essay about characteristics of a balanced review/critique/reaction paper

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Reaction Paper vs Article Critique vs Paper Review

by  Antony W

December 20, 2022

Are you looking to learn more about reaction paper vs article critique vs paper review? You’ve come to the right place.

For many students, these types of papers may be some of the most confusing types of assignments to work on, but often, they’re easier to handle when you understand the structure and have the right approach to follow.

An important thing to keep in mind about reaction paper, art icicle critique, and paper review is that that they all involve evaluating other people’s written work, which can include literature, research studies, or published articles.

In this article, we share the differences between reaction paper, article critique, and paper review. We guide you through their varying writing styles (outlines), types, lengths, and tones.

1. Differences in Definition

Reaction paper.

In academic writing, a reaction paper is an assignment that involves providing your opinion on another person’s article or an abstract. It contains your thoughts and conclusions on a piece of written content by another author.

The purpose of a reaction paper is to gauge a student’s understanding and analytical skills in written journals.

Article Critique

An article critique evaluates an existing research article, scientific content, or literature. Then, it points out the main ideas of the written content and proves whether they’re factual or not. In class, your tutor uses this assignment to test your opinion formative skills on existing journals and research projects.

Review Paper

A review paper is a type of assignment that involves summarizing the existing published writings of a topic. It attempts to highlight the strides made in understanding that topic and its current standing. Its purpose is to synthesize the results observed from numerous literature papers and by that produce clear and concise arguments on a topic.

2. Differences in Length

A reaction paper is rarely as long as the paper review and article critique. The bulk of the task involves the identification of central aspects of study material and relating them with your thoughts, beliefs, or perspective.

Content can be anywhere from 1 to 5 pages depending on what exactly your instructor is testing in a topic.

An article critique engages your analytical, processing, and interpretive skills. Therefore, the content tends to be comprehensive and extensive as the writer presents the critical evaluation of the subject of discussion.

There’s no precise length but there are papers that have hundreds of pages of critical content.

Paper Review

Paper reviews tend to be shorter than the projects they’re assessing. The part that is central, and which mostly determines the length, is where the reviewer analyzes, synthesizes, and interprets existing data.

3. Differences in Writing Styles

Your instructor provides a book, video, or an article (material) that you’ll need to read and give you reaction or opinion. Therefore, the writing style involves summing up the material whilst providing your reactions or thoughts on sections that are relevant.

Here’s how to handle your reaction report:

Point out the author, the title of the book or article, and publication dates for magazines. Summarize the material by writing down the points that you wish to react to. While writing your main reaction points, use direct quotations from the material as a way of illustrating the key ideas.

Make sure anyone reading your work at this point can understand the core aspects of the original material. Avoid over-focusing on just a single aspect but rather draw out several for a conclusive work. Ensure your summary remains factual and objective.

If your instructor issued the specific points to react to, be sure to have them reflected in your summary. If not, assess whether there’s a relationship between the ideas of the material you’re reacting to and the class discussions.

Furthermore, identify the relationship between the key points and real-world problems.

Ask yourself how the article is changing your perspective about the issues discussed by the book or article. It helps you form strong reaction thoughts and opinions. Assess the merit of the material. Check the accuracy of its key points, relevance, organization, completeness, and all that.

Lastly, share your opinion on recommending the book or article to other readers.

The key takeaway point here is that the writing style of the reaction paper is mostly subjective since you share your thoughts on another person’s work.

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The writing style of the article critique generally involves evaluating, summarizing, and commenting on the gaps of an existing research article.

Below is how to go about it:

First, evaluate the specific topic(s) that you wish to review. Find out the significance, nature, scope, and any quality that defines its purpose. Read the index, preface, acknowledgments, and bibliography, which explain the author’s background and circumstances.

Then, identify the author’s thesis to ascertain whether there’s a strong personal opinion that he/she wants the audience to accept. Look for the theoretical assumptions discussed in the article to discover this.

Additionally, find out the relationship between the ideas of the research article and the topics in your course. Which specific concepts does the article have in common with your class topics?

Also, summarize all the materials that the research article uses in the presentation of its findings, arguments, and conclusions. Review its primary documents, quantitative data, historical accounts, literary analysis, and ideas formed from the author’s personal observation.

While at it, gage how exactly the backing materials relate to the research article. Ask yourself: what’s the correlation between the argument of the thesis and the reference materials?

Moreover, point out the alternate ways that exist in the presentation of content in the reference materials. Did the article’s author indicate awareness of them? If yes, point out the particular respects in either disagreeing or agreeing with them.

Comment on the theoretical topics or issues that the article raises. Conclude by sharing your personal opinion on the main ideas of the article.

What to remember here is that you have to be objective throughout your critique report. There’s very little room for expressing your opinion subjectively as is the case with the other two assignments.

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The writing style of the paper review involves majorly discussing the findings that a research paper has on a particular topic. Therefore, here you’re simply processing , summarizing , and then presenting your conclusions of an existing scientific paper .

Nearly all scientific journals have paper reviews written by professional peers and proponents in that field.

Below are ideas to help you write the assignment in an acceptable style :

Begin by developing the title page, which contains the reviewer’s background info. You’re the reviewer so write your name, course name, or number if applicable, date, or other guidelines that your instructor may provide. Professional review papers may require more details on the title page that are beyond the scope of this post.

Then create an abstract that briefly summarizes your review topic or subject. Commonly, it includes the key points of the research paper that you’re planning to discuss. As such, it’s a preview of your paper review.

Next, come up with an introduction to your paper review. Introduce the topic that you’re reviewing formally explaining any relevant background information. Define unfamiliar terms that might confuse your readers and the purpose of your review.

