CS373 - Effective Reviews
Introduction to Writing Effective Article Reviews
What is an Article Review?
In your professional career you may be asked by a colleague to read their technical article and give feedback, or you may be part of a conference committee or journal editorial board with the responsibility to review submissions that are being considered for publication. Your job is to provide a review that helps the author to improve their article prior to distribution or publication.
Structure for a Good Review
A good review has three basic elements:
- A 1 - 2 paragraph article summary: It is important to summarize your understanding of the article. This important for two reasons: (i) the summary shows you read the article and (ii) if you misunderstood the article, your summary will make that clear.
- A description of article strengths: What did you like about the article? Was it technically solid with sufficient breadth and depth? Did it have a good story line? Was the author efficient and effective with their words?
- A description of opportunities to improve the article: How could the article be improved? Be constructive in your language. Transform your observation of a weakness into a positive statement of what could be done to improve it.