SMILE
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Unit 6: Writing a critical review

Structuring your critical review:

  • Introduction – set the scene (relevant background information, such as why it is important to your discipline, scale of problem, relevant policy and so on)
  • Methods – How did you locate the literature? (databases searched, inclusion and exclusion criteria, criteria used to judge papers, key terms used) Remember - Justify, don’t just describe
  • Findings – this is the hard bit – there is no standard way to structure this
    • Here markers are looking for synthesis - you need to pull together results and compare and contrast
    • Your summary table will really help here
    • Avoid describing each piece of literature in a list – discuss studies in groups and themes to help you structure (such as intervention type, method, outcomes and so on)
    • Critique - you should then discuss the strengths and limitations of  the studies

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SMILE - Writing a critical review by Steve Draper, Glasgow University, Dr Jane McKay and Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at http://www.psy.gla.ac.uk/~steve/resources/crs.html.