Benjamin L. Stewart

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tagswriting, research

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Student Guide: Writing a 250-300 Word Article Review

Student Guide: Writing a 250–300 Word Article Review

Purpose

The purpose of this article review is to help you understand a research article that is directly related to your own research topic. Your goal is not to summarize every section of the article. Instead, identify the most important parts of the study and explain how the article contributes to your understanding of your research problem.

Your final review should be 250–300 words and written in your own words.

Before You Write

Read the article carefully and take notes on the following:

  • Full APA reference

  • Research problem

  • Purpose of the study

  • Research question(s)

  • Participants and context

  • Research design and data collection

  • Major findings

  • Authors’ conclusions

  • Limitations or implications

  • Relevance to your own research topic

Do not try to include every detail in the final review. Select the information that is most important for understanding the study.

Paragraph 1: Problem and Purpose — about 50–60 words

Introduce the article and explain:

  • What problem or issue does the study investigate?

  • Why is this problem important?

  • What is the purpose of the study?

  • What research question or questions guide the study?

Try to show the relationship between the problem, purpose, and research questions.

Paragraph 2: Methodology — about 40–50 words

Briefly explain how the researchers conducted the study.

Include only the most important information:

  • Who participated?

  • Where did the study take place?

  • Was the study qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods?

  • How were the data collected?

Avoid unnecessary methodological details.

Paragraph 3: Major Findings — about 70–80 words

Explain the most important results of the study.

Focus on approximately two or three major findings rather than listing every result.

Ask yourself:

  • What did the researchers discover?

  • What evidence supports these findings?

  • What do the authors believe the findings mean?

Be careful to distinguish between what the researchers found and how they interpreted those findings.

Paragraph 4: Conclusions and Relevance — about 70–90 words

Explain:

  • What conclusion do the authors reach?

  • What limitations, implications, or recommendations do they identify?

  • How does this article relate to your own research problem?

  • What does this study help you understand?

  • How might you use this source later in your literature review?

This final section should demonstrate your own critical thinking rather than simply repeating information from the article.

Useful Questions to Guide Your Reading

As you read, try to answer:

  1. What problem motivated this research?

  2. What did the researchers want to understand or investigate?

  3. What questions did they ask?

  4. How did they investigate those questions?

  5. What were the most important findings?

  6. What conclusions did the researchers draw?

  7. What limitations or unanswered questions remain?

  8. Why is this article relevant to my own research?

Writing Expectations

Your article review should:

  • Be 250–300 words.

  • Use an appropriate academic register.

  • Report the researchers’ ideas accurately.

  • Mostly paraphrase rather than quote.

  • Clearly distinguish the authors’ ideas from your own evaluation.

  • Include appropriate APA in-text citations.

  • Focus on the most significant information instead of describing every section.

  • Explain the article’s relevance to your developing research study.

A Useful Formula

Think of your article review as answering four main questions:

What problem was investigated? → How was it investigated? → What was discovered? → Why does it matter for my research?

Final Check

Before submitting your review, make sure that a reader could understand:

  • what the study investigated,

  • why the study was conducted,

  • how the researchers conducted it,

  • what they found, and

  • why the article is relevant to your own research.

The purpose of the review is not simply to prove that you read the article. It is to show that you can identify, understand, evaluate, and use research that contributes to your developing study.

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