الملك سعودجامعة العلومكلية

قسم الكيمياء الحيوية

د. هويدا نونو

Critical analysis of paper

CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF PUBLISHED PAPER

What is it?Analysis attempts to find the truth.The process of analysis is to divide a problem into its various parts, then carefully examine these parts so their natures, functions, and interrelationships may be more easily understood

What is the point of critical analysis ?The point of critical analysis is to uncover rich complexity of a work, as well as its basic affirmation of life.

Yet the ultimate goal is to raise the work in its critical esteem.

This task is accomplished by pointing the author’s insights into problems of life, along wit describing various aspects of his/her life.

Therefore it is important for you to keep the literary analysis in perspective.

Analyzing a work is a means towards appreciation and evaluation, not an end in itself.

It is an honest attempt by you, the reader ,to discover the truth about a work and base appreciation on your own thought and discovery, not on a vaguely aesthetic reaction.

What areas of the work can I analyze?

Literary analysis is a way of getting at the heart of the work.To this end, there are four broad areas that can be explored:1) Meaning.2) Structure.3) Style.4) Background and influence. There is usually overlapping among these.

The reseach paper in basic sciences. Scientist publish research reports for a variety of reasons:

Ideally, a research report is a free communication by a scientist or a group of scientists informing their peers about a set novel findings that either provide answers to puzzling problems or raise issues that are of academic or practical interest.

At the opposite extreme lie reports that serve merely to add to the curriculum vitae of the investigators and have little or nothing important to say. Most often , the situation lies between these two extremes

Critical analysis of paperI) The purpose of a written analysis is to take a viewpoint toward a topic and attempt to prove the validity of that viewpoint. An analysis should do the following for the reader:

A- Help the reader make better sense of something that is already familiar. You should explain and evaluate your topic.

B- Demonstrate your ability to formulate and support a point of view(thesis) about your topic.

You will base your viewpoint on your interpretation of a book or article you have read , data you have assembled ,a situation you have observed ,and so on.

II) Before you begin writing your analysis ,you should do the following:

A- Read the required book or article , gather the necessary data ,and record your observations.

B- Ask how and why questions so that so that you interpret rather than describe your topic

III) Your analysis should be presented in essay form ,and may be expected to contain some or all of the following items:

. A- A statement of the position you are taking on your topic at the beginning of the paper..

•B- Use of secondary materials from other books ,journals and so on to support your position if your instructor wants you to go beyond your primary source.

IV) Your paper may be evaluated on some or all of the following points. Writing center consultants can help you work on any of these areas:

A- Your simple and direct statement of your central idea, or thesis. you might show your idea to your instructor before you do a lot of work on the paper.

B- Your supporting ideas.

C- Your proper use of a text closely or to research your topic sufficiently.

D- Your ability to ask and answer how and why questions about your topic.

E- Your use of the revision and editing checklists in preparing your paper.

V) Pitfalls:A- Treating your reader as if he/she were not familiar with your topic and, therefore boring or unnecessary information.

B- Failing to ask enough how and why questions before the paper is written ,making the central idea unclear or insignificant. Describing rather than interpreting your topic.

Critical analysis of publications The introduction:A research report has two major objectives:

a) It provides context for the study.

b) It specifies the particular aims of the reported study.

* It is important that the investigator provide a brief back ground to the proposed study.

* The emphasis should be on brevity, the introduction is not meant to be a detailed review but merely a capsule summary that provides a rationale for the second and most important part which is a clear statement as to why the study was undertaken.

Methods and materials:

* The objective of this section to provide other investigators with enough information that will help them either repeat crucial sections or elaborate and extend the study .

* It is important that the investigator clearly spell out potential pitfalls in the methods used.

*Evaluation of this section of the paper is very difficult for a variety of reasons.

•Most investigators use methods that have been used earlier by others or have been already published independently as a (method) paper.

•Thus the methods section of a paper is often brief and terse.

•Phrases such as {The enzyme was measured according to the modified method of Stern and Grumbach(1965) }

•Often the word modified is a euphemism for major changes that leave little of the original method but saves the investigators much difficulty by referring to a published procedure.

*Statistical procedures used are often included in the methods section.

*In assessing this section ,it is important to determine whether the appropriate statistical tests were done.

* Many journals now insist that investigators pay especial attention to the statistical procedures used.

. The material section of a paper should contain useful information for those interested in extending and elaborating the results reported.

. It is important for instance to specify the sources of the drugs and chemicals used.

Result: The core of any experimental paper is the section that deals with the results obtained.

In this section, the author are expected to highlight clearly the information gathered using the methods described to fulfill the objectives of the study.

The expectations with which the investigators began the study may or may not

be borne out by the results presented.

Usually discussion of the results presented is postponed to a later section.

However a number of journals permit the authors to discuss the implications of their results as they proceed.

This section includes figures and tables that present the data gathered, which must be critically assessed as well as the text.

The Discussion Section:* Tries to place the results of obtained in

perspective.

* The information gathered is assessed in relation to the objectives of the study and the context in which the study began.

* Any discrepancies between anticipated and observed results are explained and elaborated upon.

*Often there is some repetition of the background material given in the introduction but the discussion section is critical since the investigators go beyond mere data gathering and attempt to provide explanations.

* It is important that critical assessment should differentiate reasonable of the results from undue speculation.

* The discussion often ends with brief summary and conclusion.

Other elements:The abstract of a paper: It is an important element for several reasons.

It is the section that is often used by bibliometric services and thus it is more widely disseminated than the whole paper.

Furthermore, many investigators scan the abstract to see the paper in worth perusing at a greater length.

The references:* They are crucial to a published report.

* Very rarely are studies conducted in isolation.

* Studies often arise from actual or perceived problems in the published literature and it is important to adequately reference to the context of the study.

References* Unfortunately this section of the report is

rarely assessed critically.

*Many authors are quite careless about citations, and tend to cite their own needlessly or cite reviews.

* Content analysis of references suggests that a large fraction of citations are perfunctory.

* It is also unfortunate that this element has received undue attention in bibliographic studies since it is not clear why authors cite specific studies.

References:Although reviewers of papers are expected to assess this section of the paper, they rarely do so apart from commenting that certain papers should be cited (normally their own or that of a close colleague)

The acknowledgements section:•* This section can occasionally give clues to

hidden biases.

•* This is perhaps more common in clinical than experimental studies.

Authorship of a published report:In recent years ,there has been much debate about the increasing list of authors in published papers, the order of authors as well as responsibilities .

It is difficult for the novice to get a feel for these problems and we mention them here though it is difficult to include assessment of these issues into a guide for critical appraisal.

Critical evaluation of a published paper

•Each one of you will be given a copy of published paper. You will be expected to read the paper carefully and write a brief report( up to 400 words )

The report should consist of critical evaluation of the objectives of the study, the methods used, the results and the conclusions.

Presented By DR. Howida NouNou.