| 1. |
Author's
intent. What is the intent of the author? It is important to
remember that this is someone else's manuscript – not your own. Try
to see this subject as the author saw it; be careful not to impose
your own agenda onto the article. |
| 2. |
Focus. What
is the focus of this manuscript? The author may be explicit about this
(The purpose of this manuscript is to explore...) or may leave it
implicit. But the sign of any good article is a clear focus that
provides structure for the research and writing. |
| 3. |
Interesting.
Is this an interesting manuscript? Give credit to an author for
creative or interesting writing; much of what we find in academic
journals can be pretty dry. An interesting introduction – that opens
the subject but also entices the reader – is quite
valuable. |
| 4. |
Method. How
was the research done? Does the author signal what materials were
analyzed and how they were analyzed? This can be explicit (I looked
at sixteen newspapers in three time periods....) or implicit (look
at the notes for citations to key documents, correspondence, etc.).
Some sense of how the work was done is crucial. |
| 5. |
Primary
materials. Does the author do new and original research? In most
instances that means a reliance on original materials (documents,
correspondence, newspapers, etc.). In most cases, academic journals
want original research based on original materials; most journals do
not want term-paper type treatments that cobble together a study
from research done by others (books, articles, etc.). |
| 6. |
Significance. Does the author
tell readers why this topic is important for journalism history? or
for communications generally? It's imperative that the author should
explain why readers should care about a topic. This can be difficult
to do; authors are usually so close to their work – and so
interested in it – that significance is never even seriously
questioned. But the author and the reviewer need to keep in mind the
eventual reader, and how the reader will see this work. |
| 7. |
Context.
Does the author demonstrate an understanding of the context for the
study? Context encompasses (a) for historical work, a grounding in
the particular time period; (b) for all research work, a sense of
what else has already been written on the topic and how this
particular project is different from what's already been done; and
(c) for international studies, a sense of the culture and
institutions that are part of the society examined.
|