Academic Peer-Reviewed Journal Critique

1. Select an article from a current academic journal (last ten years) that deals with gender issues related to criminal justice (this may be interdisciplinary). An academic journal is not a magazine, a book, newspaper, etc.

Examples of acceptable academic journals include: Criminology, Social Forces, Criminal Justice Education, Criminal Justice and Behavior, Crime and Delinquency, Journal of Black Psychology, etc. Topics of selected articles should focus on a theoretical explanation of criminal behavior.

NOTE: Academic journal articles may be obtained from electronic journals found on the internet or from traditional library sources.

2. Each student should have her/his selected article approved by the instructor.

3. Read the article.

4. Write a critique of the article selected. The guidelines and grading rubric are shown below.

General Guidelines:

• Paper meets APA/Graduate School standards.

• Paper is organized; each paragraph flows logically into the next paragraph.

• Appropriate terminology it used; writing is clear and concise.

• Proper spelling and grammar is used; sentences are properly constructed.

• Appropriate article selection (scholarly and/or empirical); recent (last ten years).

• Brief overview of the article is provided; the thesis of the article is clearly stated.

• A description of the research problem is provided.

• Research methods used to study the problem are discussed and critiqued in detail.

• The authors' conclusions and recommendations are provided.

• Contributions to the literature are discussed in detail along with a brief discussion of conclusions/recommendations.

• The critique addresses the following questions: What methods did the author use to investigate the topic? Were the appropriate methods used? Did the author's approach to supporting the thesis make sense? Did the author employ the methods correctly? Did you discover any errors in the way the research was conducted?