Week 10

Review the Introduction Critically

Background and Literature Review

ENGLISH II SARJANA TE
by Rumondang Miranda Marsaulina
Institut Teknologi Del (IT Del)
What is a critical review?

 A critical review (sometimes called a critique, critical commentary, critical appraisal, critical
analysis) is a detailed commentary on and critical evaluation of a text. A critical review can be
produced as a stand-alone essay, or as part of your research and preparation for writing a literature
review.
 Be familiar with the source text you want to review before starting critically appraising it
 Then, if you are assigned to critically review a research paper/research article/scientific
writing/journal article, you must understand the basic features of research article:
1.Title
2.Abstract-Keywords
3.ImRad (Introduction; Methods/Methodology; Results/Findings; Discussions)
4.Conclusions and Recommendations
5.Acknowledgment
6.References/Bibliography

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 How to structure a critical review of a journal article?
I. Introduction (one paragraph of the critical review text)

1. a few opening sentences that announce the author(s), the title, and briefly explain
the topic of the text you are critically review.
2. a presentation to the aim of the text being reviewed
3. a summary of the main finding(s) or key argument(s) made by the author(s) of the
text being reviewed.
4. a conclusion with your evaluation of the text being reviewed in a brief statement.
This can be a positive or negative or mixed response evaluation.

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 Sample of the Introduction to a critical review text

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 How to structure a critical review of a journal article?
II. Summary ( around 1/3 of the critical review text length)

1. Present a summary of the key points along with a limited

number of examples.
2. Briefly explain the author’s purpose/intentions throughout
the text
3. Briefly describe how the text is organized

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 How to best summarize a journal article?
 Scan the text. Look for information that can be deduced from the introduction, conclusion, title, and
headings. What do these tell you about the main points of the article?
 Locate the topic sentences and highlight the main points as you read.
 Reread the text and make separate notes of the main points. Examples and evidence do not need to
be included in this summary but will be used selectively in the evaluation / critique.
 Review your summary notes and rewrite them in your own words (paraphrasing)
 When paraphrasing to summarize a journal article, use reporting verbs and phrases such as
e.g. 'The author describes…', 'Smith argues that …'.
 Use quotation marks if you include unique or specialist phrases from the text being reviewed

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 How to structure a critical review of a journal article?

III. Evaluation/Critique (1)

1. provide a balanced discussion and evaluation of the strengths, weakness and

notable features of the text on the basis of specific criteria.
2. support the evaluation of the strengths, weakness and notable features of the
text being reviewed by relating them to some other sources (writing synthesize)
3. never forget to put the citation along with references/bibliography for the
sources you quote or synthesize to provide the support for your critique /
evaluation

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 General criteria for the evaluation/critique

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 Evaluation/Critique
Evaluating the Abstract
Reviewing the Abstract What to be included in your critical review text

Find out if the abstract

provides a very concise
overview or summary of the
research – what was done and
why, the methods used, and
the key results and
recommendations.

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 Evaluation/Critique
Evaluating the Introduction: Background
Reviewing the Background What to be included in your critical review text
1. Find out if the author(s) of the research text
you review clearly state the aim of the research
on the Background.

2. Find out if the Background is developed based

on the recent literature review examining and
evaluating other research in the area to give a
brief rationale for the research

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 Evaluation/Critique
Evaluating the Introduction: Literature Review
Reviewing the Literature Review What to be included in your critical review text

1. Find out if the literature review

synthesize other research to help
identify the need for the new
research that is being presented (the
research gap)

2. Find out if the literature review is

organized clearly and provide a
balance of related and recent literature

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 How to structure a critical review of a journal article?
III. Evaluation/Critique (2): Sequencing the evaluation section

1. If your critique is more positive than negative, present the negative points first and the positive last and vice
versa
2. If your critique is a mixed response where there are both strengths and weakness for each criterion you use,
decide overall what your judgement is.
e.g.: You may want to comment on a key idea in the text and have both positive and negative
comments. You could begin by stating what is good about the idea, and then refute it by
explaining how it is limited in some way.
3. If your critical review text is short, divide positive comments and negative feedback into separate paragraphs; if
your critical review text is long, mix positive and negative points on each criterion reviewed on the same
paragraph
4. Sequence the most conclusions to the least ones
5. Include your recommendations for how the text can be improved in terms of ideas, research approach, theories or
frameworks used
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 How to structure a critical review of a journal article?
IV. Conclusion (a very short paragraph at the end of a critical review )
1. Restate your overall opinion of the text.
2. Briefly present recommendations.

Sample of the Conclusion of a critical review text

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V. References
 Include a list of references you have used to support your
evaluation/critique at the end of the review

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References
1. Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Education & Student Experience.
(2022). Structure of a Critical Review. UNSW Sydney https://
www.student.unsw.edu.au/structure-critical-review. last update
on Friday, 18 March 2022
2. Planning and writing a Critical Review. (2020).
https://cdn.southampton.ac.uk/

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 Thank you

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