Critical Reflection Paper

For this assignment you will be required to do a critical reflection of an article of your choice.  The article however must be a peer reviewed article from an academic journal. The topic of the article is your decision but must be related to criminological issues. To help you decide, you can review the weekly lecture topics in the syllabus and choose an article that relates to any of the  relevant subject matter. Alternatively, you can review the bibliography offered in the syllabus (found after the course schedule) for relevant materials to use for this assignment. You can also search the UOttawa library database using keyword searches to find appropriate articles. If you are unsure whether your selected article fits within the scope of criminological issues, please reach out to myself or your TAs and we will confirm your selection or direct you to an appropriate option.

For this assignment you will have to write a 900 word (1000 max) paper, double spaced, font size 12 in Times New Roman. Not respecting these guidelines will affect the overall evaluation of your paper. Please also include a title page containing your chosen article’s title and authors, for ease of reference and in the event that the prof. or the TAs need to access the article as part of the evaluation process. The title page and the bibliography DO NOT count as part of the page count for this assignment.

In this critical reflection you will need to introduce the key ideas found within the article. This means, what is the article talking about and why is it important? What is the author’s position regarding the topic? You will also need to identify the theoretical framework used in the article to present the information and assess the article’s argument points to determine whether the article is convincing or not. Additionally, you will also have to discuss what you believe the weak points of the article are. In this sense you will have to determine whether the arguments are convincing or valid as well as think about what the article is NOT saying. Finally you should offer your own personal reflection on the subject and describe whether you agree with the conclusion of the article while offering an explanation of why or why not. If you use any sources beyond your chosen article you will have to cite them appropriately in-text as well as provide a reference list/bibliography. Be sure not to plagiarize. Use direct quotes or paraphrasing as needed, and by following proper referencing protocols (APA style). Guidelines for this referencing style can be obtained through a simple google search. 

As you will find, 900 words is not a lot so you will have to be concise in your writing. Please use headings and subheadings to help organize the presentation of your ideas. I recommend reading a couple of article reviews as this may allow you to get a better idea on how to structure your own reflection paper. 

Below you will find a link to a book review that can be used as a reference point for how to approach your critical reflection of an article. Be sure however to address the listed criteria above to successfully complete this assignment.

For this critical reflection please include but do not limit your reflection to the following aspects:

• what is the article talking about and why is it important?
• What is the author’s position regarding the topic?
• What is the theoretical framework used in the article – is it suitable or sufficient in explaining the phenomena being discussed?
• What do you believe are the strong and weak points of the article? 
• Determine whether the arguments are convincing or not. As part of this process please also reflect on what the article is NOT saying.
• Finally you should offer your own personal reflection on the subject and describe whether you agree with the conclusion of the article while explaining why or why not.

This assignment is not an article summary, but a critical reflection. This means that the main purpose of the assignment is not to summarize the main ideas, but instead, to critically analyze them. This means that you do not have to summarize every single aspect of the article. Choose the aspects that seem most important to you and explain to your reader what should be the important take-aways. 

As a reminder, please include a title page and bibliography for this assignment. Please include the title and authors of your chosen article on the title page for ease of reference.