Rachel Parsons
ENG 101-32, 34
Fall 2007
Assignment #3: Critical Review of a Journal Article
For this assignment, I would like you to practice your critical reading skills and learn how to really pick apart a text. This will help you critique your own writing and make you better readers for your peers. Choose an article from a scholarly journal (if you are not sure whether or not a journal is scholarly, please consult me) and analyze the text as though you were preparing it for peer review. Do not be afraid to pick apart the text and look at how the writer structures and organizes the paper, as well as choice of content. Even published writers have room for improvement.
Some questions to consider:
What was particularly effective?
What was not as effective?
Was the thesis clear and presented early in the text?
How could he or she strengthen the argument?
Was the tone/diction appropriate for the audience?
How was the text’s main argument presented?
These are just a few of the questions that you can consider when reading your text and is by no means comprehensive.
Nuts and Bolts: Please use standard MLA formatting for this paper. This means 1” margins all around, 12 point Times New Roman font, and the MLA heading that I showed you in class. Page numbers and your last name should appear in the upper right hand corner of each page.
Due Date: This paper will be due at the Beginning of class on Friday, October 19th. I expect all papers to be stapled and ready to hand in, along with your 3 copies for your peer groups. Late papers will receive a lower grade, so please make sure that you plan accordingly.
Papers should be around 3-4 pages, but this is not meant to scare anyone. I am more interested in good content than a certain number of pages. Everyone should be aware of redundancy in their papers.