Still on introduction, state why your review is relevant to the research community. View your paper review as a formal way of entering into a conversation discussing a scientific topic. Also, disclose your thesis or the main idea that you want other people to get from your assessment.

Heading to the main body where information developing and supporting your thesis exists. Avoid just summarizing the literature that you are reviewing and instead analyze, synthesize, and interpret it.

Form the analysis by studying and presenting the connections that make the research paper valid for review. Then synthesize by explaining the significance and relevance of your review ideas to the topic. Lastly, interpret the literature by examining its meaning to the primary concepts of your thesis.

While developing your main body content, organize your points to help the readers make sense of your review. For example, begin each new section with a topic sentence that relates or points back to your thesis. Also, you can use meaningful subheadings that ensure your review is accomplishing its objective.

Importantly, revise your thesis often making sure it remains relevant to every discussion that you put in your paper.

Conclude by illustrating the connection between your thesis, main points, and broader discussion. In other words, tell readers the conclusions that you drew after writing your review paper. Just avoid presenting new facts at this point.

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4. Difference in Types

Only the reaction paper and the paper review feature numerous categories, although sometimes inexplicit.

Types of Reaction Papers

• Descriptive reaction papers : These describe your impression on a book, article, or event that your instructor asks you to react to. You simply state what you feel or think after your interaction with the study material.
• Critical reaction papers : This type of reaction paper evaluates your critical skills in analyzing a study material. Such an assignment will involve stating whether you agree or disagree with the creator.
• Quantitative reaction papers : Where the study material or event is measurable, quantitative reaction papers are your probable assignment. You have to find a way to measure the content you read or watch in quantitative terms.

Types of Paper Reviews

• Narrative review : This type of paper review involves studying the experience of the creator of a research paper. Therefore, you analyze and compare the theories and methods that are present in the content. In writing a narrative review, actively provide logical and qualitative arguments to be relevant to other reviewers.
• Evidence review : A professional evidence paper review is the type that involves extensive study and interpretation of existing scientific journals. You need accurate information and materials to compose it. Mostly, you discuss other people’s ideas, their impact on the subject of study, and your findings or conclusions.
• Systematic review : The systematic paper review involves the study and analysis of several data sources of a particular topic. You must use a structured methodology to answer the questions arising from a study as part of handling the review. Moreover, you might need to point out the disparities or contradictions existing in the original work.

5. Difference in Tone

Reaction paper.

A reaction paper takes an informal approach as the writer expresses a personal opinion. You use the first language to explain your thoughts and opinions on study material.

Article critique

The tone of expressing critical comments on an article is formal. Your content remains largely objective with little room to express personal feelings or interpretations.

Paper review

A paper review is professional, which makes the acceptable tone to be formal. Although you express your conclusions on a topic at the end, you have to be objective. Also, you have to provide evidence of the material that you use to refer to form review opinions.

Final Thoughts

To this end, you can see how closely related reaction papers, article critiques, and paper reviews are to each other. Although they involve reviewing other people’s work, there are subtle differences in approach, length, content, and more.

Share your thoughts and comments below and let us know your experience with these projects. Even better, hire us to help you develop quality reaction papers, paper reviews, and article critiques.

About the author 

Antony W is a professional writer and coach at Help for Assessment. He spends countless hours every day researching and writing great content filled with expert advice on how to write engaging essays, research papers, and assignments.

Reaction, Review, and Critique Papers

Here’s an excerpt from a sample reaction paper.

“Nothing about the play stimulated me. I was dragged into it only because the class was required to watch it. So many aspects of the play need improvement. For one, the props were outdated. Made me wonder if that was part of the ploy, or because the production team was operating on a tight budget. Another thing that displeased me was the venue. It was evident that the acoustics had seen better days. Lastly, the script was lackluster and boring. Also, it’s hard to believe that the characters from this economic group would speak and behave this way. I also find the speaking style of the characters too pretentious. While I appreciate the effort of the writers, perhaps they can rethink the characters’ worldview. The only saving grace was that the script tried as best as it could, to mimic the struggles of the working class.”

When you write about what you have read, or something you have seen or experienced—an event, situation, or phenomenon—you’re writing your reaction about it and your output would be classified as a reaction paper. Chances are, you’ve been asked many times to write reaction papers in your elementary days. However, it’s not uncommon for Senior High School students to be asked to write reaction papers as well.

When you write reaction papers, you are expected to write about your total experience in relation to an event or reading material. You write about not just the usual details but also your reaction to it; you can discuss whether the experience had a positive or negative impact on you.

For example, if you’re asked to write a reaction paper after attending a seminar on “Youth Empowerment,” you are expected to discuss not just the sequence of the seminar including the topics, objectives, and program flow, but also your feelings after watching the event. Your insights about it will be useful when you summarize the event.

A reaction paper would not be complete without your assessment of your experience. In your assessment, you may include statements praising the organizers or suggesting points for improvement. Whether you’ve chosen to highlight the positive or negative aspects, it would be best to be both objective and careful in your assessment, making sure that you balance your opinion with verifiable facts.

Here are some questions to ask when you write a reaction paper:

• What is the book, event, or phenomenon about?
• Did it meet its objective/s?
• How do I feel about it? Did it influence me in a negative or positive way?
• What insights did I get from it?
• Did I tactfully justify my reaction toward the book, event, place, thing, etc.?

Here’s an excerpt from a sample review.

Think of a glass cullet: rotund, translucent, illuminated by rays of light. A robust figure cradling what seems to be an outline of a child. Or a 12″-high brass piece of a faceless chunk in a contemplative pose. These remarkable sculptures highlight the exhibit aptly titled “In Praise of Form” held recently at the Grand Ballroom of Manila Hotel.

