How to Write an Article Review - Assignment Example

Journal Article Review Name Course Tutor University Date Name of Reviewer: _____________________Staff / Student___________________________ Name of Author or Student No: __________________________________________________ Date of Review: ______________________________________________________________ Criteria 1 Reviewer’s Comments Structure i. Follows the structure, format and style of the selected journal ii. Length: 4000-5000 words iii. Concise informative title of between 8-10 words max iv. Reflects the article topic and contains key words i. The article is a literature review on the effect of employing untrained ECE teachers. The structure adopted by the author is consistent with that of a literature review except for a few sections where the author failed to highlight the key areas. For instance, the author failed to indicate the research problem leading to the need for the literature review, the scope of the study, the hypotheses that the literature review aims to confirm or disapprove the objectives of the literature review, the conclusions, and the recommendations based on the findings of the study. ii. The number of words used in this article falls within the set requirement of 4000-5000 words since the article has 4,080 words excluding the end-text references. iii. The title comprises of ten words, which is precise and acceptable based on the stipulated standards. However, the title is ambiguous and does not reflect the true picture of what the author is investigating. It talks about the Effect of employing untrained ECE teachers on developing nations. The ambiguity arises on the failure of the author to qualify the nature of effect that the research seeks to investigate. The effect could be expansive and on several dynamics hence, the need for the author to provide additional information so that the reader is not left guessing on what kind of effect the researcher is investigating. The impact could be social, developmental, economical, political, etc and on different groups of people in the society iv. The content of the article reflects the title and essentially clarifies the ambiguity created the author’s research title. It enables the reader to understand the parameters that the researcher focused on in the literature review. The researcher also attempted to define some key terms, which were used interchangeably in the course of the literature review namely ECCE (Early Childcare Education)/ECCD (Early ChildCare, and Development)/ ECE (Early Childhood Education), and ECCD Center/ECCs. Notable is the fact that the author left some key words such as untrained teachers, training, and professional development (Bryman, 2015) Abstract i. Provides background to the topic ii. Identifies problem iii. Informs about the main focus and methods iv. Outlines major findings i. The abstract provides a detailed background to the topic safe for the fact that the author omitted the key statistics that would otherwise give a more factual background. ii. The researcher singled out the fact that majority of the ECE teachers are untrained but fails to show how this is a problem that requires attention iii. The researcher highlighted the fact that this is a literature review of previous studies in order to provide answers to the present problem that has warranted an investigation. The abstract highlighted the focus of the study, which is analyzing the effect of untrained teachers. The author should equally state that he/she is undertaking secondary research that involves reviewing existing literature. iv. The abstract highlights the major findings of the literature review, which confirmed the importance of Teacher Training, Professional Development, and Education Qualification on the learning and development of children. Notable was the established fact that pre-service training of teachers posed the greatest impact on the development of the children (Bryman, 2015). Introduction i. Explains background to the general topic, area of concern; ii. Establishes“the problem” and the author’s purpose/motivation/justification for reviewing the literature; iii. May identify research/review questions iv. Outlines the focus of the article and previews the organization of the text. i. The introduction provided a general background of the study and singled out untrained teachers as the major concern that requires investigations. However, this is not backed with adequate statistical information that could highlight the relevance of the topic and the researcher’s claim. The author needs to look further at the statistics provided by various published reports from governmental and non-governmental institutions in the absence of data from research journals. ii. The author started off very well by indicating that untrained teachers constitute a significant proportion of the ECE system but has not provide a satisfying explanation on how this is a problem that warrants an investigation. The author needs to delve into the gaps orchestrated by the presence of untrained teachers on the ECE system. The author has not also clearly stated the purpose of the present investigation in plain terms as well as the motivation. Finally, the author should provide a justification of the study by highlighting the potential implications of the study findings on ECE and development of the children. iii. The author identified three research questions that guided the literature review under the methodology section iv. The tail end of the introduction summarized the focus of the article and provided for a preview of the subsequent sections and their organization (Blaxter, 2010) Method i. Explains the scope of the review ii. Identifies the research questions iii. Provides an overview of the methods of selecting and procedures for analyzing articles i. The author failed to explain the scope of the his/her literature within this article. ii. The researcher identified three research questions that guided the literature review iii. The