Critical Review of an Academic Article
Assessment 3:
Critical Review of an Academic Article
Guidelines Assessment 3:
Critical Review of an Academic Article
Aim of assessment:
This assessment is designed to demonstrate the reading, writing and analytical skills you have gained over the study period in Critical Thinking. This assessment builds on the work of Assessment 2 where you conducted your first critical review of a shorter text, such as a newspaper article using the review concepts for the first time.
You have a choice of a number of academic articles that were offered for assignment 3 these are from the different areas of study. These are located on the course site and you will see they are titled according to the area (such as Education or IT or Health Sciences.). You can choose any of these articles and do not have to choose the one that relates to your future area of study if you would prefer.
An example of a complete critical review is available on the course site also.
Submission details:
Due date: 7th November 2022 11:00pm
Presentation details:
Spacing and Font: 1.5 spacing; justified text; Arial size 10 or Time New Roman size 12.
Referencing of article: You will need to include the referencing details of your text at the top of the first page of the review.
Word count: 1,800 words.
Writing Style:
Use third person and retain objective tone. Ensure spelling, grammar and punctuation is correct.
Content/Analysis:
Have you addressed all relevant text analysis aspects?
You must provide both a summary and critical review of the article.
The review should be structured in the following way:
Introduction
This is where you outline the topic, type of source and identify the central argument as well as the research methods that were utilised and if there was any external funding of the research.
Summary
This is where you outline the content the key findings, themes or main points and the perspective of the author. You can also include any limitations as identified by the author in the article in this section.
Critique
This is where you assess the strengths and weaknesses of the argument by applying the specific criteria for evaluating academic texts (see the 4 criteria below).
In the critique section, you also need to demonstrate your text comparison skills by referring to another text (you need to conduct your own research) and comparing the perspectives presented.
Criteria for evaluating texts
Significance and contribution to the field:
What is the authors aim?
To what extent has this aim been achieved?
What does this text add to the body of knowledge? (This could be in terms of theory, data and/or practical application)
What relationship does it bear to other works in the field?
What is missing/not stated?
Is this a problem?
Methodology or approach
What approach was used for the research? (eg; quantitative or qualitative, analysis/review of theory or current practice, comparative, case study, personal reflection etc)
How objective/biased is the approach?
Are the results valid and reliable?
What analytical framework is used to discuss the results?
Is there a clear problem, statement or hypothesis?
Argument and use of evidence
What claims are made?
Is the argument consistent?
What kinds of evidence does the text rely on?
How valid and reliable is the evidence?
How effective is the evidence in supporting the argument?
What conclusions are drawn?
Are these conclusions justified?
Writing style and text structure
Does the writing style suit the intended audience? (eg; expert/non-expert, academic/non- academic)
What is the organising principle of the text? Could it be better organised?
Have you met the word requirement? Remember the policy is 10% over or under without penalty.
Best approach to the assignment:
Get an early start on this assignment by finalising the text before the break.
Give yourself enough time to write a few drafts and to edit even though you are addressing each point individually, it should become clear that all of these aspects are linked. Approach us if you need any guidance with the assessment.
Good luck everyone!
Example of Assignment 3: Portfolio (Part 2): Independent Critical Review
Referencing details:
Rayner, C (1997) The incidence of workplace bullying, Journal of Community and Applied Psychology, Vol. 7, pp. 199 208.
Introduction
Although bullying is often identified with children/school behaviour, some recent research is reporting that bullying occurs amongst adults and in the workplace. The article The Incidence of Workplace Bullying by Charleotte Rayner (1997) reports on a survey into workplace bullying. The author relies on a number of references to support her argument about prevalence of bullying in the workplace, some of which include the prominent theorists and campaigners in the area.
The study is carried out at Staffordshire University in 1994 and is sponsored by BBC. At the time of the study, 1137 research respondents were part time students at the University and 53% of them reported being bullied at some stage of their working lives. The findings show that there were no significant differences in the bullying experience between men and women. Rayners (1997) respondents also reported being bullied in groups. The strategies and reactions towards combating bullying differed between those who had been bullied and those who had not. The article presents the results of the research and discusses the findings and directives for future research. Despite some deficiencies in the analysis, the article is succinct, well-researched and argued.
Summary
The authors purpose throughout the text is to persuade the reader that bullying is a pressing issue that requires further research and legislating. Rayner (1997) supports her argument showing that an incidence of an experience labelled as bullying was common for more than half of the respondents in her research.