The artworks are in scintillating emerald green and deep electric blue, candy-colored but ovoid and sleek. Cosmopolitan. They look like sweet stuff; but the art pieces would make fitting adornments in plush homes and offices. Although faceless and rendered as non-representational abstraction, the art works speak of a profound message about humanity and love. The other art forms are forays into other media: metal, wood, semi-precious stones and glass. But the piece de resistance is a combination of glass and bronze, of concave and convex. It is a study in contrast: simplicity and strength; seamlessness and grace.

Such is the essence of an exhibit that gives tribute to form.

How well did the reviewer describe the art exhibit? Did it go beyond a mere recounting of the event? Did the writer attempt to tell a story in the framework of the exhibit or did it just describe the artworks?

Your honest answer to these questions will help you determine the qualities of a well-written review.

Expressing your opinion about an event, book, restaurant, art, exhibit, performance, movie, or latest trends is called a review paper. You can also talk about tourist destinations, government policies, and social phenomena. This type of writing takes the form of blurbs, blogs, and essays. It is not just a summary but a commentary involving the writer’s opinion, and thus requires persuasion and critical evaluation. You also aim to argue when writing a review since you want your readers to make informed decisions based on what you have written.

It is important to be concise in your review, but not too concise that you miss the important aspects of the book, event, place or phenomenon that you are evaluating. You are also expected to be unbiased in your evaluation. You can do this by providing your honest appraisal of it, combining your opinion with accurate facts. In addition, reviews involve arguments, so you are expected to state your claim in the thesis statement.

For example, when writing a book review, you may quote actual passages from the book that you can either agree or disagree with. You can explain the passage further in relation to the book’s literal or symbolic meaning. Furthermore, you can explain your reasons for persuading or dissuading your readers to read it.

When writing about a film, you might wish to discuss the movie in terms of its subject matter, theme, cinematography, direction, musical scoring, or actors. You may include your criticism against any aspect of the movie—and to balance your criticism, you might wish to include your sincere compliments about an aspect of the movie that you found truly praiseworthy.

Here are some questions to ask when you write a review:

• Does my review reflect my understanding of the book, event, or phenomenon that I am evaluating?
• Did I highlight important aspects of the book, event, or phenomenon?
• Have I included enough details and evidence to help readers evaluate the merits of the book, event, place or phenomenon that I am evaluating?
• Have I been fair in my evaluation?
• Did I make a clear argument? Did I support my opinion with accurate, verifiable facts?
• Have I given my readers enough basis to make an informed judgment based on my evaluation?

Here’s an excerpt from a sample critique.

Pulitzer-prize winner Toni Morrison gives readers a glimpse of the rich tapestry of her imagination and insight on how it is to be an African-American in a multi-cultural society. She brings her own experiences as an African-American from a small town in Lorrain, Ohio to the intricate web of her novels resorting at times to magical realism, as in two of her novels Song of Solon and Beloved, she weaves her tales using folklore and myths. Her language is clear and lyrical. Her characters are like the ever-changing facets of a kaleidoscope.

Morrison has written extensively about racism, class and sexism and explored how these issues have affected the lives of her characters, positing that these issues are societal and psychological restrictions that leave a gaping hole in the black woman’s psyche. Her narratives depict the characters interacting with a variety of forces: the protagonist at odds with other characters; the protagonist at odds with nature; protagonists at odds with themselves.

Precisely because of her own unique experience as an African-American, Morrison is at her best when she writes for, and about African-Americans. The extent to which she acknowledges their experiences against a backdrop of gender oppression and racism is what makes her novels worth reading. She infuses her novels with these realities and shows just how such issues restrict the individual not only physically but also emo tionally.

As a contemporary fictionist, Morrison continues to be intrigued by the question of how African-Americans, particularly women—transcend or sometimes succumb to restrictions of class, gender, and race. Morrison gives her readers a glaring account of the disparity between the American woman’s experiences vis-a-vis the African woman’s circumstances. In most of her novels, white American women are depicted as being financially well-off, educated, pretty, and living a charmed life. In contrast, African-American women are depicted as impoverished, uneducated, unattractive, and more often than not, deserted by their husbands. However, despite these glaring stereotypes, Morrison redeems her characters by giving them qualities that would endear them to the readers. That she should situate her characters in situations where they have to grapple with the roles ascribed to them by society on the basis of their gender, race, and class is inevitable.

Of all the types of academic writing in this lesson, critiques are considered the most academic. Defined as a form of intellectual discourse involving one’s evaluation of an event, book, place, or phenomenon, a critique is the more expanded version of a reaction paper. Examples of critiques include a critique of an artist’s work, literary criticism, and scholarly essays evaluating a project. This type of writing allows writers to articulate their opinion about issues familiar and relevant to them.

Reaction papers/reviews/critiques allow writers to express their views, enabling others to share their point or a contrary viewpoint. Although they rely on the writer’s opinion, as with all types of academic writing, these types of papers require evidence in the form of facts, statistics, examples, testimony, reviews of fellow writers, pictures, and other pieces of evidence to make the writer’s claim more valid.

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IOE Writing Centre

• Writing a Critical Review

Writing a Critique

A critique (or critical review) is not to be mistaken for a literature review. A 'critical review', or 'critique', is a complete type of text (or genre), discussing one particular article or book in detail.  In some instances, you may be asked to write a critique of two or three articles (e.g. a comparative critical review). In contrast, a 'literature review', which also needs to be 'critical', is a part of a larger type of text, such as a chapter of your dissertation.

Most importantly: Read your article / book as many times as possible, as this will make the critical review much easier.

1. Read and take notes 2. Organising your writing 3. Summary 4. Evaluation 5. Linguistic features of a critical review 6. Summary language 7. Evaluation language 8. Conclusion language 9. Example extracts from a critical review 10. Further resources

Read and Take Notes

To improve your reading confidence and efficiency, visit our pages on reading.