author demonstrated the search strategy involved in conducting the literature search that yielded 35 articles. The author used some key words to limit the search in order to obtain relevant articles. The databases used to conduct the search included Informeit,Google scholar, SAGE, JStor and proquest. However, the criterion applied by the author on selecting the relevant articles is not clear. In addition, the author did not outline the procedure adopted in analyzing the selected articles (Baxter & Jack, 2008) Findings i. Reports on the findings (from analysis) of the research questions The author provides an analysis of the findings from the current literature review in accordance with the research questions. Discussion and Interpretation Discusses and interprets the main findings and the implications for the problem or issue identified. Presents any limitations to the review The author provided a discussion section of the findings although this is not well structured and requires further review in order to reflect the key findings and their implications on the identified problem. The author highlighted the absence of sufficient number of articles on the study topic from developing countries as the only limitation of the study. This was reported under the methodology’s section. Conclusion i. Summarizes main findings ii. Present the implications for the problem identified iii. Identifies future directions e.g., research, policy, practice needed and any unresolved questions iv. Makes a clear take home statement about the importance of the review findings and follow-up. i. The article does not have a conclusion section that summarizes the main findings ii. The researcher did not present the implications of the literature review findings on the identified problem iii. The researcher recommended for more secluded research in order to establish the impact of teacher training on students learning outcome as a priority for future research iv. The researcher did not make a clear take home statement regarding the importance of the his/ her review findings (Baxter & Jack, 2008) Criteria 2 Reviewer’s Comments… A. Quality of analysis and review i. Provides a critical, constructive analysis of the literature in the specific field and relates to research questions ii. Presents a coherent review of literature and discussion iii. Uses literature to inform and support discussion iv. Links to research focus and contribution are signposted throughout the article i. The author reviewed the literature in accordance with the research questions ii. The literature review was incoherent and did not follow a standard format. The author did not provide sufficient information regarding the literature review articles. iii. The author used literature to inform and support his/ her discussion iv. The author did not signpost the link to the research focus and contribution throughout the article Criteria 3 Reviewer’s Comments… A. Uses suitable and accurately cited literature i. Accurate and consistent in-text citation method used ii. Reference list includes all texts cited in the text and is consistent with the APA (6th Ed.) citation method i. The in-text references are very inconsistent and do not follow the standardized APA format. The author mixed different styles and also failed to use the accurate referencing format for any of the styles. The author failed to reference all the required paragraphs within the document despite the fact that the information was obtained from another source and was not original. ii. All in-text references are included on the reference list. On the other hand, there are some references on the reference list but the same are not cited anywhere within the document. This include: Duncan, G. (2003). Modeling the impacts of child care quality on children's preschool cognitive development. Child Development, 74(5), 1454--1475. EFA Global Monitoring Report Team. (2015). EFA Global Monitoring Report 2015. Education for All 2000–2015: Achievements and Challenges. Paris: UNESCO. Retrived fromhttp://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002322/232205e.pdf Policy and planning division.(2014). Annual Education Statistics,2014. Thimphu: Ministry of Education, Royal Government of Bhutan Spodek, B., & Saracho, O. (2005). International perspectives on research in early childhood education (1st ed.). Greenwich, Conn.: Information Age Pub. Criteria 4 Reviewer’s Comments… A. Displays quality of written communication i. Use of subheadings and a concise paragraph structure –one idea or aspect in each, use of topic sentence and linking phrases ii. Sentence length is short and sentences are correctly formed iii. Use of technical language and ‘bog’ words are kept to a minimum iv. Clear evidence of editing – style, format, punctuation and grammar i. The author appropriately used sub-headings to organize the content areas. The use of paragraphs is inappropriate with different ideas in the same paragraph. The paragraphs are also too long in some instances. ii. The length of the sentences is appropriate however, they are poorly formed iii. The author limited the use of technical words to an acceptable limit iv. There is evidence that the article was edited to follow a consistent style despite the shortcomings in grammar. Author’s Response to Article Reviewer’s Comments References Baxter, P., & Jack, S. (2008). Qualitative case study methodology: Study design and implementation for novice researchers. The Qualitative Report, 13(4), 544–559. Blaxter, L. (2010). How to research. McGraw-Hill Education (UK). Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=-fVEBgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=research+question:+2010&ots=cmT7Sz5XBb&sig=N755A6U1CrOMab8zjGRF5ZcNYmQ Bryman, A. (2015). Social research methods. Oxford university press. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=N2zQCgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=research+methods+2015&ots=dnOtCRJ4qg&sig=0C8HGMvRTseZklf-MeLEQzxtg4w  Read More