How to write a review article? All about reviewing articles
A review article is one of the articles that you can publish in scientific journals. This type of article, as its name, suggests reviews and evaluates the research that has been done in the past and the materials that have been published. In the review article, you can criticize and analyze the work that has been done and make suggestions.
Who is a review article useful for?
Knowing which people read the article you write the most can help you write a better review article. A review article is usually read by this group of people and will be useful for them:
- Specialists in specific research fields
- New students and researchers
- Decision makers
What are the types of review articles?
The review article itself is divided into three other categories, which are different in terms of writing and the number of words.
Narrative review article
This type of review article is used for comprehensive and detailed topics. In a narrative review, a summary of the primary and original studies of a subject is discussed. The result of these articles refers to quality instead of quantity.
Systematic review article
This type of article focuses on one question, and the article, it is tried to answer that primary question by presenting evidence and analyzing the issue. The final result is drawn from different research.
Best Evidence Review
This type of article is actually a middle ground between two other review articles and it can be considered a combination of the two. In this type of review article, sufficient information from research is provided to the reader so that the reader can independently draw conclusions based on that evidence. How to Write an Effective Narrative Essay
Review article word count
You should be careful about the length when writing a review article. Narrative review articles usually vary between 8000 and 40000. Systematic review articles are often shorter and less than 10,000 words.
How to write a review article?
The components of the structure of the review article are almost identical to the components of the original article, and the same principles of essay writing are followed in writing the review article. The main difference between a review article and an original or experimental article is in the main body of the article. Therefore, a review article also includes the following:
Title
Like any other article, the title plays a significant role in the readability of your review article. The title you choose will help the reader decide whether or not to read the article. Therefore, the title should be chosen so that the reader can understand briefly what this article is about. The title should be written with present tense verbs and be between eight and twelve words.
Abstract
The abstract of a review article should be written in the present tense. Also, due to its brevity, the objectives of the article should be mentioned very quickly. The length of an abstract can be between 200 and 250 words. Be sure to read the tips we mentioned earlier about writing an article abstract to write an effective and good abstract.
Introduction
The introduction of a review article is slightly different from other introductions. In the first paragraph of the introduction of the review article, we discuss the context and background of the topic, but there is no mention of the findings. Also, in the introduction, it is mentioned what made you review this topic, which finally ends with the purpose of writing the article. In this section, you can refer to the unknowns of the subject under investigation or its problems and complications. The length of the introduction should be between 10 and 20 percent of the entire article.
way of doing work
The method of doing the work usually refers to the research and works done by the researcher in the articles, by which the details and steps of doing the work are mentioned. But in review articles, in fact, the author of the article has not done his own research and is reviewing the research done by someone else, so he should mention in this section how to access the desired articles and the criteria for selecting the articles. In this section, it should be specified which databases and keywords were used to search for this topic.
In order to write a better work method, you must have reviewed various terms and articles, mentioning the date and time spent on this search is also very important. With this, the referees and readers of the article know that the summary and review done are complete and accurate and that you have not missed it.
findings
Another part of the main body of the review article is its findings. In the findings section, the contents of the selected articles are summarized. Findings should be related to the title of the article, so don’t mention complex and scattered points and focus on the main topic and review that topic in different articles.
Also, in this section, you can refer to the presented theories and conducted experiments. A researcher may have disagreed with another researcher’s theory. You can express your opinion about the subject by mentioning this opposition. Compare the research done with each other. After you read the content and findings of other articles, you can add your point of view as an expert.
Usually, the findings section of an article covers 70-90% of the entire article. Try to complete this section with well-organized paragraphs. The content presented in each paragraph should be related to the next and the previous one, and do not jump into another topic without an introduction. Your review essay should be idea-driven that not only helping the reader understand but also giving them ideas about the topic.
Conclusion
In the main article, there are usually two states for the conclusion, either the hypothesis is rejected or accepted. But in the review article, different conclusions can be drawn because the subject has been examined from the perspective of various articles.
Therefore, you can have one of these four situations in the conclusion:
- The presented hypothesis is correct and confirmed.
- The proposed hypothesis may not be proven, but it is currently the best explanation unless evidence is presented to refute it.
- Whether this hypothesis is 100% right or wrong is not yet clear because there is still a difference of opinion on it.
- The hypothesis is wrong. This conclusion has been found to be wrong by the reviews conducted in various articles and research.
In order to have a better conclusion, you should check various articles and research so that you can review the issue from different points of view and with different findings.
The conclusion of a review article covers between 5 and 10 percent of the entire article.