How to Critique an Article Essay

How to Critique an Article

A critique is a genre of academic writing that briefly summarises and critically evaluates a work or concept. Critiques can be used to carefully analyse a variety of works such as:

• Creative works – novels, exhibits, film, images, poetry
• Research – monographs, journal articles, systematic reviews, theories
• Media –  news reports, feature articles

Every day students get dozens of new assignments of all shapes and kinds, so it is more that simple to get lost in all of the rules and guidelines. One of such tasks is a critique and often we are asked ‘what is an article critique’, as it is not a regular task and has some specific structural and content requirements.

If you want to learn how to critique an article, you should first have a clear understanding of what this assignment is about. Generally, it is an objective analysis of any piece of work (not depending on its genre), which includes your personal thoughts on the subject. You need to give the reader an idea of whether the author of an article based it on facts and credible information. Your main goal is to show your personal opinion, backed with evidence and arguments, so you need to be very attentive while reading the article and noting down key elements.

How to write a critique

Before you start writing, it is important to have a thorough understanding of the work that will be critiqued.

• Study the work under discussion.
• Make notes on key parts of the work.
• Develop an understanding of the main argument or purpose being expressed in the work.
• Consider how the work relates to a broader issue or context.

There are a variety of ways to structure a critique. You should always check your unit materials or blackboard site for guidance from your lecturer.  The following template, which showcases the main features of a critique, is provided as one example.

How To Critique A Journal Article

Many students fail to complete this task, as they simply provide a summary of the analyzed paper, forgetting about personal approach and challenging your own skills and knowledge. That is why it is so simple to make one of many mistakes, while completing an article critique. These mistakes may include:

• Using only negative critique. Although your main aim is to analyze the article, you should add some positive features to dilute the overall impressive from your paper;
• Excessive background information. Most of the readers already know what the article is about or who its author is, so don’t waste too much time and energy on providing boring information on the subject itself and biography or publishing details;
• Not including the main argument. Many students forget about this important element and simply try to summarize the whole article. However, main argument is an essential part of your work and you need to include it at the beginning of your paper to make sure everyone knows what your position on the subject is.

If you follow all the recommendations, you will easily complete an outstanding article critique without any efforts!

The 4 Best Ways to Critique an Article

It is not a secret that most of professors pay careful attention not only to the content of the assignment but also how well it is formatted. That is why you need to be very attentive, when shaping your work and adding final changes. One of the most popular formatting styles, while completing an article critique is American Psychological Association (APA) format, which has its specific rules and guidelines. Your paper should be double-spaced, using 1-inch margins and Times New Roman font in 12 point. The general structure of your critique should consist of a title page, abstract, body and references. When formatting the title page, you should indicate name of your paper and school, as well as your personal data.

APA format article critique follows a clear structure:

• Abstract. This section should consist of a brief summary of the critique you are going to provide. Write down how it will influence the reader and what analysis methods were used. This paragraph should be 15-250 words long with centered word ‘Abstract’ at the top;
• Body. On the next page center the title of your work and start providing necessary details, not forgetting to double space the text. Here you should include mistakes you have found in the article, methods you have used and so on;
• References. This section may include only the paper you are analyzing but you shouldn’t forget about the formatting style you are going to use. Write the reference in such an order: last name of the author, initials, publication year, title of the article, name of the journal in italics, volume, page numbers if necessary.

In-text citations should be made using the author-date system, which means that you only need to indicate name of the author, followed by the year of publication. If you want to quote a certain part of the paper, you need to include the page name at the end.

If you know how to write an article critique, you will easily complete the assignment not depending on its complexity and formatting peculiarities.

How to Critique an Article