W7000 Advanced Academic Study & Writing | Week 2.1

Assignment 2: Article Critique
Access the article, “Reflecting on Practice: Using  Learning Journals in Higher and Continuing Education” (Titled Module  2_Langer’s Article for Critique.pdf) from the Doc Sharing area.
Supplemental documents in Doc Sharing provide  guidance, in complementary but slightly different ways. The  ‘Suggestions for Writing Organized Papers’ document emphasizes how to  organize and write an article critique. The ‘Writing a Critique’ handout  emphasizes the purpose for writing an article critique, naming and  describing the 5 elements that make up most research articles. The third  piece is a sample introductory paragraph, where the author’s purpose  for writing an article critique and a map that clearly identifies the 5  basic parts of a research article, are clearly shown. Your purpose  statement is specific to the Langer (2002) article, so it will, of  course, have different content. You might state your purpose somewhat  like this: “The purpose of this article critique is to analyze the  strengths and weaknesses of the Langer (2002) article.” This could be  followed by naming the 5 parts of a research article, and then you would  have also created a map. 
You can download all these documents, as well as the  Scoring Rubric for this assignment, to Microsoft Word. Print copies and  refer to them not just for this journal critique but for other  assignments throughout this course. 

Suggestions for Writing Organized Papers identifies the 3 basic parts: Introduction, Body, and Conclusion of  all the assignments you will do [and all effective writing]. These 3  parts may contain somewhat different material depending upon the  assignment. The details of how to apply the parts specifically to a research article critique are bolded. 
Writing a Critique of a Journal Article states the basic purpose for writing a research article critique: to assess the strengths and weaknesses of each of the 5 elements, also giving you questions to guide your understanding. 
Sample Introductory Paragraph with purpose statement and map 

Note: Your analysis of the 5 elements form the Body of your paper, while your purpose, to critique the article, analyzing its strengths and weaknesses, is stated in the Introduction. 
All research articles contain these 5 elements, in this order, generally: 

Research Question/Problem—and, generally, the author’s Purpose for writing the article 
Literature Review and/or a Theoretical/Conceptual Foundation 
Methodology—data collection and data analysis section 
Results or Findings 
Discussion or Implications. 

Download the assigned article. Look for the elements and  mark them, if that is helpful, reflect on what you read, thinking of how  you would analyze each part’s strengths and weaknesses. What is  unclear? What is unanswered? What more would you have liked to know? 
Because reading and analyzing journal articles may be new territory for you, a few points about this article might be helpful: 

The Research Question and Purpose are located early in the Introduction. [note: while all articles have an introduction, it is not usually labeled, as such]; 
While not called Conceptual Framework, the section titled ‘The Concept of Reflection in Learning’ actually is that, while the Literature Review is called ‘The Uses of Learning Journals.’ 
What is usually called ‘Methodology’ is called ‘Research Methods’, while 
the Results or Findings in this article are quite long and contains a number of sub headings; 
the Discussion/Implications is broken into 2 parts in this article called ‘Implications and Conclusions,’ though you could put them in a single, heading. 

Assignment Directions:
Submit a double-spaced, three-four-page paper in Microsoft Word with the following parts: 

An Introductory paragraph that  states the author’s last name, date, and the central focus of the  article. Then in this same paragraph: write a purpose or thesis  statement—that is your purpose or intent in writing  this critique [WHAT] and a brief ‘map’ or ‘preview’ statement of the 5  elements you intend to develop in the body, to support your purpose. Do not title the section as the Introduction. 
A Body that breaks the 5 elements  of a research article into Level Two headers, starting the first  sentence of each paragraph with a topic sentence that focuses on the  strengths and/or weaknesses of that element. Be sure to support each  point with evidence from the article—quotes, paraphrases [See Citations,  APA, Ch 6 to check how to do this]. 
A Conclusion that restates your  purpose and summarizes the article’s overall strengths and weaknesses.  You might also discuss briefly what you learned from this article and in  what ways you found it interesting or useful to do this first article  critique. 

Other requirements: 

Include a Title page that contains  your critique’s title and related information [See APA, p. 41]. Page 2,  at the top, should contain the centered paper title again centered. 
Include a Reference page, fully citing the article,  using APA Guidelines [References, Ch. 7] and other chapters as needed  for editorial style, expression of ideas and format of text. 
Then, finally, consider these points:                  

Use direct quotes sparingly—cite accurately, with quotation marks, etc. 
For any paraphrases, be sure to give credit to the author. 
Use correct grammar, spellcheck and proofread your paper. 

All written assignments and responses should follow APA style in formatting and attributing sources.
Please make sure you review the  elements of the grading criteria and associated points carefully and  make sure your assignment has addressed all the elements and in enough  detail to merit full points.
  Assignment 2 Grading Criteria   Maximum Points    Click on the”Module 2_Scoring Rubric” to review assignment expectations and point distribution.  40    Total:  40