Further reading: Read Confidently

After you are familiar with the text, make notes on some of the following questions. Choose the questions which seem suitable:

• What kind of article is it (for example does it present data or does it present purely theoretical arguments)?
• What is the main area under discussion?
• What are the main findings?
• What are the stated limitations?
• Where does the author's data and evidence come from? Are they appropriate / sufficient?
• What are the main issues raised by the author?
• What questions are raised?
• How well are these questions addressed?
• What are the major points/interpretations made by the author in terms of the issues raised?
• Is the text balanced? Is it fair / biased?
• Does the author contradict herself?
• How does all this relate to other literature on this topic?
• How does all this relate to your own experience, ideas and views?
• What else has this author written? Do these build / complement this text?
• (Optional) Has anyone else reviewed this article? What did they say? Do I agree with them?

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Organising your writing

You first need to summarise the text that you have read. One reason to summarise the text is that the reader may not have read the text. In your summary, you will

• focus on points within the article that you think are interesting
• summarise the author(s) main ideas or argument
• explain how these ideas / argument have been constructed. (For example, is the author basing her arguments on data that they have collected? Are the main ideas / argument purely theoretical?)

In your summary you might answer the following questions:     Why is this topic important?     Where can this text be located? For example, does it address policy studies?     What other prominent authors also write about this?

Evaluation is the most important part in a critical review.

Use the literature to support your views. You may also use your knowledge of conducting research, and your own experience. Evaluation can be explicit or implicit.

Explicit evaluation

Explicit evaluation involves stating directly (explicitly) how you intend to evaluate the text. e.g. "I will review this article by focusing on the following questions. First, I will examine the extent to which the authors contribute to current thought on Second Language Acquisition (SLA) pedagogy. After that, I will analyse whether the authors' propositions are feasible within overseas SLA classrooms."

Implicit evaluation

Implicit evaluation is less direct. The following section on Linguistic Features of Writing a Critical Review contains language that evaluates the text. A difficult part of evaluation of a published text (and a professional author) is how to do this as a student. There is nothing wrong with making your position as a student explicit and incorporating it into your evaluation. Examples of how you might do this can be found in the section on Linguistic Features of Writing a Critical Review. You need to remember to locate and analyse the author's argument when you are writing your critical review. For example, you need to locate the authors' view of classroom pedagogy as presented in the book / article and not present a critique of views of classroom pedagogy in general.

Linguistic features of a critical review

The following examples come from published critical reviews. Some of them have been adapted for student use.

Summary language

•     This article / book is divided into two / three parts. First...
•     While the title might suggest...
•     The tone appears to be...
•     Title is the first / second volume in the series Title, edited by...The books / articles in this series address...
•     The second / third claim is based on...
•     The author challenges the notion that...
•     The author tries to find a more middle ground / make more modest claims...
•     The article / book begins with a short historical overview of...
•     Numerous authors have recently suggested that...(see Author, Year; Author, Year). Author would also be once such author. With his / her argument that...
•     To refer to title as a...is not to say that it is...
•     This book / article is aimed at... This intended readership...
•     The author's book / article examines the...To do this, the author first...
•     The author develops / suggests a theoretical / pedagogical model to…
•     This book / article positions itself firmly within the field of...
•     The author in a series of subtle arguments, indicates that he / she...
•     The argument is therefore...
•     The author asks "..."
•     With a purely critical / postmodern take on...
•     Topic, as the author points out, can be viewed as...
•     In this recent contribution to the field of...this British author...
•     As a leading author in the field of...
•     This book / article nicely contributes to the field of...and complements other work by this author...
•     The second / third part of...provides / questions / asks the reader...
•     Title is intended to encourage students / researchers to...
•     The approach taken by the author provides the opportunity to examine...in a qualitative / quantitative research framework that nicely complements...
•     The author notes / claims that state support / a focus on pedagogy / the adoption of...remains vital if...
•     According to Author (Year) teaching towards examinations is not as effective as it is in other areas of the curriculum. This is because, as Author (Year) claims that examinations have undue status within the curriculum.
•     According to Author (Year)…is not as effective in some areas of the curriculum / syllabus as others. Therefore the author believes that this is a reason for some school's…

