article review in apa format

article review in apa format

How to Write an Effective Article Review in APA Format

1. Introduction

Throughout his thorough analysis of the article review, Sweeney (1986) reflects an APA format that adheres to the original purpose of this type of scholarly work. While giving a step-by-step explanation of each component of the article review, Sweeney shows how some aspects of the APA format may be integrated, yet also states that the specific details of the format must be left to the discretion of the instructor and are not necessarily a replacement for the general guideline of the article review. Because the APA format is indeed a major component that makes this type of assignment differ from other writing assignments, a student may find difficulty in grasping the article review’s organization and content. In this scenario, an instructor may provide an article that applies to the assignment or has the student choose his/her own article to submit for approval. Either way, the student will need to understand these main points and must analyze an article effectively. Sweeney’s guide is a beneficial resource that can allow a student to understand this by using the article review itself.

The ability to write an effective article review is a critical competency for any individual involved in the pursuit of a relevant career. Comprehending the main points and arguments of the article is crucial for an accurate understanding and summation. Logical evaluation of the article’s main theme, supporting arguments, and implications for further research makes up the foundation of an effective article review. This component comprises the bulk of the article review, yet it necessitates a concise summary for the sake of ensuring the review’s coherence. The final step in writing an effective article review is composed of giving constructive criticism and suggestions for the improvement of the article.

2. Understanding the APA Format

Using an APA format article review writing process, the author should always consider this essential aspect. As with other formal writing, an article review needs to be clear, consistent, and sufficiently well-structured. This is more so in the APA style of writing, which is the preferred format and citation style for most disciplines in the social sciences. By adopting this style, the writers attempt to explain their hypotheses and empirical research to clarify and simplify communication among theoreticians, and indeed, in a similar vein to our now globalized language of English, APA is aimed to help a global audience comprehend research findings. A comprehensive guide to writing using the APA approach is provided by The OWL at Purdue. The authors would like to use this guide to frame their review. It is a simple process, but may be time-consuming initially, and gets easier with practice. Additionally, it will be very useful to refer to an APA-formatted article, in order to compare how this guide relates to specific writing in an article. A straightforward strategy for writing a great article review in APA format involves attempting to comprehend and summarize the article to evaluate and discuss the content and then to construct an organized, clear, and concise argument around an evaluation. Picking a well-defined and focused topic is an essential part of preparing to write an article review. It will help you digest and understand the article and the argument to follow.

3. Steps to Write an Article Review

This points can assist you write a debate evaluation in APA format. However, before starting out, you need to take some time to recognize each of the points that you are intended to perform. This can be best understood by using an example or sample. This is a thing of the most important or central points of an article, but in its purest form. So here you would be looking up the specific points or arguments and evaluating them. This can be frustrating to poorly written articles, and a waste of time. However, a well-done article can be very beneficial as there is the information that you have gained. When reading the article, it is important that you understand it completely. If you have a large vocabulary, it will be helpful to learn the words and expressions that are used. If you do not understand the meaning of something, then often it can be informative to the reader and will increase your knowledge. In order to study an article, often you may need to skim through it at least two times. The first time you read through the article, you should try to understand the big picture and identify the author’s main points. Then you should take a break from it and think about what you have learned. This is also a good time to do some further research. Then you should read the article in more detail, finding the specific points that you are wishing to assess.

4. Tips for Writing an Effective Article Review

Read through the article and identify the standard APA sections. These are the introduction, method, results, and discussion. These sections should all be written about within one article review. You should start with a short introduction. In the introduction, you should inform the reader about the general topic of the article, while in the next section, you can explain about the article in general is about. In the method section there is a need to see if the article is qualitative or quantitative. If it is qualitative, then you should look for theoretical issues. If it is quantitative, then the method will involve a comparison e.g. identifying relationships between two factors and testing a hypothesis. The next step is to make comments on both the clarity and completeness of the method in the article. The results are usually quite easy to identify. It should be clearly stated in one of the first few paragraphs. Once you have found the results, then you need to make comments on how it is written. This could be a brief review of only a few sentences, but it could be quite intricate with details and inferences to the possible discussion points. Finally, in the discussion there is a similar process to the method. Identify if the article is or is not a qualitative comparison and make comments about the clarity and completeness of the learning of the reader.

5. Conclusion

The advice from the editors of the Academic Writer should be followed when writing an article review in APA format. Your article should include a conclusion, an analysis of the author’s arguments and style, a discussion on the article’s relevance to the class, a comparison of the article to other articles on the same topic, an evaluation of the article’s credibility, and a presentation of your personal response to the article. Although the general structure of the article review resembles that of the article itself, it should not merely be a running commentary on the article. In the conclusion, the last section, identify the author’s purpose, review the article’s assertions, and restate the thesis. It is also a good idea to juxtapose the conclusion with the introduction, to confirm that you have not deviated from the course of your analysis. Remember to keep the conclusion under 125 words.