ArticleReview

Thepurposeofanarticlereviewistoprovideasummaryandevaluationofapieceof writing.Whenalecturerreadsanarticlereviewwrittenbyastudent,theywanttosee evidencethatthestudenthasnotonlyunderstoodthetopicofthearticle,butisableto evaluatethearticleinrelationtotheirownknowledgeofthetopicandotherrelevant knowledgeinthefield.Theannotatedexamplebelowprovidesusefulguidanceonhowto organiseinformationwithinyourarticlereviewandhowtoselectanduselanguage strategieswhichhelpmakeyourwritingmoreevaluative.

AnnotatedExampleofanArticleReview
Thisisanauthenticexampleofstudentwriting.Thereforeyoushouldnotviewthisasa modelwhileitcontainsmanyattributesofasuccessfularticlereview,itisnotaperfect pieceofwriting.Thecommentsontherighthandsidedrawyourattentiontoboth strengthsandweaknessesinthereview,butarenotcomprehensiveandassuchyou shouldnotassumethatsectionsofthearticlereviewwhichdonothavecommentsare withoutproblems.Pleasenotthatthelanguageinthisarticlereviewisnotwithout grammaticalerrors.
Functionalelements ArticleReview:Introduction
Citation:tellsthe readerwhicharticleyou arereviewingand providesreferencing details Overview:summarises forthereaderthemain pointsandgoalsofthe article(thisisimportant yourmarkerwantsto seethatyouareableto identifythesethings)

Language resources

Overviewofcritical assessment:tellsthe readeraboutyour overallassessmentof

Fabricius(2002),inherarticle OngoingchangeinModern RP:Evidenceforthe disappearingstigmaoft glottalling,focusesonthe replacementofthe/t/atthe endofwords/syllableswith theglottalstop//in ReceivedPronunciation(RP), aprestigioussociolectin Britaintypicallyascribedto theroyalfamilyandtheBBC. Thisfeatureistraditionally associatedwithmorelocalised varietiesofBritishEnglish (e.g.Scots,Cockney).The authoraimstohighlightthe changingnatureofbothRP itselfandalsoattitudes towardswhethertheinclusion ofphoneticvariationssuchas tglottallingcanstillentail acceptableRP. Thisarticleissignificant giventhatstudiesofsociolects

Reportingverb carefullyselected toaddmore specificmeaning (comparefocuses onwith discussesinthis sentence) Verbgroup carefullyselected tosignpostthe students identificationof thegoalsofthe article Semitechnical

terminology shows familiaritywith

Page1of1

thearticle (herethestudent evaluatesthearticlein termsofsignificance and accessibility)

deemedtobeofahigher statusthanothers (predominantlyasaresultof speakershigher socioeconomicprofile)are relatively rare . 1However asaresultofthehighly technicalnatureofitsanalysis andsomewhatabstract implications,thearticlewould perhaps perhaps onlybeof interest torelevantexperts wellversedinsociolinguistic theoryandstatistical processes.

important conceptswithin thediscipline

Contrastive conjunctionused tolinkthe positiveand negativeaspects oftheassessment

M odalterm odalterm usedtoreduce thestrengthof thereviewers assessmentof thearticle

1Yourmarkerwantsto

Functionalelements
Summaryofanaspect: summarisesforthe readeranaspectofthe article(the methodological approach)

seethatyoucanrelate thecontentofthearticle tootherknowledge withinthediscipline inthiscasethestudents negativeevaluationis toogeneralto demonstratethistypeof understanding.

ArticleReview:Body
2Afteradetailed background

Language resources
Evaluative vocabulary conveys thereviewers positiveassessment oftherigourand originalityofthe approach Implicitpositive evaluation ofthe credibility/rigourof themethodological approachisconveyed throughmentionof theCambridge Scale/professional phoneticians

Evaluationofthis aspect: evaluatesthisaspectof thearticle(herethe studentevaluatesthe originality,rigourand credibilityofthe methodological approach)

reviewofbothRPitselfand thenumerousstudiesofit,the authorturnsherattentionto themainfocusofthestudy:an original quantitativeanalysis ofglottallinginRP.Thedatais takenfrom24interviews conductedamongstuniversity students,allofwhomwere deemedofasimilar,higher socialclass,categorisedthus bytheapplicationofthe CambridgeScale totheir parentsoccupationscoupled withtheireducational background.Aswellassocial class,theinterviewees linguisticprofilewas evaluatedbyprofessional

2Notehowthestudent

hasintegrated summaryand evaluationthroughthe useof(sometimes implicitly)evaluative termsandphrases, suchasdetailedand evaluatedby professional phoneticiansto summarisethisaspect ofthearticle.Good criticalwritingoften doesthis.

