Purpose:
- To introduce the source, its main ideas, key details, and its place within the field
- To present your assessment of the quality of the source
In general, the introduction of your critical review should include
- An embedded citation of the source within the sentence, which includes
- Author(s) name
- Date
- Title of the source
- A brief summary of the source. Use the following questions to guide you:
- What is the author's central purpose?
- What methods or theoretical frameworks were used to accomplish this purpose?
- What topic areas, chapters, sections, or key points did the author use to structure the source?
- What were the results or findings of the study?
- How were the results or findings interpreted? How were they related to the original problem (author's view of evidence rather than objective findings)?
- The background or research context of this source. Use the following questions to guide you:
- Who conducted the research? What were/are their interests?
- Why did they do this research?
- Was this research pertinent only within the author’s field, or did it have broader (even global) relevance?
- On what prior research was this source-based? What gap is the author attempting to address?
- How important was the research question posed by the researcher?
- Your overall opinion of the quality of the source. Think of this like a thesis or main argument.