What is a "critical" review? This means that you will write a critique of the paper, which is not necessarily the same as what we mean when we say "to criticize" something. I am not asking you to criticize what is bad about the writing style, organization, or clarity of the article, even though there's often much to criticize in that regard!  Rather than call it a critical review, it might be more appropriate to call it a skeptical review. It is a chance to point out the failings of the research. what else should have been done? Are there alternative interpretations that are consistent with the data?  There is no perfect study; you should develop an awareness of the imperfections of the studies you read.

A good paper should show critical, creative, insightful thought about the article you read. It should also be well written and well organized, and follow instructions. It should show that you've familiarized yourself with at least some of the data and analysis in the research article, not just with the general ideas in the newspaper article.  

The paper you critique should be a scientific paper, primary paper, which communicates new results, not a review article which summarizes results of several primary papers.

Writing the critique: style

1. Include a title page with this format:

Your name:
The  name of your partner (editor):
Complete reference for the article, as you wrote for the glucosamine assignment. author, year, title, journal, volume, pages

Staple the pages of your paper together, so that I don't lose them.  
Don't put your paper in a fancy binder.  
Paper clip your paper to the newspaper article and the research article.  It's okay if you've scribbled on them.

2. Your paper should be about 3 pages of typewritten text, 10 pt, double-spaced..   

3. Spelling counts. Use the American spelling of words (estrogen, not oestrogen) even if the research paper uses the British spellings. Grammar counts.  See grading guidelines.  

4. Write in a style as if you are writing for your classmates. Don't try to emulate the bombastic style of scientific articles, but aim rather for the level of  Science Times or Scientific American or Discovery articles. It's okay to use terms that should be familiar to a student from the lectures in this class, but if you use terminology that you learned while reading this article, then define it.  Use clear, direct English.  The article you read may say, "We assisted them to regain their ambulatory capacity" but you should translate this into English, and write, "They helped them learn to walk again". Write in your own words. 

5.  Don't just make an outline of what you read; rather read it, understand it, then put the ideas together in your own words.

Writing the critique: format

1-4 will probably take 1 page.  5 should be about 2 pages.

1. Begin with one or two sentences that summarize the article and the main conclusions.

Explain how this research relates to what is currently known in the field:

2.  Briefly describe the methods.  Was this a strictly experimental approach (interventional)?  Or did they observe subjects without doing anything invasive to them?  What was the control group, if any?  How did they ensure that the control group was similar to the experimental group? Don't quote the authors' text.  Write in your own words.  Omit details that are unnecessary at this point.

3.  Briefly describe the results in your own words.  Do the data given in graphs and figures seem to show what the authors say they do?

4. Explain how the authors interpret their data.  How do these findings relate to what's currently known?

5. Discuss the weaknesses of the experiment. Use the questions as a guide, but don't simply list answers to these.  Consider which questions may be relevant to this particular study.  At this point, you can bring in additional details from the methods or results or discussion, as appropriate.

A superficial critique would point out that there might be confounding variables that could account for the results.  A more valuable critique would suggest specific variables that may account for the results.

Don't just point out the weaknesses of the experiment; suggest some reasonable ways that the investigators might improve their next study.

Editing the critique

Read the article and paper written by your partner. Look at the grading guidelines, and comment on the paper as if you were a strict grader.

Revise and proofread your final paper.

Your grade will be determined by the average grade of both papers, so make sure that the final versions of both papers are acceptable to both you and your partner.