Evaluation language

•     This argument is not entirely convincing, as...furthermore it commodifies / rationalises the...
•     Over the last five / ten years the view of...has increasingly been viewed as 'complicated' (see Author, Year; Author, Year).
•     However, through trying to integrate...with...the author...
•     There are difficulties with such a position.
•     Inevitably, several crucial questions are left unanswered / glossed over by this insightful / timely / interesting / stimulating book / article. Why should...
•     It might have been more relevant for the author to have written this book / article as...
•     This article / book is not without disappointment from those who would view...as...
•     This chosen framework enlightens / clouds...
•     This analysis intends to be...but falls a little short as...
•     The authors rightly conclude that if...
•     A detailed, well-written and rigorous account of...
•     As a Korean student I feel that this article / book very clearly illustrates...
•     The beginning of...provides an informative overview into...
•     The tables / figures do little to help / greatly help the reader...
•     The reaction by scholars who take a...approach might not be so favourable (e.g. Author, Year).
•     This explanation has a few weaknesses that other researchers have pointed out (see Author, Year; Author, Year). The first is...
•     On the other hand, the author wisely suggests / proposes that...By combining these two dimensions...
•     The author's brief introduction to...may leave the intended reader confused as it fails to properly...
•     Despite my inability to...I was greatly interested in...
•     Even where this reader / I disagree(s), the author's effort to...
•     The author thus combines...with...to argue...which seems quite improbable for a number of reasons. First...
•     Perhaps this aversion to...would explain the author's reluctance to...
•     As a second language student from ...I find it slightly ironic that such an anglo-centric view is...
•     The reader is rewarded with...
•     Less convincing is the broad-sweeping generalisation that...
•     There is no denying the author's subject knowledge nor his / her...
•     The author's prose is dense and littered with unnecessary jargon...
•     The author's critique of...might seem harsh but is well supported within the literature (see Author, Year; Author, Year; Author, Year). Aligning herself with the author, Author (Year) states that...
•     As it stands, the central focus of Title is well / poorly supported by its empirical findings...
•     Given the hesitation to generalise to...the limitation of...does not seem problematic...
•     For instance, the term...is never properly defined and the reader left to guess as to whether...
•     Furthermore, to label...as...inadvertently misguides...
•     In addition, this research proves to be timely / especially significant to... as recent government policy / proposals has / have been enacted to...
•     On this well researched / documented basis the author emphasises / proposes that...
•     Nonetheless, other research / scholarship / data tend to counter / contradict this possible trend / assumption...(see Author, Year; Author, Year).
•     Without entering into detail of the..., it should be stated that Title should be read by...others will see little value in...
•     As experimental conditions were not used in the study the word 'significant' misleads the reader.
•     The article / book becomes repetitious in its assertion that...
•     The thread of the author's argument becomes lost in an overuse of empirical data...
•     Almost every argument presented in the final section is largely derivative, providing little to say about...
•     She / he does not seem to take into consideration; however, that there are fundamental differences in the conditions of…
•     As Author (Year) points out, however, it seems to be necessary to look at…
•     This suggest that having low…does not necessarily indicate that…is ineffective.
•     Therefore, the suggestion made by Author (Year)…is difficult to support.
•     When considering all the data presented…it is not clear that the low scores of some students, indeed, reflects…

Conclusion language

•     Overall this article / book is an analytical look at...which within the field of...is often overlooked.
•     Despite its problems, Title offers valuable theoretical insights / interesting examples / a contribution to pedagogy and a starting point for students / researchers of...with an interest in...
•     This detailed and rigorously argued...
•     This first / second volume / book / article by...with an interest in...is highly informative...

Example extracts from a critical review

Writing critically.

If you have been told your writing is not critical enough, it probably means that your writing treats the knowledge claims as if they are true, well supported, and applicable in the context you are writing about. This may not always be the case.

In these two examples, the extracts refer to the same section of text. In each example, the section that refers to a source has been highlighted in bold. The note below the example then explains how the writer has used the source material.    

There is a strong positive effect on students, both educationally and emotionally, when the instructors try to learn to say students' names without making pronunciation errors (Kiang, 2004).

Use of source material in example a: 

This is a simple paraphrase with no critical comment. It looks like the writer agrees with Kiang. (This is not a good example for critical writing, as the writer has not made any critical comment).        

Kiang (2004) gives various examples to support his claim that "the positive emotional and educational impact on students is clear" (p.210) when instructors try to pronounce students' names in the correct way. He quotes one student, Nguyet, as saying that he "felt surprised and happy" (p.211) when the tutor said his name clearly . The emotional effect claimed by Kiang is illustrated in quotes such as these, although the educational impact is supported more indirectly through the chapter. Overall, he provides more examples of students being negatively affected by incorrect pronunciation, and it is difficult to find examples within the text of a positive educational impact as such.

Use of source material in example b: 

The writer describes Kiang's (2004) claim and the examples which he uses to try to support it. The writer then comments that the examples do not seem balanced and may not be enough to support the claims fully. This is a better example of writing which expresses criticality.

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Further resources

You may also be interested in our page on criticality, which covers criticality in general, and includes more critical reading questions.

Further reading: Read and Write Critically

We recommend that you do not search for other university guidelines on critical reviews. This is because the expectations may be different at other institutions. Ask your tutor for more guidance or examples if you have further questions.

IOE Writing Centre Online

Self-access resources from the Academic Writing Centre at the UCL Institute of Education.

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Writing Critiques

Writing a critique involves more than pointing out mistakes. It involves conducting a systematic analysis of a scholarly article or book and then writing a fair and reasonable description of its strengths and weaknesses. Several scholarly journals have published guides for critiquing other people’s work in their academic area. Search for a  “manuscript reviewer guide” in your own discipline to guide your analysis of the content. Use this handout as an orientation to the audience and purpose of different types of critiques and to the linguistic strategies appropriate to all of them.

Types of critique

Article or book review assignment in an academic class.

Text: Article or book that has already been published Audience: Professors Purpose:

• to demonstrate your skills for close reading and analysis
• to show that you understand key concepts in your field
• to learn how to review a manuscript for your future professional work

Published book review

Text: Book that has already been published Audience: Disciplinary colleagues Purpose:

• to describe the book’s contents
• to summarize the book’s strengths and weaknesses
• to provide a reliable recommendation to read (or not read) the book

Manuscript review

Text: Manuscript that has been submitted but has not been published yet Audience: Journal editor and manuscript authors Purpose:

• to provide the editor with an evaluation of the manuscript
• to recommend to the editor that the article be published, revised, or rejected
• to provide the authors with constructive feedback and reasonable suggestions for revision

Language strategies for critiquing

For each type of critique, it’s important to state your praise, criticism, and suggestions politely, but with the appropriate level of strength. The following language structures should help you achieve this challenging task.

Offering Praise and Criticism

A strategy called “hedging” will help you express praise or criticism with varying levels of strength. It will also help you express varying levels of certainty in your own assertions. Grammatical structures used for hedging include:

Modal verbs Using modal verbs (could, can, may, might, etc.) allows you to soften an absolute statement. Compare:

This text is inappropriate for graduate students who are new to the field. This text may be inappropriate for graduate students who are new to the field.

