An academic review paper is creating a work that would explain, examine, and assess any type of text in the form of a journal, an article, film, book, or even a performance. A review discusses how a piece of work is considered a part of the discipline it relates to and the value it could provide in a particular field of expertise.
In the academe, reviews play a huge role. It is a form of interaction between one scholar to another. It provides academics an avenue to discuss the theories, principles, and ideas brought forth by the text being reviewed. In creating an academic review, one must not rely on how other people have viewed the text but instead view it from their perspective.
Here are some practical ways to master the art of writing a professional academic review.
A Review Does Not Equate to Research
Creating an academic review is not a research process but more of an evaluation.
An academic review, like this on OmniPapers, the paper discusses the thoughts and proposals the research paper brings forth to its readers. It analyzes its strengths and weakness in relation to its field. You don’t have to research the topic of the research article. Instead, you have to examine the claims presented by the research article. For example, when you review the paper presented by Nation and Beglar on Vocabulary Test, you don’t explore the complexities of language and vocabulary but the claims of Nation and Beglar about vocabulary size and no one else’s.
A Practical Review is Unbiased
Writing a review does not mean negating or approving the researcher’s claim but a thorough analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the claims he presented.
Scholars must remember that in order to attain the greatest goal of the research, which is knowledge and discovery, they must remain unbiased and accurate. Though there may be some personal views when it comes to writing an academic review, it must always be supported with basis. Pieces of evidence must go together when it comes to writing an academic review. You have to be clear about why you are fascinated by their claim. On the other hand, you must also be able to present an explanation if you believe that it is not as fascinating as you wanted it to be.
Do Some Background Work and Research
Know the research paper as a whole before seeing it intimately.
An academic review writer gets to understand research better if he will allow himself the chance to see the research from a different and broader perspective. This means that a review writer must look into the work put into the study. Nothing should get past the reviewer, may it be the acknowledgments or every detail found in the table of content. Look into the detail placed in every dimension of the research, from the first word on the introduction to the last period of the researchers’ recommendations. Every single detail contributes to having a full grasp of the research’s claims and ideas. The reviewer also needs to look into the work cited list of the paper to see the other sources that made the report possible.
Create an Outline
Construct a structure that would guide you throughout the process of the review.
If you have an outline to follow when writing and analyzing a paper for a review, your academic review paper will be clear and organized. You could begin writing the subject of the article and the essential ideas it is talking about. You could then add the paper’s central claim by determining its thesis. In examining a body of work, you could look into how the author had created his research and later discuss the development of the author’s argument. A review could also discuss how the research could improve their body of work where it needs more substance and evidence.
Remember that writing a review is not another research based on another person’s claims. An appraisal is an analysis and examination of the researcher’s idea and how the scholarship could benefit from a new body of knowledge. It provides scholars an opportunity to discuss and look into each other’s works to see how they could be improved or how their scope could be stretched even more expansive.