What do we mean by critical review?

When reading a scientific paper, it can be tempting to read the conclusions and take the author’s word that the data fully supports the conclusions they make.

A critical review of a paper goes over and above just reading and understanding the paper. It involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the methods, and determining if the conclusions are properly supported by the data. 

In an ideal world, you should critically review every article you read. In practice, the detail of the critical review may vary depending on the importance of the paper to your immediate research.

To properly perform a critical review you need:

• Access to the full article and supplementary materials;
• A systematic process for working through the article;
• To understand the key points to consider for each section of the article;
• A method for recording the review. 

By completing this course, you will gain an understanding of the importance of critical review, gain the necessary knowledge to critically evaluate a scientific article, and access resources to help you review and record your critical evaluations.