GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSMENT ON CRITICALLY REVIEWING A JOURNAL ARTICLE
In this assignment, you are required to write a 1,500 words critical review of one academic article on topics only related to management, Human Resources or business.
Choose one academic article of topics below which attached you in files: –
- The Impact of High Performance Work System.
- An exploratory study of current performance management practices Human resource executives’ perspectives.
- Impact of Human Resource Management Practices (HRM) on Performance of SMEs in Multan, Pakistan.
Possible structure of the essay:
There is no, single ‘right way’ or writing your review. However, this structure should form your basic outline of the assessment: –
A brief introduction, summarising what the focus of the paper you are reviewing and how you will develop the paper
A short literature review to demonstrate your understanding of the topic. This is YOUR review of the key literature/authors on the topic.
A main part: This is your critical review.
Conclusion: A brief summary of the points you have made throughout your paper and your overall assessment of the article.
Selecting your article
The purpose of this assignment is to demonstrate what you have learned about the different approaches to research. Therefore, you will find it much easier to do this assignment if you choose an article that is based on primary research. If you chose a different kind of article, a literature review, an article proposing a theoretical model or a ‘how to do it’ article you will find it much harder as you can only really critique articles like this if you know the subject matter in as much depth as the author – and that is unlikely.
Reading and studying your article
Before you even begin to think about what you might write you should make sure you have a very clear idea in your mind as to what the article is about and how the author’s argument is constructed. Here are some helpful tips.
Most articles follow a similar structure as mentioned in the lecture. See if this applies to your article. If so, try and find the key sentences in each section that tell you what the author is trying to do in that section. So, for example:
In the Introduction, the author is making the case for the research, convincing you of its uniqueness. How have they done that?
In the author’s literature review the author will usually show you where they are locating their work within a wider body of theory on the subject/ How have they done that?
In the methodology the author is describing the approach they took to the primary research and trying to convince you that their research design is appropriate to their topic and that therefore, their results will be reliable and valid. How have they done that?
In the findings section the author is presenting their most important results and supporting them with evidence. What are these results and how convincing is the supporting evidence?
In the discussion section the author is pulling out the significance of their findings and relating them back to the initial questions or objectives. How convincingly is s/he doing that?
In the conclusion the author is summarising where the research has taken us, how it has added to knowledge, what new questions or limitations are there for future work. These two final sections should set out the overall significance of the research.
Once you have highlighted the key sentences in each section, and summarised them (in your own words) in a brief paragraph you should have a clear idea about the overall argument. Here is a nice quotation about essays and structures:
‘An essay without structure is just a sequence of ideas and arguments with no interconnections and no sense of direction. Even if the ideas themselves are interesting or provocative, the absence of structure conspires against making sense of them’ (Gabriel 2008:288)
So, bearing this in mind, look at how the different sections are connected. Look for any sentences or phrases that might provide a bridge from one paragraph to another. Word such as ‘in order that…’, ‘now we can see that…’, ‘following on,’ etc are markers that the ideas immediately before and after are linked in some way. Can you see how they are linked? If you can put down your ideas about how the different sections / themes are linked then you should, by now, have a clear outline of the overall article.
Sample for writing a brief summary
Now, see if you can write a single sentence (or maybe a couple of sentences) that says exactly what the author has done in the article. See if this format can help:
In this article the author(s) investigate the topic/problem/question by methodology and conclude that the main / most significant conclusion.
If you can do that, then you really do have a grip on the article! After that wonderfully concise opening sentence, you can go on to summarise the whole article in more detail (although don’t go beyond a paragraph or two).
Writing the rest of the review
To write the main review you should go back to your section by section summaries. Use these as a basis for developing your essay:
Questions you may answer:
- What kind of literature did the author review? What does that tell you about their main interest, focus, research paradigm? What have they left out?
- What choices did they make about their methodology? What comments can you make about their choices? Don’t just say they are good – say WHY you have made that judgement (and remember what you learned about research methods to help you do that!).
- What about the sampling selection? Is it representative of the population?
- Do you think that the questions used in the methodology are valid? Did they test the questions of validity and reliability?
- How clearly have they set out their findings and their evidence? What audience are they writing for? How well can you judge the validity of their findings?
- Do they identify some key relevant points in their discussion? Do these follow from their findings?
- And finally, how does that research add to our understanding of the topic? Who is the research aimed at? How useful is it? How applicable might it be to different situations? What are the limitations of the research?
- And finally, can you write a conclusion of your review that follows the same pattern as the summary above:
In this paper I have reviewed the author(s) article the subject and by examining the key areas you chose to write about conclude that …….
Marking scheme:
A: 14-16: An excellent essay that demonstrates a good summary of what the article is about, relevance of the article topic in business management and how the research was conducted. An excellent essay that covers the maximum from the above given questions in a manner which is backed up by good references and citation to support your analysis- The analysis should be written in a logical, concise and coherent way with proper justifications for each argument. An essay that is well-structured, clear sub headings with use of proper format of citation and references.
B: 11-13: A good essay that demonstrates a meaningful summary of what the article is about, relevance of the article topic in business management and how the research was conducted. A good excellent essay that covers at least half of the above given questions (especially related to methodology section) in a manner which is backed up some references and citation to support your analysis- The analysis should demonstrate some clear justifications for each argument used. An essay which has a clear structure, sub headings and use of proper format for citation and references.
C: 8-10: A vague summary which provides a general outlook on the article and its relevance to the field of business management. The essay at least provides a critique of methodology section of the article with some explanations adequately supported by few citations and references. Few clear justifications for the arguments used in answering the questions given. Evidence of some structure and subheadings available with some evidence of citations and referencing in the required format.
D: 5-7: The essay does have a small summary but is vague. You have answered at least 2 questions from the above list with some evidence of explanations and argument although without justifications. In text citation and references are missing. No clear structure and lack of subheadings. The essay just barely covers all the important areas which help in critique of the article.
E: 4: You select an article which is somewhat related to the areas of business management/ HR management.The essay is poor and demonstrates little or no relevance to the questions above. No structure and subheadings. No evidence of citations and referencing.
F: 2: You do not select an article. The student fails to submit the work OR the essay does not have any relevance to the questions asked in the assessment brief
