Article review worth 10% of your final grade.
The purpose of this assignment is to provide students with the opportunity of applying and improving their critical thinking abilities. A good article analysis can be written only if you read the article carefully, thoroughly, and preferably, multiple times.
A Guide for Writing an Article Review/Analysis:
Read the article three times to answer the questions required for an article review.
Difficulty answering the questions indicates you may need to read the article more carefully.
First reading
Read the article all the way through.
Get a general sense of what the article is about, and how the pieces of the article fit together.
Do this initial reading in a quiet place where you have plenty of time to complete the article in one sitting.
Stop reading only to look up terminology you don’t understand. If you read a passage that you don’t quite understand, reread it 2-3 times; if you still do not understand the passage, mark it with a pen or pencil and move on. Try not to hold a pen or pencil as you read; the point is to gain an overview of the entire article rather than to jot down detailed notes about the article.
Second reading
On your second reading, answer the questions below. They are meant to help you understand what the writer did in conducting research as well as discover the writer’s main points.
Fall 2023
MRKT 4112 - Advanced Topics in Digital Marketing
Assignment 1 - Article Review (10%)
2
For a research article, to start an article review, answer the following questions:
• What is the main point, the main argument, or the main hypothesis?
• What previous research findings does this article build upon?
• What are the sample and the method to collect data (if applicable)?
• What was learned by conducting the research (the findings)?
For an article that makes an argument or addresses current events, to start an article review, answer the following questions:
• What is the thesis (or central claim, or main point, or main argument)? The thesis is typically found near the end of the article’s introduction.
• Can you summarize the article’s main point in your own words?
• What are the premises for the argument?
• What evidence (data, research findings, historical or economic trends, theories, opinions, stories, anecdotal evidence) does the article’s author offer to support that central claim? Make a list of the specific evidence used throughout the article. Is that evidence sound?
Third reading
On your third reading of the article, answer the questions below. They are meant to help you evaluate and reflect upon the article:
• What do you think is most important or effective regarding the article’s research/arguments?
• What limitations do you see in the research or argument? That is, what counterclaims or arguments can you make in response to the article?
Fall 2023
MRKT 4112 - Advanced Topics in Digital Marketing
Assignment 1 - Article Review (10%)
3
• What did you learn from reading this article? Make a list; these might be huge new understandings of the issue or small tidbits of information you found helpful.
• In what ways does this article connect to the other articles you read on Week 1, your own research on the topic, and/or class discussions and lectures this semester? Only after you have read the article three times and answered the kinds of prompts listed above does it make sense to begin writing a draft.
As you can see from the reading process outlined above, each time you read the article, you are generating ideas to incorporate into the areas of your article analysis.
Evaluate your draft
Once you have written a draft of your article analysis, you should ask yourself the following questions:
• Did you accurately, fairly, and objectively characterize the article’s arguments and research in your summary?
• Did you avoid quoting from the author’s own summary or thesis statement when summarizing the study in your paper? The urge to do so might indicate you haven’t yet grasped the author’s main point(s), so rereading the article–and/or discussing it with classmates or your professor–might be in order before you write much further.
• Is your summary of the article the right length? Your professor might tell you how long the summary should be; if not, a good guideline is that it should be no longer than one-fourth of your entire essay. After all, the point of this assignment is to analyze the article, not summarize it!
• Does your analysis account for at least half of the entire essay? If not, you probably need to reread the article and your marginalia to generate more ideas for your draft.
• Does your analysis explain how the writer supported his or her main points with
Fall 2023
MRKT 4112 - Advanced Topics in Digital Marketing
Assignment 1 - Article Review (10%)
4
specific research, data, historical events, economic trends, theory, etc.? Typically, an article analysis describes these things in the order that the information appears in the article under analysis.
• Does your analysis point out any weaknesses in the writer’s argument(s), data collection strategies, or findings?
• Does your analysis describe specifically what the article contributes to the topic you are studying?
• Did you show how this article compares and contrasts with other articles you read?
• Throughout the entire essay, were you professional? That is, did you disagree respectfully with the writer (when necessary)? Have you demonstrated that you read and thought about the article carefully?
