Helpful Instructions On How To Analyze A Research Paper Critically
One of the tasks that you may be asked to do is to analyze a research paper critically. The main point in accomplishing an assignment like this is to see how someone has developed their ideas. Most of the time, you will be asked to do this for a paper that is well written so that you can learn the best ways to write a research paper of your own. You may also be asked to analyze another student’s paper to help them improve it.
The task can be easy as long as you know how to do it. Here are some helpful instructions that will help you complete the task.
- Find the thesis statement
- Note all of the main ideas
- Research information you don’t know
- Review the piece as a whole
- Evaluate the presentation of the information
The first step will be to find the thesis statement. You can use a highlighter to highlight this piece and help it stand out. The thesis is the main point and every sentence should work to prove it. Any information no matter how interesting it might be that does not work to prove the thesis will actually weaken the paper.
You must identify the main ideas that are used to prove the thesis as well. This will help you determine whether or not the paper stayed on track and whether the writer has presented the facts in the right sections of the paper.
You may have to conduct your own research if there are some parts of the paper that you don’t know about. It is not a good sign if you have to conduct your own research because the paper should answer all of your questions on the subject and be able to stand on its own.
Now that you have analyzed the pieces individually, you will want to look at the paper as a whole. Look and see if there were transitions linking one topic to the next and whether they proved the thesis statement.
Also look at how well they presented the information. Did they use direct quotes from credible sources to prove their points? You want to see how well they were able to prove the thesis and give evidence to back up their claims, while also explaining why the quotes were relevant.