EXAMPLE EXTRACT OF ARTICLE REVIEW

An example extract of an article review. Only the introduction and conclusion are included.

Structural Features Academic conventions and language features

Title This is an article review of Sanzo et al. 2011, which

investigated the Leadership practices of successful middle

school principals. The articles was published in the Journal

of Educational Administration, Vol. 49. No. 1, pp. 31-45.

Bibliographic details of the text

Introduction

Introduces the authors and topic area

Presents the aim/purpose of the study

States the methodology/ design used

Key findings

Reviewer’s judgment

Research (Boyan, 1988; Dinham, 2005; Gur et al., 2006;

Hallingeer and heck, 1998; Leighwood and Riehl, 2003;

Marzano et al., 2005) has shown that effective principals

positively influence students’ success. Thus, Sanzo et al.

(2011) conducted a study on the leadership practices of

successful middle school principals. This research was one in

a series which aimed to examine how leadership best

practices of middle school principals can positively influence

student achievement in a climate of educational

accountability. The study was exploratory in nature and data

were analyzed inductively. The study reveals some common

themes of successful practices employed by these principals.

These themes were categorized into sharing leadership,

facilitating professional development, leading with an

instructional orientation and acting openly and honestly.

These findings indicate that these successful principals have

vision, which are in line with Manasse’s (1986). Because this

study is exploratory in nature, results of this study provide

insights into the best practices of successful principals with

the view of incorporating these practices into leadership

programmes. However, in interpreting the findings, several

limitations must be considered.

Reporting verb

Transition signals

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BodySignificance and contribution to the field

Methodology or approach

Argument and use of evidence

Writing style and text structure

• What is the author’s aim?• To what extent has this aim been achieved?• What does this text add to the body of knowledge?

(in terms of theory, data and/or practical application)• What relationship does it bear to other works in the

field?• What is missing/not stated?• Is this a problem?

• What approach was used for the research? (e.g. quantitative/ qualitative, analysis/review of theory or current practice, comparative/case study, personal reflection etc…)

• How objective/biased is the approach?• Are the results valid and reliable?• What analytical framework is used to discuss the

results?

• Is there a clear problem, statement or hypothesis?• What claims are made?• Is the argument consistent?• What kinds of evidence does the text rely on?• How valid and reliable is the evidence?• How effective is the evidence in supporting the

argument?• What conclusions are drawn?• Are these conclusions justified?

• Does the writing style suit the intended audience? (e.g. expert/non-expert, academic/non- academic)

• What is the organizing principle of the text? Could it be better organized?

ConclusionSummarizes reviewer’s judgment

Offers recommendation

In summary, the results of the current study are far from being conclusive. As was acknowledged by Sanzo et al. themselves, generalizability to the general middle school principal population is not possible due to the small sample used in the study. For the study to be generalizable, further studies using a bigger sample must be taken for it to be representative of the population. Despite the fact that this is an exploratory study, it has nevertheless provided a rare insight into the best practices of middle school principals. Future research into the comparison between the best practices of elementary school, middle school and high school principals can be determined.

Modality used to express certainty and limit overgeneralization

Concessive clauses assist in expressing a mixed response

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