UMGC Critical Thinking Article Critique Essay

Research Article Critique and Presentation (20%) – See Appendix II for the rubrics.

1. 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 Quarterly
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