- Find a full-length journal article (not just a research note or review essay) that interests you, published no earlier than 2016, from one of the following (or approved) top political science journals. You may not choose an article already assigned as required reading in this or another political science course you have taken. Please be sure to print or save a PDF of your article in case I need to see it.
Journals that cover multiple subfields: American Journal of Political Science American Political Science Review Journal of Politics
Political Research Quarterl
Journals focused on one subfield or topic:
Presidential Studies Quarterly
Congress & Presidency
Political Theory
International Studies Quarterly;International Organization
Comparative Political Studies ;World Politics
Political Research Quarterly
Legislative Studies
Quarterly Journal of Conflict Resolution
Journal of Peace Research
Your critique of the article should be 2000-3000 words long (probably about ten pages of text), typed times new roman 12pt font, double-spaced, with page numbers and use of APSA citations in text and a full works cited page in APSA format attached.
a. Create a cover page. Come up with a title other than “article critique” or the like (you may want to save this part for last, since you may not know your thesis yet); add your name and institutional affiliation (presumably, Texas A&M University – Central Texas).
b. Begin the critique by establishing the article’s research question and its importance. Presumably it is important, since it interested you -- but why should other political scientists care about it? This should take a paragraph or two. Be sure to identify whether the question is empirical, normative, or mixed.
c. Then spend about 500-1000 words summarizing the author’s thesis (their answer to the research question) and the structure and evidence of their argument evaluating that thesis.
i. Elements of empirical articles commonly include a brief literature review (which isn’t your primary focus), a theory and/or a set of hypotheses that follow from the article’s thesis, and some discussion of evidence in favor of or against the theory/hypotheses (quantitative evidence such as a table of statistics or qualitative evidence such as a detailed case study – some authors cover their bases by doing both). Typically, such articles conclude with implications for the field and for further research.
ii. Normative articles commonly contain either a set of competing arguments (one of which is the author’s own thesis) or an argument followed by responses to possible objections (often including modifications to the original argument).
iii. In either case, your job is to communicate to the reader what the author concludes about the question and their reasons for drawing that conclusion.
d. Then provide your thesis about the article – that is, what it contains of value and what major errors or gaps in the argument exist. This should not take more than a paragraph, and your thesis itself should be a single sentence.
e. Now establish your thesis through a review of each substantive piece of the article. Common criticisms of empirical studies include unrealistic assumptions in the theory or about the data (although remember that part of science is simplifying causal processes to their bare essentials), insufficiently developed theory (e.g. a theory that doesn’t actually imply the hypotheses tested by the author), criticisms of how variables are operationalized, criticisms of the validity and reliability of the data or evidence used, and criticisms of the interpretation of that data by the author(s). Criticisms of normative studies often suggest an alternative framework for addressing the research question and then argue that the one in the article is missing warrants and/or is contradicted by data.
f. Conclude by suggesting a path for future researchers studying the research question to follow, given the strengths and limitations of the article.
g. Attach a works cited page in APSA format. You are not obliged to consult other sources for this critique, but it often becomes useful to do so. Be sure to include the full citation of the article you reviewed as well as any outside sources used. Note that you are responsible for the reliability and validity of any outside sources used, so I suggest limiting yourself to peer-reviewed academic work (or other work that you can explicitly defend in the critique).