Critical Analysis of a Scientific Article
1.Using the bibliographic style, provide the name of the author, publication, title, page and date of the article.
2. In four sentences or less: What do you think the author’s purpose was for writing he article?
3. What are any pertinent and unique facts you learned? A good suggestion is to jot down on index cards the main idea, new information, or questions you might have for each paragraph or section you read.
4. What questions are raised by this article? See if you can come up with questions for the paragraphs or sections to include on your index cards. (Do you question the facts or lack of facts given in the article? Its scientific validity?
Ethics? Is further research required?)
5. Identify one major science concept or principle mentioned in the article and explain its connection to the subject. (Such as natural selection, conservation of energy law, extinction, biological magnification, pollution, pH, oxidation, etc.)
6. How is this information going to affect our attitude about this subject and what are you going to do about it?
Sample Student Analysis:
Critical Analysis:
1. Gup, Ted. “Reprieve for the Giant of Beasts.” Time. Page 77. October 20, 1989.
2. The author wrote the article to inform people of the African elephants and how countries are now beginning to take action against the poachers of the elephants.
3. Unique and interesting facts I learned:
*Africa’s elephant herds once numbered1.3 million and now have been reduced to 625,000
* Hong Kong’s traders have a 700 ton stockpile of ivory that will no longer be able to be
sold due to the ivory ban across the world.
* Japan, who consumed 40 percent of all ivory in recent years, abstained from the vote that
would ban all use ivory, but said they would honor the prohibition.
4. Some questions I have:
* How long will the worldwide ban be enforced?
* How much money will African countries lose due to the decrease in revenues?
* How many elephants will be saved each year?
* How long will it take to replenish the elephant herds, and what will happen after this?
5. The major science concept of the article is endangered species and the endangered African Elephant.
6. Now that I know how much ivory and how many elephants are used every year, I will never buy ivory. I will also try to inform other people of the problem.
Sample Critical Analysis:
1. Church, George J. “The Big Spill.” Time. Pages 38-41. April 10, 1990.
2. The author’s purpose in writing this article was probably so people would know exactly what happened in the Valdez, and what is going to happen in the future for the environment and the people. He also might have written the article because it was a big story and that is what sells magazines.
3. Some unique facts that I learned are that within two or three days, the oil spill was 900 square-miles long. (The gashes were thought to be 15 feet wide and at least 10.1 million gallons of oil poured out of the ship’s wounds). I learned that earlier mishaps suggest that only about ten percent of the oil will be cleaned up. Another fact that was interesting to me was that Hazelhood had been arrested two times prior to the accident for drunk driving and had his driver’s license revoked three times in a five year span, but he still had his license to steer a boat. Exxon also sent him to an alcohol rehabilitation program, but said they knew nothing about his drinking problem preceding his treatment. 9 hours after the ship ran aground, he had a blood-alcohol level of .06--higher that the .04 the Coast Guard considers acceptable. Assuming he drank nothing after the accident, his blood-alcohol level at the time of the accident was .19--almost double the amount of the legal content for driving.
4. Some questions I had about the article are that it never really said exactly what they are going to do to clean up the oil. The article also doesn’t state how the local fisherman feel about the spill and Exxon in general or what they’re going to do in the future for a living. It also doesn’t state what Exxon, the Coast Guard, or the government is going to do to insure that this kind of a mishap doesn’t happen again in the future.
5. To me, the major science concept is how we, as humans, don’t think of what can happen from our actions and as a result, in less than a few days we destroyed an environment.
6. This information is going to affect me every time I go to the gas station. I will think of all the oil that is not replaceable, wasted, and of all the animals that are killed or will soon die due to the extensive damage inflicted on the environment. All of this happened because of an error and the human greed for money and power. We seldom think the consequences of our actions until there is some disaster. As far as what I’m going to do about it, I’m not for sure of what I can do. I belong to Greenpeace and I am sure they have something to do with clean-up or the public awareness of it.