Critical Review Of Technical Articles

Critical Review of Technical Articles

Matt Gordon

Student Number: 05742897

Student Email: m25.gordon@student.qut.edu.au

Phone Number: 33779939

Mobile Number: 0423494202

1.0 Introduction

The world of information is broad area yet there a specific guidelines which should be followed in any form of text. The purpose of this paper is to critically review 3 different types of text with a common topic: Government policy in regards to renewable energy.

The three different articles are:

Ð'* London Crawling [Kyoto Protocol in the UK] Ð'- a journal article by Anders Hayden

Ð'* UK policy for electricity generation from renewable energy Ð'- a paper in a book by J Doddrell

Ð'* Britain misses the climate bus Ð'- an online analysis by Richard Black

The above articles will go through an analysis in order to withdraw their good and bad points and possibly suggest ways in which to improve the document.

2.1 Article One

The first piece analysed is a journal article (Hayden 2005) (Appendix 1). This form of text by nature is highly focused

towards the audience of academics. The language involved is of a higher repertoire than the other two articles reviewed. This journal is not as formal as that found in article 2 and with no headings or subheadings; it is the hardest to read of the 3 pieces. However, it is the longest of the 3 articles - which allows it to be the most in depth and comprehensive, again in the form of an academic article.

Whilst there is already one image included in the document, it would be more easily understood and retained by the audience if it had more visual elements incorporated within it. The author (Hayden 2005) has however, included a few links to information relevant to the topic for further reading.

There is a minimal amount of referencing accompanying this document, which is unusual for a journal. Usually journal articles are reviewed before publishing, thus giving some credence and weight to the argument and subject matter of the journal.

The readability of this document could be increased dramatically by the introduction of a simple layout. For example headings and subtitles indicating the separate segments of the report, as demonstrated in articles two and three. This is a beneficial practice when time-conscious readers make up the majority of the journal's readership.

2.2 Article Two

Article two (Doddrell 2000) (Appendix 1) is a chapter taken from a book. This article is aimed at the more academic shard of the population. Its design is that of a short paper, that aims to explain the government policies on renewable energy at a recent conference. The article is set out in a strict report format consisting of headings and subheadings. The size of the paper is only 3 pages in length and is put forward using semi-formal language. However, because it is so brief, Doddrell (2000) has sacrificed depth in order to cover the entire breadth of the topic that the paper encompasses. This results in an easy read for a non academic person.

There is little visual stimulation in the paper, which although is not necessary to keep the reader's attention, it could be helpful in extending the knowledge extruded from the document without increasing its length. An example of a good mix of text and visual