Learn How to Write an Article Review

If you are a high school or a college student, then you will have to deal with a variety of assignments. One such common assignment is writing an article review. You may think that article review writing is a simple assignment. But actually, it is a challenging task that doesn’t rely more on personal knowledge. Moreover, to come up with an excellent article review, you must have a good article in hand and strictly follow the professor’s guidelines. In case, you have no idea how to write an article review, then continue reading this blog. For your comprehension, here we have shared all the details like the definition, standard format, effective steps, and tips for article review writing.

Explore and update your knowledge of how to write a review of an article.

What is an Article Review?

Article Review is a type of academic assignment in which you will have to analyze and summarize the article of another author. It is also referred to as a literature review that presents an outline of a research topic topics or any other certain article with less scope. Generally, for various reasons, an article review will be prepared. But the most common one is that you will gain more knowledge by reviewing the significant works of industry specialists.

Here, let us have a look at several other purposes of article review writing. It helps to

• Identify strong and weak points.
• Emphasize main methodologies.
• Critically assess the subject
• Clarify queries regarding the topic of discussion.
• Discuss the present level of knowledge.

Basically, for preparing the article review, thorough preparation is required. In specific, for this kind of assignment, you will have to read the entire article, critically evaluate it, and express your observations without adding new information. Hence, you must possess excellent research, critical thinking, and analytical skills. Don’t worry, initially this task will look more difficult, but with regular practice, you can become an expert.

But before you get to know the steps for writing an article review, you must know various kinds of reviews.

Types of Review

Similar to different types of essays, the review articles are also of different types as specified below.

Journal Review

In this type, you need to read a journal article on a particular topic and identify the strengths and weaknesses. Most importantly, this task will help you portray your analytical skills and provide facts for your opinions.

Research Review

In this type of review, besides evaluating the content, you need to define, analyze, and critique the research methods used by the author. To perform this task, you need to behave like a researcher and evaluate the text from all angles. This will help you in deciding whether the author has done an excellent job or not.

Science Review

For preparing a science review, you need to take a scientific approach. Moreover, for this task, you must understand the author’s experience and also know the background and other already published materials on the topic. Remember, you can write a great review if you have more information.

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Format of an Article Review

Find here, the typical format that you need to follow when How to Write a Hypothesis.

• Title
• Introduction
• Article Summary
• Critique
• Conclusion
• Bibliography or citations

Learn How to Start an Article Review

If you are asked to write a review of an article, then this is what you should do before you begin the task.

1. First, carefully read the entire article that you are going to review and get to know the meaning of the keywords and phrases that you did not understand.
2. Identify whether your existing knowledge supports or opposes the ideas in the article that you are exploring.
3. Discuss the chosen article with subject experts or colleagues and gather more details.
4. Determine the type of review that is right for your article.
5. Summarise the important points, arguments, results, and points of view.
6. Find out the compelling claim.
7. Critique the article that adds value to the field.
8. Analyze the title, abstract, introduction, headers, and conclusion of the article.
9. Note down the important sections or sentences that are related to your expertise in the topic.
10. In your own words, rewrite the important arguments and results to obtain a deeper understanding of the article. This can also be written as an outline, which will assist you in deciding which points to be discussed later.

Article Review Citation Format

Before we move to the article review outline preparation steps, first let us see about the typical citation format of an article review. In general, if you wish to create a well-structured review and get an A+ grade from your teacher, then you must strictly adhere to the format suggested by your professor.

Usually, for your article review assignment, you can choose an article from an academic journal, a website, or a newspaper.  In such cases, you need to add citations for sources in your article review to avoid plagiarism.

There are several citation styles available. But to escape from plagiarism issues, make sure to format the citation correctly as per your professor or university’s guidelines.

In case, your professor didn’t mention any format, relevant to your article choose the best one from the list of citation formats presented below.

APA Format Article Review

Here, let us see how to write an article review in APA format.

• Journal: Author’s last name, First and middle initial. (Year of Publication). Publication Title. Periodical Title, Volume (Issue), pp.-pp.
• Website: Last name, initials. (Date of Publication). Title. Retrieved from {link}
• Newspaper: Last name, initials. (Date of Publication). Title. Magazine Title, pp. xx-xx.

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MLA Format Article Review

The following will give you an idea of how to write an article review in MLA format.

• Journal: Last name, First name Middle initial. “Title.” Journal Title Series Volume. Issue (Year of Publication): Page(s). Database Name. Web. Date Accessed.
• Website: Last, First M. “Title.” Website Title. Publisher, Date Published. Web. Date Accessed.
• Newspaper: Last, First M. “Title.” Newspaper Title [City] Date of Publication: Page(s). Print.

Know How to Write an Article Review Outline

Instead of directly jumping to create an article review, first sketch an outline. This is because creating an outline will help you save time and cover all the major details without omitting any.

The following are some questions that will help you in coming up with a good outline. So, find answers to them all during your analysis.

1. What does the piece want to accomplish or prove?
2. Are the primary concepts defined clearly?
3. How strong is the evidence?
4. What role does the article play in its field?
5. Is it new information on the subject?
6. What are the main hypotheses and assumptions?
7. Is the writer successful in conveying the message?

