The journal article review form is designed for master’s level and Ph.D. level students to use to quickly review and maintain important information from journal articles assigned for review in class or used as part of your research.
Download the Journal Article Review form.
You are encouraged to complete your article review in the following order.
-
Write out the article citation, so that you can easily access it when making your bibliography.
-
Next, capture the significant results from the abstract. Consider how this article relates to your own research.
-
Read through the Discussion and Conclusion sections of the article and take notes. It can be helpful to write down any quotations you’ll use in your review or research paper.
-
Before considering whether the quality of the authors’ conclusions and any other factors that may have influenced the results, complete the items on page 2 of the form.
-
Review the Introduction section to determine the context of the research article as well as the purpose of the study and the researchers’ questions and hypotheses. Also, make note of the dates of the articles cited in this section. Are they recent? If not, why not?
-
Look at the methods section: Make note of the sample’s characteristics, the procedures followed, and the instruments used. Consider if these are appropriate for your purposes.
-
Look carefully at the results and document the major findings.
-
Look at the charts and graphs provided for any patterns or trends that the authors did not mention or problems that were not addressed either in the results section or the discussion.
-
Consider what additional research is needed to answer any remaining questions. These may be outlined in the conclusion section as “limitations” or “more research needed.” This may give you some ideas about your own research.
-
Go back to the bottom of page one and consider if the conclusions agree with the results. Consider if there whether there were any over-generalizations of if the conclusions were appropriately careful.
-
Finally, consider if there were any other factors that may have influenced the results and conclusions.
Need help applying this concept?
Call 817.421.8780 to set up an appointment.
(c) 2011 – 2014 Monte W. Davenport, Ph.D.
PLEASE SIGN IN OR REGISTER AS A "MY LIFE SOLUTIONS" MEMBER TO READ MORE OF THIS ARTICLE. Joining "My Life Solutions" is free and your privacy is protected! New members may register by scrolling down and entering the requested information. Membership gives you full access to all of our blog articles and downloadable tools. Plus you will receive our exclusive newsletter containing additional tools and articles of interest. Read our "Terms of Use" and "Privacy Practices" for additional information.