Qualifying adjectives and adverbs Using qualifying adjectives and adverbs (possible, likely, possibly, somewhat, etc.) allows you to introduce a level of probability into your comments. Compare:

Readers will find the theoretical model difficult to understand. Some readers will find the theoretical model difficult to understand. Some readers will probably find the theoretical model somewhat difficult to understand completely.

Note: You can see from the last example that too many qualifiers makes the idea sound undesirably weak.

Tentative verbs Using tentative verbs (seems, indicates, suggests, etc.) also allows you to soften an absolute statement. Compare:

This omission shows that the authors are not aware of the current literature. This omission indicates that the authors are not aware of the current literature. This omission seems to suggest that the authors are not aware of the current literature.

Offering suggestions

Whether you are critiquing a published or unpublished text, you are expected to point out problems and suggest solutions. If you are critiquing an unpublished manuscript, the author can use your suggestions to revise. Your suggestions have the potential to become real actions. If you are critiquing a published text, the author cannot revise, so your suggestions are purely hypothetical. These two situations require slightly different grammar.

Unpublished manuscripts: “would be X if they did Y” Reviewers commonly point out weakness by pointing toward improvement. For instance, if the problem is “unclear methodology,” reviewers may write that “the methodology would be more clear if …” plus a suggestion. If the author can use the suggestions to revise, the grammar is “X would be better if the authors did Y” (would be + simple past suggestion).

The tables would be clearer if the authors highlighted the key results. The discussion would be more persuasive if the authors accounted for the discrepancies in the data.

Published manuscripts: “would have been X if they had done Y” If the authors cannot revise based on your suggestions, use the past unreal conditional form “X would have been better if the authors had done Y” (would have been + past perfect suggestion).

The tables would have been clearer if the authors had highlighted key results. The discussion would have been more persuasive if the authors had accounted for discrepancies in the data.

Note: For more information on conditional structures, see our Conditionals handout .

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Online Guide to Writing and Research

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• Online Guide to Writing

Reviews and Reaction Papers

Reaction papers.

Some assignments may require you to formulate a reaction to your readings, to your instructor’s lectures and comments, or even to your classmates. You may even be asked to write a reaction assignment in a journal. This type of writing is called reaction writing. Reaction writing may be informal or formal and is primarily analytical; reactions may be included in critiques, reviews, illustrations of ideas, or judgments of a concept or theory.

How do you get started with reaction writing? Here are some important things to consider:

Reactions require close reading of the text you are reacting to. Having a strong understanding of what you have read is the first step in reaction writing. 

Like reviews, reactions go beyond the literal content of the text, requiring that you bring to the text meaning not explicitly stated, to elaborate on or explore the implications of the author’s ideas. 

Your reactions may include your subjective interpretations; you may even use the first-person narrator “I.” Your reaction paper need not follow the organization and ordering of the text you are writing about; in fact, reactions can begin with the last point the author made and then move to other points made earlier. 

Reactions can be about one or many of the author’s ideas. Although the reactions are focused on your own thinking, you can also include summaries, paraphrases, or quotations from the examined text.

The organization of a reaction varies according to the audience, purpose, and limitations of your assignment. 

You may use a general-to-specific or specific-to-general organization. 

You may use a structured format, such as those for argument, or you may use an informal one of your choosing. 

However you organize your reaction paper, be sure that your approach emphasizes and reflects your analysis and serious consideration of the author’s text.

Writing reactive assignments enables you to examine relationships of ideas among the various parts of the passages, and between the author’s ideas about a given topic and your preexisting knowledge of and experiences with the topic. When you relate your own ideas to the author’s, you can bring your personal knowledge and experience to bear on the topic in such a way as to analyze the author’s message in a familiar context. When you carry on a dialogue with the author, you are expanding and speculating on the author’s ideas—entering an academic conversation with the author.

Writing reactions usually calls for an expressive writing style in which you can let your thoughts flow, be imaginative, and experiment with language. Although reactions often seem like freewriting or reacting in continuous writing, you want to organize your thoughts with a thesis, introduction and conclusion, and supporting statements. In fact, your reaction may take the form of a formal or informal argument. (Refer to the discussion in this chapter on writing arguments for details.)

Consider these general steps as you plan your writing:

First, freewrite in order to expand and speculate on the author’s ideas.

Decide on your working thesis statement.

Select and prioritize the particular reactions you want to include.

Decide on your organization and format (e.g., online or formal writing assignment).

Draft your reaction paper.

Write your introduction and concluding paragraphs.

Revise your final thesis statement and draft.

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Table of Contents: Online Guide to Writing

Chapter 1: College Writing

How Does College Writing Differ from Workplace Writing?

What Is College Writing?

Why So Much Emphasis on Writing?

Chapter 2: The Writing Process

Doing Exploratory Research

Getting from Notes to Your Draft

Introduction

Prewriting - Techniques to Get Started - Mining Your Intuition

Prewriting: Targeting Your Audience

Prewriting: Techniques to Get Started

Prewriting: Understanding Your Assignment

Rewriting: Being Your Own Critic

Rewriting: Creating a Revision Strategy

Rewriting: Getting Feedback

Rewriting: The Final Draft

Techniques to Get Started - Outlining

Techniques to Get Started - Using Systematic Techniques

Thesis Statement and Controlling Idea

Writing: Getting from Notes to Your Draft - Freewriting

Writing: Getting from Notes to Your Draft - Summarizing Your Ideas

Writing: Outlining What You Will Write

Chapter 3: Thinking Strategies

A Word About Style, Voice, and Tone

A Word About Style, Voice, and Tone: Style Through Vocabulary and Diction

Critical Strategies and Writing

Critical Strategies and Writing: Analysis

Critical Strategies and Writing: Evaluation

Critical Strategies and Writing: Persuasion

Critical Strategies and Writing: Synthesis

Developing a Paper Using Strategies

Kinds of Assignments You Will Write

Patterns for Presenting Information

Patterns for Presenting Information: Critiques

Patterns for Presenting Information: Discussing Raw Data

Patterns for Presenting Information: General-to-Specific Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Problem-Cause-Solution Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Specific-to-General Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Summaries and Abstracts

