Eco 340

Critical Review of a research paper

25 percent of your grade
Due: November 23rd

Write a critical review of an applied research paper in a publication geared toward undergraduate research
such as: The park place economist or Issues in Political Economy

The article can be on any microeconomic subject you choose, but it must contain empirical (statistical)
analysis. The purpose of the assignment is:
 to expose the student to actual economic research,
 Familiarize students with the presentation of statistical analysis of empirical work
 Enhance critical thinking skills,
 enhance written communication skills.

The article must be submitted to me (during office hours) for approval on or before September 19th. When
choosing an article, look for the following:
 A topic you are interested in
 A table that has regression results
 A decent bibliography (this is a good place to start your literature review)

Each student must do a different article, so feel free to submit early

The written critique should contain the following sections:

 A brief description of the research problem. Review of the literature, and give a description of this
article’s contribution (what makes this article different from its predecessors)
 A brief description of the theoretical model and expected signs(some papers may omit the theory)
 A description of the data, and associated problems, weaknesses or limitations.
 A description of the results, and problems in interpretation.
 An overall conclusion regarding the study accounting for: data problems, modeling problems, and
or problems in interpretation. In short, are the conclusions reached by the writers strongly
supported by the research?

The entire critique must be well organized, and free of plagiarized material, and typographical or
grammatical errors.

The article must be submitted using the format suggested by the guide for authors of articles submitted to
Issues in Political Economy

It must be submitted with hard copies of all articles referenced with the referenced portion highlighted.

The critique must also be submitted in electronic format (by e-mail or using the digital drop box on
blackboard.

Tip: Researchers usually don’t “invent the wheel” when they do research. Read every article in the
bibliography. One should jump out as very similar to the student version. It may even have a similar title.
Your job is essentially to compare and contrast the student version with the “professional” version.
 Section Distinguished A Proficient B Basic C Unsatisfactory
Description of
the research Student clearly Student understands the Student understands Student understands
problem, review demonstrates a thorough problem and the context the problem but not the problem but not
of the literature, understanding of the within the literature. the context within the context within
and a problem and the context One or two sources the literature. No the literature. No
description of within the literature. cited beyond the articles cited articles cited.
this article’s Multiple sources cited original articles’ beyond the original
contribution. beyond the original bibliography. articles’
articles’ bibliography. bibliography
Description of
the theoretical Student clearly Student clearly Student does not Student does not
model and demonstrates a thorough demonstrates a thorough demonstrate a clear demonstrate an
empirical understanding of the understanding of the understanding of understanding of
methodology theoretical and theoretical and either the theory or theoretical or
empirical methods and empirical methods no the methodology. empirical
compares them to comparison to other methodology
techniques used by research.
other authors.
A description of
the data, and Student describes the Student describes data Student describes Student describes
associated data used, its strengths used, and compares it to data without the data little
problems, and weaknesses other research, but not comparison to other critique of its
weaknesses or compared to data used its strengths and research strengths or
limitations. by other authors. weaknesses compared weaknesses and no
to data used by other comparison to other
authors. research
A description of
the results, and Student gives a clear, Student gives a good Student gives an Little or no critical
problems in fair and accurate assessment of the assessment without assessment.
interpretation. assessment of the article article, minimal comparison to other
And conclusion compared to others in comparison to other work
the field work

Grammar/style Student makes few Student makes one or Student makes Student made no
significant grammatical two significant errors repeated errors obvious attempt to
or typographical errors. per page. Most many sentences rewrite or
Sentences are well sentences are well need revision proofread.
constructed and clear. constructed, but about
Few revisions would be one per page is unclear
necessary for or convoluted
publication

Format Student followed the Student followed most Student followed Student made no
IPE guidelines. of the IPE guidelines some of the attempt to follow
guidelines the IPE format.
.