How to Critique an Academic Journal Article for Marketing Students

During your University studies you will be required to select and evaluate academic journal articles for a variety of purposes e.g. acquiring knowledge on a particular topic, considering the application and development of theory, understanding the implications of research for practitioners and\or industry. However, before you start to broaden your skills through synthesising a number of articles on a similar topic, understanding how to critique a single paper published in an academic journal will offer you a foundation on which to build your skills.

You are required to select an academic journal article, on a marketing topic of your choice, from a marketing journal e.g. Advances in Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Behaviour, Journal of Marketing Management, European Journal of Marketing. These are easily accessed through the University library.

Once you have selected an article that contains a primary research study, and have read it on a number of occasions, you need to consider the following:

· What are the key themes in the article?

· What is the purpose of the study?

· Who is the intended audience for the work and is there background information to the ‘problem’ or research question?

· Is there discussion of how significant the work is to an understanding of Marketing?

· How many sources were used to write the paper?

· Are all the references used relevant to the ‘problem’ or research question?

· Does the author\s critically analyse the references e.g. question their relevance or outcomes

· Is the empirical research study qualitative or quantitative? Why?

· What is the size of the sample? Why is this important?

· How was the research data collected?

· How are the results presented? Are the results significant? Are the results unexpected?

· Are the results easy to follow?

· Is there evidence of ‘new’ findings?

· Were the new findings related to theory and\or practice?

· What were the key limitations of the article?

Once you know the answers to these questions, you can write a short (500 words) critique of the paper that offers a balanced overview of the article. Remember, a critique is not simply a description of the article or research study. Using evidence from the article to support your arguments, your critique should be a reasoned and objective view of what you have read.