Supporting with Research and Examples

Writing Essay Examinations

Writing Essay Examinations: Make Your Answer Relevant and Complete

Writing Essay Examinations: Organize Thinking Before Writing

Writing Essay Examinations: Read and Understand the Question

Chapter 4: The Research Process

Planning and Writing a Research Paper

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Ask a Research Question

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Cite Sources

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Collect Evidence

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Decide Your Point of View, or Role, for Your Research

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Draw Conclusions

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Find a Topic and Get an Overview

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Manage Your Resources

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Outline

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Survey the Literature

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Work Your Sources into Your Research Writing

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Human Resources

Research Resources: What Are Research Resources?

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found?

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Electronic Resources

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Print Resources

Structuring the Research Paper: Formal Research Structure

Structuring the Research Paper: Informal Research Structure

The Nature of Research

The Research Assignment: How Should Research Sources Be Evaluated?

The Research Assignment: When Is Research Needed?

The Research Assignment: Why Perform Research?

Chapter 5: Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity

Giving Credit to Sources

Giving Credit to Sources: Copyright Laws

Giving Credit to Sources: Documentation

Giving Credit to Sources: Style Guides

Integrating Sources

Practicing Academic Integrity

Practicing Academic Integrity: Keeping Accurate Records

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Paraphrasing Your Source

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Quoting Your Source

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Summarizing Your Sources

Types of Documentation

Types of Documentation: Bibliographies and Source Lists

Types of Documentation: Citing World Wide Web Sources

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - APA Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - CSE/CBE Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - Chicago Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - MLA Style

Types of Documentation: Note Citations

Chapter 6: Using Library Resources

Finding Library Resources

Chapter 7: Assessing Your Writing

How Is Writing Graded?

How Is Writing Graded?: A General Assessment Tool

The Draft Stage

The Draft Stage: The First Draft

The Draft Stage: The Revision Process and the Final Draft

The Draft Stage: Using Feedback

The Research Stage

Using Assessment to Improve Your Writing

Chapter 8: Other Frequently Assigned Papers

Reviews and Reaction Papers: Article and Book Reviews

Reviews and Reaction Papers: Reaction Papers

Writing Arguments

Writing Arguments: Adapting the Argument Structure

Writing Arguments: Purposes of Argument

Writing Arguments: References to Consult for Writing Arguments

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Anticipate Active Opposition

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Determine Your Organization

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Develop Your Argument

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Introduce Your Argument

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - State Your Thesis or Proposition

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Write Your Conclusion

Writing Arguments: Types of Argument

Appendix A: Books to Help Improve Your Writing

Dictionaries

General Style Manuals

Researching on the Internet

Special Style Manuals

Writing Handbooks

Appendix B: Collaborative Writing and Peer Reviewing

Collaborative Writing: Assignments to Accompany the Group Project

Collaborative Writing: Informal Progress Report

Collaborative Writing: Issues to Resolve

Collaborative Writing: Methodology

Collaborative Writing: Peer Evaluation

Collaborative Writing: Tasks of Collaborative Writing Group Members

Collaborative Writing: Writing Plan

General Introduction

Peer Reviewing

Appendix C: Developing an Improvement Plan

Working with Your Instructor’s Comments and Grades

Appendix D: Writing Plan and Project Schedule

Devising a Writing Project Plan and Schedule

Reviewing Your Plan with Others

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• v.12(3); 2021 Jun

Writing, reading, and critiquing reviews

Écrire, lire et revue critique, douglas archibald.

1 University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada;

Maria Athina Martimianakis

2 University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Why reviews matter

What do all authors of the CMEJ have in common? For that matter what do all health professions education scholars have in common? We all engage with literature. When you have an idea or question the first thing you do is find out what has been published on the topic of interest. Literature reviews are foundational to any study. They describe what is known about given topic and lead us to identify a knowledge gap to study. All reviews require authors to be able accurately summarize, synthesize, interpret and even critique the research literature. 1 , 2 In fact, for this editorial we have had to review the literature on reviews . Knowledge and evidence are expanding in our field of health professions education at an ever increasing rate and so to help keep pace, well written reviews are essential. Though reviews may be difficult to write, they will always be read. In this editorial we survey the various forms review articles can take. As well we want to provide authors and reviewers at CMEJ with some guidance and resources to be able write and/or review a review article.

What are the types of reviews conducted in Health Professions Education?

Health professions education attracts scholars from across disciplines and professions. For this reason, there are numerous ways to conduct reviews and it is important to familiarize oneself with these different forms to be able to effectively situate your work and write a compelling rationale for choosing your review methodology. 1 , 2 To do this, authors must contend with an ever-increasing lexicon of review type articles. In 2009 Grant and colleagues conducted a typology of reviews to aid readers makes sense of the different review types, listing fourteen different ways of conducting reviews, not all of which are mutually exclusive. 3 Interestingly, in their typology they did not include narrative reviews which are often used by authors in health professions education. In Table 1 , we offer a short description of three common types of review articles submitted to CMEJ.

Three common types of review articles submitted to CMEJ

More recently, authors such as Greenhalgh 4 have drawn attention to the perceived hierarchy of systematic reviews over scoping and narrative reviews. Like Greenhalgh, 4 we argue that systematic reviews are not to be seen as the gold standard of all reviews. Instead, it is important to align the method of review to what the authors hope to achieve, and pursue the review rigorously, according to the tenets of the chosen review type. Sometimes it is helpful to read part of the literature on your topic before deciding on a methodology for organizing and assessing its usefulness. Importantly, whether you are conducting a review or reading reviews, appreciating the differences between different types of reviews can also help you weigh the author’s interpretation of their findings.

