Evaluating skills

Criteria for journal articles

Evaluating journal articles• Evaluation criteria

– Relevance– Authority and validity– Bias/viewpoint– Scope/Coverage– Accuracy– Currency– Language

• Activity to consider article relevance• Evaluate two articles using the evaluation criteria• For next time, consider two further articles and feedback your observations

to the next skills session• Any questions? Recap on how to save references for your books and articles

RelevanceThis is to assess an article for your purposes rather than judging the quality for its own sake. Consider:

– The abstract (summary of content) of the article. Does it relate to the question you are considering?

– The number of times your keywords appear in the text – Whether the information is comprehensive– Is it pro or con the question – both points of view need considering– Whether the reference complements or contradicts your own

knowledge or information you may have found elsewhere

Authority and validity • Authority of the article relates to identity of the author – is s/he an academic

or expert in the subject or a practitioner such as a human resource manager?• Authority also relates to the publication in which you have found the article.

See the lists of academic journals which we added to the Postgraduate community Moodle site and the Publication limiter in Discover.

• Peer-reviewed journals have the most academic credibility since they are edited by subject experts

• Examine inside front cover of journal (or online equivalent) to find information about its authority eg: Emerald has an ‘about this journal’ link or Business source premier includes the link to a journal’s homepage

• Articles on Emerald are assigned to a category which help you to assess their academic or ‘scholarly’ level

Bias/viewpoint

• What is the purpose of the information? – It might be to persuade or inform. Some information is published by

authors to make a point which affects objectivity. You need to be aware of potential author bias.

– There is value in the first hand experiences of a practitioner eg: an HR manager or a Training manager. They will be writing from a subjective viewpoint (viewpoint articles on Emerald), but it can be useful to balance different views as well as long as you take this into account

– Even if a publication is a scholarly source it might be biased if it omits important perspectives

Scope/Coverage

• Has information been intentionally or inadvertently excluded? – Some publications fail to present all facts or cover all perspectives.– Length – may be too brief to allow adequate treatment of subject– You need to read widely so that you can judge if an article excludes

relevant information about the subject– Who is the intended audience?

– Note: Beware of digests or reviews of longer articles eg: the article below from Human resource management international digest:

HRM – the devolution revolution: What line managers really think about their increasing involvement in managing HRhttp://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezproxy.yorksj.ac.uk/doi/full/10.1108/09670730410534902

Accuracy• The facts should be supported by evidence and/or corroborated i.e.

verified by another source.• Does it present research findings and explain the research methodology?

For example, Emerald often includes a methodology section as part of the abstract.

• Has the information been edited and checked for spelling or grammatical errors?

• Is it logically structured? • Does it cite the work of others to support or refute their arguments? If so,

are the references sufficiently detailed to allow follow-up?

Currency• Importance of this point will vary according to your topic. • In fields where things change rapidly you need to choose

more up to date resources than those that don’t. • You may be expected to limit your search to recent years for

certain assignments• You might need to show development of trends over a period

or show historical perspective

Language

• Reputable academic sources should be written in an objective and unemotional style

• Emotional or vague language may show that the article is biased

• The language used can indicate the intended audience for the article, for example, is it aimed at members of the public, students or academic researchers?

• The language may be too abstruse or unnecessarily complicated in order to sound academic or important but just results in a lack of clarity

Evaluate articles 1

• Article one: Enhancing the success of organizational change: Matching readiness strategies with sources of resistance

http://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezproxy.yorksj.ac.uk/journals.htm?issn=0143-7739&volume=30&issue=2&articleid=1775716 • Article two: Managing successful changehttp://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezproxy.yorksj.ac.uk/journals.htm?issn=0019-7858&volume=43&issue=6&articleid=1943800

• Go to the journal entry for more information about its scholarly level and audience

• Look at the abstract for comments about the article’s purpose and originality

Evaluate articles 2

• Article one: The changing dynamic of leading knowledge workers: The importance of skilled front-line managers

http://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezproxy.yorksj.ac.uk/doi/full/10.1108/ER-06-2014-0068

• Article two: Knowledge management: time to focus on purpose and motivation

http://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezproxy.yorksj.ac.uk/doi/full/10.1108/14754391211264776

ChecklistArticle one Article two

Authority

Bias/viewpoint

Scope/ Coverage

Accuracy

Currency

Language