- You should provide some specific examples from the text to support your thesis. These should go to the body paragraph.
- The conclusion of the draft should give a summary of the review, refer back to your declarative sentence, and offer suggestions for further research.
Revise and Proofread Your Review
Check the review to make sure the information you’ve presented is correct.