JOURNAL ARTICLE CRITIQUE ASSIGNMENT
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Instructor: Noah Neaman Fall Semester, 2021
Course: 1100
What is a critique?
A critique is a type of academic writing that summarizes and critically evaluates a work – in this case a journal article. Like an essay, a critique uses a formal, academic writing style and has a clear structure that includes an introduction, body and conclusion. The body of the critique includes a summary of the article and an evaluation of it. The purpose of an evaluation is to gauge the usefulness or impact of a work in a particular field.
Your Assigned Journal Article:
The article you will be critiquing is: “Hart and Mack: New Restraints on Mr. Big and a New Approach to Unreliable Prosecution Evidence”. The link is below:
https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1320&context=sclr
How to write a critique
Before you start writing, it is important to have an understanding of the work to be critiqued by doing the following:
- Study the article
- Make notes on key parts of the work
- Develop an understanding of the main argument/purpose being expressed in the article
WRITING THE CRITIQUE
Introduction
Typically, the introduction is short (less than 10% of the word length) and you should:
- Name and cite the work being reviewed
- Very briefly describe the main ideas/points of the article
- Have a concluding sentence(s) that indicates what your evaluation of the work will be. For instance, it may indicate whether it is a positive, negative, or mixed reaction.
Critical Evaluation
This section should give an assessment of the different elements of the work, evaluating how well the author was able to achieve the purpose through these. Your assessment should include the following:
- Summarize the section entitled “Overview of the Mr. Big Strategy,HartandMack”;
- In the second half of the article, the author reviews howHartandMackhave had major implications for investigators and the courts. Summarize howHartandMackhave affected investigators and the courts.
- Summarise and evaluate the value of an article, stating whether you agree or disagree with the author, with supporting evidence from the article.
Conclusion
This is typically a very brief paragraph, which includes:
A statement indicating the overall evaluation of the work with recommendations for improvement on the work (for example, possible future research in the area).
References
You may quote from the article and use APA style for citations. You may cite other sources but I am not requiring this.
Use APA style. Below is an example of how to cite a journal article APA style:
Miscellaneous
Paper Length: 6-7 pages (not including the title page)
Title Page: I do not require a title page but you may use one if you wish. Please ensure your name and student number are on the top of your paper (or on your title page if you have one)
- This is to be written inessay style– not point form (although you may use point form where appropriate)
- I will be checking to see if students copy off one another so do not make this mistake. Plagiarism will not be tolerated and will be dealt with appropriately.
- Papers must be submitted to Blackboard