Page2of2

 Summaryofanaspect: summarisesforthe readeranaspectofthe article(thefindingsof thestudy)

phoneticians whodeemed thoseincludedtobeRP speakers. Usingavariety ofstatistical methodstheauthor demonstrates anumberof interesting findings.A frequencyanalysisshows thattglottallingoccursmore Evaluationofthis readilyinnaturalspeechthan aspect: informalreading,revealing evaluatesthisaspectof thearticle anelementofstyleshiftingin (herethestudent RPdependentonthesituation evaluatesthevalidityand perceivedbythespeaker.A significanceofthe regionalcrosstabulation findings) shows howspeakersfrom LondonandtheSouthEastof Englandaremorepronetot glottalling,3confirming hypothesesonthediffusionof thisfeaturefromitshistorical epicentre(London)madeby UniversityCollegeLondon professorofphoneticsJC Wells andcitedbythearticles author.Additionally,an ANOVA(analysisofvariance) testonparticipantsreactions totwoidenticalbodiesof speech,differinginthelevel andvarietiesoftglottalling containedwithineachone, reveals thatcertainusagesof tglottallingaremore acceptablyRPthanothers. 4Whilethesefindingsare certainlyofinterest,the authorssomewhat somewhat overbearing attentionto detailinoutliningtheminutiae ofherstudywasexacting

Evaluative vocabulary conveys thereviewers positiveevaluationof the validity/credibility/si gnificanceofthe findings(forexample compareshowsto suggestsinthis context)

Implicitpositive evaluation ofthe validityofthefindings isconveyedby mentionof similarcredible findings

3Notehowthestudent

hasrelatedthe findingsintheoriginal articletoother findingsinthefield. Thisallowsthemto demonstrate knowledgeofthefield anditsconcernsand usethisknowledgeto supporttheir evaluations.Themore evidenceyouuseto backupyour evaluationsthebetter.

evaluatinganaspectof anarticleyouneedto usetermsof Contrastive evaluationthatare conjunctionusedto bothspecifictothe linkthepositiveand disciplineandits negativeaspectsof concernsand theassessment objective.Theuseof generalandpersonally Modaltermusedto Modalterm loadedtermssuchas reducethestrengthof overbearingattention todetailandpointof distractiondetracts fromthevalidityofthe Page3of3 studentsevaluation.

4Whenyouare

almosttothepointof almost distraction .Forinstance,the inclusionofthemakeand modelnumberofher Dictaphoneusedtorecordand transcribetheinterviews,an unnecessary detail extraneous totheinterestof thereader.Whileanelementof
thoroughnessinthereview, methodologicalconsiderations andexpositionofresultsisof courseessentialinanyresearch, andparticularlyacademic research,itmustnotgosofaras todistract fromtheindividual findingsandtheiroverall implications,aswascertainlythe casehere.

thenegative evaluation Evaluative vocabulary conveys thestudentsnegative assessmentofthe degreeofdetail includedinthearticle

Page4of4


Functionalelements
Summaryofevaluation: summarisesforthe readerthemainpoints madeintheReviewstage intermsofyour evaluationofeachaspect

ArticleReview:Conclusion

Language resources
Evaluative vocabulary conveys thereviewers positiveassessment oftherigourand significanceofthe studyandnegative assessmentofthe degreeofdetailand lackoffocus

Inconclusion,Fabriciusarticle providesacomprehensive reviewofpastresearchinto RPandpresentsinteresting findingsfromtheauthorsown thorough studyofthe changingnatureofRPand attitudestowardsthischange withregardstothe replacementofthe/t/sound attheendsofwords/syllables withthe//glottalstop. However,theauthorsfailure toexplainfindingsinsimple termsandproviderealworld examplesrendersthis researchinaccessible tolay audienceswhoare neverthelessstakeholdersin thestatusofRP(e.g.media commentators,thoseinthe dramaticarts). Therelevanceofthis Overallassessment: otherwisecomprehensive tellsthereaderwhat youroverallassessment andcontemporary studyis ofthearticleis(here therefore5somewhat somewhat positiveassessmentin termsoftherigourand compromised byits significanceandnegative relativelyrestricted assessmentintermsof accessibility. accessibility)

Contrastive conjunctionusedto linkthepositiveand negativeaspectsof theassessment

Modaltermusedto Modalterm reducethestrengthof thenegative evaluation

5Theuseofmodal

termsandtempering vocabularyis importantasby reducingthestrength ofyourclaimsand evaluationsyouleave lessroomforyour readertodisputeyour claimsandevaluations.

Page5of5