Journal Article Analysis

Overview

A central skill in any scientific field is the ability to read, understand, and discuss the primary literature of the discipline. This assignment will be your first step towards writing your literature review. Here, you must pick one of the articles that you wish to use for the literature review, read it, annotate it, and then answer the questions posed in this worksheet.

This assignment also operates as an exercise in note-taking, and therefore will be extremely useful for both the annotated bibliography and the micro-literature review. Taking notes on your articles will greatly facilitate your comprehension of the material and the eventual writing of both assignments. Having a system for taking notes will allow you to organize information in an easily accessible fashion (something that is very useful when you have several articles that are similar). Further, taking good notes will insure that accidental plagiarism does not occur. If you write from your notes instead of the article, it’s hard to use the author’s words.

A few tips for taking notes: 

• Plan on reading your article at least twice. As much as possible, have an idea of what topics/concepts you hope to have in your paper. That way, you can pay extra attention to those areas as you read through the article.
• As you read your source for the first time, highlight key information. It is best if you highlight parts of sentences instead of whole sentences or paragraphs. This will help you to avoid plagiarism as you write your paper.
• Be sure to make notes for yourself in the margins (thoughts you have, how things may relate to your paper, etc.)
• Check the references! Look through and highlight any key references so that you can track them down later. They could be good sources for your annotated bib and lit review!
• After you have read the article, transfer your notes to a computerized note sheet. For this assignment, your “notes” should be answering the questions in the worksheet.
•  PARAPHRASE!! As you transfer things over, avoid copying things word for word (unless the question specifically asks for a direct quotation). This is a great time to start putting things into your own words. This way you won’t have to worry as much about plagiarizing accidentally. Check out this thorough module on Paraphrasing from the University of Guelph if you need assistance.
• Keep your notes/worksheet responses as short and as succinct as possible. The idea is that you want to create a source for yourself that is easier to use than the original article. It is much easier to read 1 page of notes than 10 pages of an article.
• Remember, your notes are a reference for you. You are the audience. If there is a lot of information you find useful (e.g. info about a measurement apparatus) describe it briefly, then include a page number. Ultimately you will be using these alongside the articles.