When you develop the outline for your article review, make sure to stick to the standard template and include the essential sections listed below.

Title

Firstly, in focus of the work being reviewed, create a catchy title. Remember, the title that you frame should be descriptive or creative in a way that is intriguing to the readers. After the title, using the relevant citation format, make sure to include the details of the original author of the article that you are reviewing. The details should include the author’s name, the title of the publication, and page references if there are any.

Introduction

Next, compose the introductory section. In this section, you should give brief information on what the author has written about and mention several other details that will be interesting to the readers. In specific, you can add background details on the article that are not known to the readers.

Most importantly, when writing the article review introduction, begin with a hook sentence relevant to the topic and then add the writer’s thesis, if there is one. Also, at the end, be certain to include a powerful thesis statement to inform the readers what your review is all about.

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Body

After the introduction, include the body paragraphs. It is the core of your review where you should discuss each concept separately and explain why you have considered the given evidence to be sufficient or insufficient. Moreover, you can also mention, if you feel the author is biased. The ultimate goal of this section is to analyze and describe the author’s understanding of the topic and whether the piece is useless or not.

Even, in this section, you can provide your personal opinions on the topic with supporting evidence. Remember, you can also add some other relevant pieces of work to back your judgment.

Especially, when writing the body section of your article review, you can have numerous paragraphs depending on the ideas you have. Say, for instance, you can compose one paragraph about the contribution of the author, the second paragraph about the strengths of the article, the third paragraph about the article’s weaknesses, and the fourth paragraph about your opinion.

Conclusion

This is the last paragraph of your article review where you should summarize all the points discussed and connect it with your judgment. Moreover, here, you can assess whether the article is worth reading and how the audience might obtain further information and opinions on the subject. Also, based on the evaluated work, you can add your comments on future research or the topic to be analyzed further.

Bibliography

In case, you have used other sources in your article review, create a bibliography section and properly cite all the sources you have utilized.

The APA format, which stands for American Psychology Association, is particularly frequent in article reviews. This will contain a ‘references list’ at the end and in-text citations that include the author’s last name, page number, and publication date.

There are also MLA and Chicago citation formats, with minor differences in names. The ‘references list’ heading will be used as ‘work cited’ in MLA format.

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Steps for Writing an Article Review

It is not too difficult to write an article review if you know the exact steps. Here is a simple and effective step-by-step approach to writing a review of an article.

1. Follow the Pre-writing Steps

Before you begin writing an article review, do the following

• Choose the topic of your review (if your lecturer did not specify one)
• Read the article several times.
• Summarize the article’s key ideas, arguments, and claims.
• Define the good (powerful) aspects.
• Determine any gaps or discrepancies
• Find all of the unsolved questions.

2. Create the article review outline

After reviewing papers and defining essential concepts, gaps, and other information, create a concise outline for your future work by including the following major elements.

• Pre-title page
• Author Information (optional)
• Running head (only in APA format)
• Optional summary page
• Title page
• Introduction
• Body
• References/works cited
• Page of Recommended Reading (optional)
• Tables and figure legends (if the lecturer specifies)

3. Title

After developing the outline, move on to frame the title for your article review. Remember, the title should be interrogative, descriptive, or declarative to grab the attention of the readers.

4. Cite the Article

Next, write the proper citation for the article that you are about to review. The citation style can be APA, MLA, Chicago, or any other. Better consider the citation format recommended by your professor.

5. Article Identification

In this step, mention the identity of the article you are reviewing. Begin by referring to the title, author, and year of publication in the opening paragraph.

6. Introduction

After article identification, compose a short and to-the-point introductory paragraph with a clear thesis statement for your article review.

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7. Summary

In this section, present a concise summary of the article by discussing its central arguments and listing out the key findings. Never miss the conclusion of the author because only the conclusion summarizes all relevant facts together and gives a new perspective on the topic.

8. Critique

Following the summary, add a critique. Here, you need to discuss the article’s contribution and significance. Furthermore, you need to support your critique by providing valid facts and evidence. In this section, you can also share your opinions on what worked well and what areas need to be improved.

9. Conclusion

Lastly, craft a compelling conclusion section. Here, you should summarize the major points and provide a final, rational judgment of the article that was evaluated. In this section, avoid adding new or irrelevant information that is confusing to the readers.

10. Proofread

Before submitting your article review, be sure to thoroughly read it and spot any spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors. Proofread it several times for mistakes and make it flawless.

Article Review Writing Tips

Listed below are some essential tips that will help you in crafting an excellent article review.

• Do not just describe the article, instead, analyze and interpret it.
• Evaluate the article in all aspects and your review, be sure to cover all the important elements.
• Share your opinions only based on facts. Don’t make comments without a reason, because they will be ignored.
• Explain everything unknown to the specialists in the field.
• Understand that, your review can be either a literature review or a critical evaluation.
• Maintain the length of the article review. For example, the length of systematic reviews will be usually short.

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Conclusion

We hope you are now clear about how to write an article review. In case, you are still clueless or if you lack the analytical and writing skills needed to craft the review of an article, call us immediately.