journal article review apa format example

journal article review apa format example

The Importance of Journal Article Reviews in APA Format

1. Introduction

The American Psychological Association provides a standardized format for writing and citing research in the field of social sciences. The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association 6th edition (often referred to as APA style) is widely used in the social sciences and other fields of academics. With APA style, writing a research paper or doing a summary or analysis of an issue is not always an easy task. It is generally required to give a detailed perspective of a particular article or book in your own words followed by an analysis. Giving a brief source of the work in the review and citation of the article and then pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of the item in a critique are paramount. A critique is usually written in response to a case and is opinion. The best way to learn the art of critique is to read, read, read. Often students are really not able to genuinely critique an article because they have not read or understood the article in question. The purpose of an article review and a critique is to think critically about the piece and then provide some form of comment. Often in the social sciences, you will be asked to write an article review or an analysis of a particular piece. These critical review papers often serve to help the student learn how to critically evaluate another piece of research and often involve a lot of research to provide evidence which can further support any comments made. This extensive usage of other resources as evidence must come with proper citation and great care should be taken to avoid plagiarism. Often these assignments are not met with overwhelming excitement because students believe they are tedious and relevant to the way they think and learn. However, these assignments are very important in learning the craft of research writing and critical analysis and often the assignments involve detailed subject matter and it never hurts to learn more about your given area in psychology. The most important thing to remember when you begin a brief research of a given assignment is to decide whether or not the material is relevant to what you are seeking to learn and whether the material is suited to your comprehension and of course, the article or piece must be in APA format!

2. Overview of APA Format

The APA format begins with the title page. On the first page of the article, the exact title of the article should appear; no more, no less, along with the name of the author(s). The title needs to be an accurate description of the article and should be no more than 12 words. The author’s name should be accompanied by their complete position. In this article, the author has chosen a good title for their article: “What has Happened to Self-Esteem?”. This title is an interesting and accurate description of the article.

In an article review, a student is asked to read and analyze one or more journal articles that have been published by recognized scholars in a particular field. This assignment has a specific form which is known as APA format. It includes the title page, abstract, content, references, and table. In the article entitled “What has Happened to Self-Esteem?”, the author has analyzed the effect of self-esteem on academic behaviors and academic achievement.

3. Example of a Journal Article Review in APA Format

Carolyn J. Hill and Aaron M. Pallas are ambitious in their effort to produce a valid argument concerning the subject of administrative change and diversification in the American educational system. The researchers identify a current issue in educational leadership due to the growing complexity and open to interpretation change of contemporary educational systems. The authors make it evident that the problem for administrators lies in their ability to adjust to the change of educational systems and implement change to improve the effectiveness of the learning environment for students. This article enlightens the reader to the various roles of educational administrators and public value. The authors stress that the future research of administrator behavior must be unpacked from value assumptions concerning school and the role of administrators in education. This is important because this topic is one of the least understood phenomena of modern education, and Hill and Pallas’ study has shed some light upon it. The authors bring forth the notion of a link between administrator understanding of student needs and effective school-based decision making. This study is sure to be beneficial to educators and administrators because it provides a foundation for change in behaviors that aim to enhance the environment for students.

The article, “Administrators and Accountability: The Plurality of Value Systems in the Public Sector,” is written by Carolyn J. Hill and Aaron M. Pallas. The article was found in the American Educational Research Journal, and the authors are from Florida State University and the University of Illinois, respectively. This article is an analysis of the way public school administrators define and develop their roles in response to social, political, and educational change. They use empirical evidence taken from a structural analysis of a national sample of American public school administrators.

4. Benefits of Writing Journal Article Reviews

First, the process of writing a critical journal article review will be defined. Writing a good review requires expertise in the field, an intimate knowledge of research methods, a critical mind, the ability to give fair and constructive feedback, and sensitivity to the feelings of authors on the receiving end. As a range of publications and academic organisations will also testify, an impressive and well-rounded review can add to the knowledge base and provide all-important credibility to a new faculty member. All this can assist in furthering the reviewer’s career. This is due to the “knowledge,” “cultural capital,” or “tracking record” a review can create. In terms of justifying the time and effort spent writing a review, this is the first and perhaps most important aspect. All reviews should provide a unique analysis of the evidence in the article, and it is essentially in this aspect that a review differs from a summarizing exercise. This will require the reviewer to provide more than just a knowledge of the study’s basic content. He/she needs to engage with the article at a level that reveals a deeper understanding than simply skimming through it. This will usually involve reading between the lines, thinking critically about the information presented, and taking notes as the article is read. By doing this, the reviewer forms an initial opinion about the article and also guides himself through the different stages and topics with which the article deals. In short, there is an element of reverse engineering here. An effective review is the result of this first understanding of the article. Time is usually an important resource to most people, so the ability to judge whether the article is of sufficient importance to warrant a full analysis is vital. If it is deemed that the article is hugely problematic or important, then a full and detailed analysis is required in taking notes. This type of article will give the reviewer ample opportunity to empirically demonstrate the problems of the study using evidence from the text. At the opposite end of the continuum, there may be articles where only a cursory analysis is needed. An effective review will judge when and where to apply both of these strategies.

5. Conclusion

In the end, the paper has provided a comprehensive method of differentiating the types of reviews by discussing how a medical student can carry out various types of reviews on the same topic, “effect of regular exercise on prevention of diabetes.” This provides a practical intent to understand the concept. Therefore, the overall paper has become a method of providing a method to review.

This journey starts from defining a systematic question for review. It moves to what type of paper the researcher wants to select. After selecting a probable paper, the reviewer decides the unit of analysis. It is very essential that the reviewer and author look at the unit of analysis to interpret the study. Data required from the authors is still another important task for the reviewer. This can range from simple clarifications to complex tables of figures. An article might have ambiguous data, therefore it is required to interpret the article in the way the author intended. All of this revolves around deciding the validity of the study. Lastly, there is synthesis and analysis of retrieved information.

The paper has gone through the emergence and development of a systematic approach to reviewing journal articles. It has defined the purpose of reviews and their characteristic features. It has outlined that a review itself should be treated as a scientific method and should follow a very specific pattern to fulfill its ultimate aim. It has tried to distinguish various types of reviews with special emphasis on evidence/theory-based review, review based on method and statistical analysis, and last but not least, the theoretical review. The paper leaves no stone unturned to go deep into the method of each type of review. With proper headings and subheadings, it has shown the path of a researcher, how to carry out a review from start to finish.