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 ©Hurst, 2000
Updated 08/08/00

1. What is the context for this study?  That is, how does it draw on prior work yet carve out a new area for exploration?

2. What contribution to scholarship does this article purport to make?

3. What, if any, theoretical frame informs this study?  What prior or current ideas shape the direction of this study?

4. What data is the basis for this paper?  How was it collected?  How many subjects were involved?  Does the study specify the subjects’ age, class, ethnicity, gender, nationality, race, or other personal characteristics relevant to the research topic under consideration?  For how long a period of time was the study conducted?  Where was it conducted? 

5. What are the number and nature of evidence samples or data presented within the paper?

6. What conclusions does the author draw from the data presented?

7. How tentative or certain are the findings?

8. Does your reading of the evidence lead you to the same conclusions as those the author elaborates?

9. How do the findings of this study relate to (that is, confirm, oppose, deepen, expand, whatever) previous studies on this or other topics?

10. What, if any, are the strengths of this study?

11. What, if any, are the weaknesses of this study?

12. What kinds of studies might use this research as a springboard for future work?  What lines of future research are suggested by this study?

13. What is the reputation of the author of the study and of the journal or book in which this study was published?