What is the goal of the piece

What is the goal of the piece

Introduction: In any research or scholarly piece there will be an introduction section. It should answer a number of questions including:

What is the goal of the piece?

What is the background of the problem or topic?

What are some of the more important ideas and terms that will be used. Do any of these terms need defining within the context of their use?

How does this piece fit within the current issues of the topic?

How is the topic theoretically or practically important?

Literature Review: This section discusses the ideas from past literature relevant to the topic being presented.

Is there a supporting narrative or is the literature presented in a more random order?

Are there links to disparate literature bases, meaning is the lit from a wide range of sources or limited to a few select narrow ones?

Are the inferences proper, meaning is anything overstated or misinterpreted?

Have major themes been identified and explored?

Does the author review the literature critically, pointing out limitations, conflicts and constraints?

Problem statement and/or research questions: In some pieces, this is a separate section while in others it may be integrated into the introduction or another section.

Is it focused on the most critical aspects of the situation and/or context?

Has the author explained the principal proposition in sufficient depth?

Is the phenomenon that is being examined succinctly identified and clear enough so that a broad readership can understand it?

Method section: If this is a research piece, the research methods should be clearly presented and well organized. Even if it is a more conceptual piece or an integrated literature review, the author should explain how they collected their ideas and literature.

Has the author used a sample and/or setting that is/are appropriate for the research questions?

Has the author accurately and thoroughly described the methods so that the study could be replicated?

Did the author describe reliability, validity, and limitations of the instruments?

Has the author provided statements about any limitations of the protocols?

Has the author described procedural issues that might be of interest to other researchers?

Findings/Results/Conclusions: This section is the wrap-up or conclusions made by the author(s).

Are the presentation of data and findings aligned with the research questions?

Are the conclusions appropriately drawn from the results of the study?

Did the author derive theoretical and practical implications from the piece?

Did the author provide suggestions for new and innovative future research?

Have the results been placed in a larger context?

Did the author address limitations and constraints of the study?

Overall Comments: You, as critic, present some overall comments regarding the piece.

Was it well-written and understandable?

How did it add to your knowledge and understanding?

Did you agree or disagree with anything in particular? Why?

Briefly explain why the article is important for learning in this class. (e.g., How does it relate to a topics covered in the class? Why is it important to enhance our understanding of the issues covered? How has the article contributed to Organization Development literature and to HRD?)