Hand Out #2 Kinds of Academic Texts

Review Article
Synthesizes current research on a specific topic, summarizes past research, identifies
important people in the field, outlines recent advances and point out gaps in a body of
knowledge.
Journal Article
Written by scholars or professionals who are experts in their fields. In the sciences and social
sciences, they often publish research result.

Analytical Essay
Not simply a summary of literature but an analysis of the ideas presented in the literature,
a synthesis of the material from all the works to make connections.

Concept Paper
A paper written to convince potential funders to sponsor a product, program or service. It
varies in format and specifics depending on the organization, but are generally concise
documents containing information, statistics and persuasive arguments.
Position Paper
Specified entity, published in academia, in politics, in law and other domains, presents an
arguable opinion about an issue.

Lab Reports
Describes and analyses a laboratory experiment that explores a scientific concept, typically
assigned to enable you to: conduct scientific research. Formulate a hypothesis (es) about a
particular stimulus, event and/or behavior.
Field Report
Describes the observation of people, places and/or events and to analyze that observation data
in order to identify and categorize common themes in relation to the research problem
underpinning the study.
Abstract
A brief summary of a research article, thesis, review, conference proceeding, or any in-depth
analysis of a particular subject and is often used to help the reader quickly ascertain the
paper’s purpose.
Critique Paper
A type of academic writing which separates out facts so the reader can understand them more
easily, and discusses what these facts mean. It usually reaches a conclusion based on the
discussion of the facts.
Reaction Paper
a paper where you express your opinion, requires a close reading of the text that goes beyond
the surface meaning, responds to implied ideas and elaborate, evaluate, and analyze the
author’s purpose and main points.