In her article Rayner (1997) addresses a number of key points. Firstly she elaborates on the difficulty in studying and researching bullying in the workplace due to little research inthis area. Thus far, most research has been conducted in Sweden and is reported in Swedish and Norwegian, which impacts on its lack of accessibility for the wider academic community.
The author also identifies that besides lack of research there are methodological issues with studying bullying some of which include: lack of a clear definition of bullying, lack of laws and clear guidelines how workplace bullying occurs, as well as how to label the practice and identify a population to be studied with regards to the phenomenon.
In the article Rayner (1997) reports her research findings according to targeted behaviours such as being inaccurately accused, insistently criticised, ignored or publicly humiliated were statistically significant in occurrence for those who were bullied than those who were not. In the light of this, she finds frequency in targeted behaviours to be an indicator and a defining factor of bullying within the sample group.
In her discussion of the research findings Rayner (1997) suggests that gender is significant when analysing bullying behaviour and she provides research supporting this further. She also compares her findings cross-culturally. Her analysis indicates that bullies in UK are predominantly in management positions which is in contrast to findings from studies in Scandinavia and Japan where most of the bullying at work is done by peers.
The article also reports higher incidence of in-group bullying than that of bullying individuals who are on their own. The resolution of bullying and a timeframe for this is also discussed. The author elaborates on the factors that explain different reactions and strategies to combat bullying between those who have been bullied and those who have not. The author concludes by urging for more anti-bullying policies that were rare at the time of the publication of the article.
Critique
There are number of strengths and weakness in Rayners article. With respect to strengths, the author attends well to the structure and layout of the article. In her method section she identifies all of the essential information regarding the implementation of the study. She outlines the necessary ethical procedures undertaken when approaching the participants and reports on participants age and gender.
The text is well organised and is concurrent with the academic requirements of a journal article. The structure of the article is outlined with the essential sections included: an introduction of the topic, method in which the study is conducted, results and a discussion of findings and a conclusion. This aids in aspects of readability and clarity of the article. The article is intended for an expert audience. Nevertheless, the author uses simple and clear terminology thus making the content comprehensible to a non-academic audience as well.
In her article the author attends well to the analysis of factors that are at play with respect to bullying. She examines the instances when bullying occurs as well as whether itis resolved sooner if individuals are bullied alone or when in a group and why. In her research the author also examines the strategies suggested to address bullying by both those who have been bullied and those who have not.
The author accounts well to the aspect of gender in her analysis of bullying. She thoroughly examines some current research on gender and bullying, suggesting that whilst most boys were bullied by boys, girls were bullied by both girls and boys. Nonetheless she critically addresses this notion suggesting that it is impossible to know whether females do attempt to bully males and are not as effective at it, perhaps not being perceived as bullying by males (Rayner, 1997, p. 206). She highlights that it is difficult to analyse female bullying behaviour (ie. abuse of power) in the light of findings that women are significantly under-represented in positions of power. The author supports this argument with statistics.
Rayner (1997) also conducts an excellent cross-cultural analysis on workplace bullying showing that whilst in UK bulling is predominantly taking place between those in managerial positions and staff, in some Scandinavian countries and in Japan there is more peer bullying (at work). The author reports on an interesting finding according to which in Scandinavia and Japan bullying encompasses a whole different dimension via the practice called mobbing which involves groups of peers picking on one person. In this section, the value of the article would be accentuated further with a critical analysis of whether societal and cultural values and beliefs in Scandinavia, Japan and UK could account for this difference in bullying practices between the countries.
The author also includes some research suggesting that bullying is an abuse of power. However, her argument in this section could have been enhanced with consulting some contemporary sociological and cultural studies research on power and power relations (e.g., Foucault, 1975).
Finally, the effort on the part of the researcher (and her team) is commended considering that this a first UK study on bullying. Nevertheless, a research surveying only 1137part-time students does not provide for a true representation of bullying in the entire workforce in UK. UK as well as its workforce is diverse thus addressing bullying in different regional areas as well as whether those who are in positions of power bully each other would also be interesting. Similarly, exploration on whether some professions have more or less bullying would also add a more holistic picture about this phenomenon.
Conclusion
Overall, this is a well-argued and structured article. Consulting more research examining the link between bullying and particular workplaces as well as including perspectives from other academic disciplines like sociology and cultural studies on the topic would add further value to the arguments and conclusions presented in the article.
References
Foucault, M., 1975, Discipline and Punish: the Birth of the Prison, New York: Random House.
Rayner, C., 1997, The Incidence of Workplace Bullying, Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, Vol. 7, pp. 199-208.