In the next section we summarize some general tips for conducting successful reviews.

How to write and review a review article

In 2016 David Cook wrote an editorial for Medical Education on tips for a great review article. 13 These tips are excellent suggestions for all types of articles you are considering to submit to the CMEJ. First, start with a clear question: focused or more general depending on the type of review you are conducting. Systematic reviews tend to address very focused questions often summarizing the evidence of your topic. Other types of reviews tend to have broader questions and are more exploratory in nature.

Following your question, choose an approach and plan your methods to match your question…just like you would for a research study. Fortunately, there are guidelines for many types of reviews. As Cook points out the most important consideration is to be sure that the methods you follow lead to a defensible answer to your review question. To help you prepare for a defensible answer there are many guides available. For systematic reviews consult PRISMA guidelines ; 13 for scoping reviews PRISMA-ScR ; 14 and SANRA 15 for narrative reviews. It is also important to explain to readers why you have chosen to conduct a review. You may be introducing a new way for addressing an old problem, drawing links across literatures, filling in gaps in our knowledge about a phenomenon or educational practice. Cook refers to this as setting the stage. Linking back to the literature is important. In systematic reviews for example, you must be clear in explaining how your review builds on existing literature and previous reviews. This is your opportunity to be critical. What are the gaps and limitations of previous reviews? So, how will your systematic review resolve the shortcomings of previous work? In other types of reviews, such as narrative reviews, its less about filling a specific knowledge gap, and more about generating new research topic areas, exposing blind spots in our thinking, or making creative new links across issues. Whatever, type of review paper you are working on, the next steps are ones that can be applied to any scholarly writing. Be clear and offer insight. What is your main message? A review is more than just listing studies or referencing literature on your topic. Lead your readers to a convincing message. Provide commentary and interpretation for the studies in your review that will help you to inform your conclusions. For systematic reviews, Cook’s final tip is most likely the most important– report completely. You need to explain all your methods and report enough detail that readers can verify the main findings of each study you review. The most common reasons CMEJ reviewers recommend to decline a review article is because authors do not follow these last tips. In these instances authors do not provide the readers with enough detail to substantiate their interpretations or the message is not clear. Our recommendation for writing a great review is to ensure you have followed the previous tips and to have colleagues read over your paper to ensure you have provided a clear, detailed description and interpretation.

Finally, we leave you with some resources to guide your review writing. 3 , 7 , 8 , 10 , 11 , 16 , 17 We look forward to seeing your future work. One thing is certain, a better appreciation of what different reviews provide to the field will contribute to more purposeful exploration of the literature and better manuscript writing in general.

In this issue we present many interesting and worthwhile papers, two of which are, in fact, reviews.

Major Contributions

A chance for reform: the environmental impact of travel for general surgery residency interviews by Fung et al. 18 estimated the CO 2 emissions associated with traveling for residency position interviews. Due to the high emissions levels (mean 1.82 tonnes per applicant), they called for the consideration of alternative options such as videoconference interviews.

Understanding community family medicine preceptors’ involvement in educational scholarship: perceptions, influencing factors and promising areas for action by Ward and team 19 identified barriers, enablers, and opportunities to grow educational scholarship at community-based teaching sites. They discovered a growing interest in educational scholarship among community-based family medicine preceptors and hope the identification of successful processes will be beneficial for other community-based Family Medicine preceptors.

Exploring the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical education: an international cross-sectional study of medical learners by Allison Brown and team 20 studied the impact of COVID-19 on medical learners around the world. There were different concerns depending on the levels of training, such as residents’ concerns with career timeline compared to trainees’ concerns with the quality of learning. Overall, the learners negatively perceived the disruption at all levels and geographic regions.

The impact of local health professions education grants: is it worth the investment? by Susan Humphrey-Murto and co-authors 21 considered factors that lead to the publication of studies supported by local medical education grants. They identified several factors associated with publication success, including previous oral or poster presentations. They hope their results will be valuable for Canadian centres with local grant programs.

Exploring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical learner wellness: a needs assessment for the development of learner wellness interventions by Stephana Cherak and team 22 studied learner-wellness in various training environments disrupted by the pandemic. They reported a negative impact on learner wellness at all stages of training. Their results can benefit the development of future wellness interventions.

Program directors’ reflections on national policy change in medical education: insights on decision-making, accreditation, and the CanMEDS framework by Dore, Bogie, et al. 23 invited program directors to reflect on the introduction of the CanMEDS framework into Canadian postgraduate medical education programs. Their survey revealed that while program directors (PDs) recognized the necessity of the accreditation process, they did not feel they had a voice when the change occurred. The authors concluded that collaborations with PDs would lead to more successful outcomes.

Experiential learning, collaboration and reflection: key ingredients in longitudinal faculty development by Laura Farrell and team 24 stressed several elements for effective longitudinal faculty development (LFD) initiatives. They found that participants benefited from a supportive and collaborative environment while trying to learn a new skill or concept.

Brief Reports

The effect of COVID-19 on medical students’ education and wellbeing: a cross-sectional survey by Stephanie Thibaudeau and team 25 assessed the impact of COVID-19 on medical students. They reported an overall perceived negative impact, including increased depressive symptoms, increased anxiety, and reduced quality of education.

In Do PGY-1 residents in Emergency Medicine have enough experiences in resuscitations and other clinical procedures to meet the requirements of a Competence by Design curriculum? Meshkat and co-authors 26 recorded the number of adult medical resuscitations and clinical procedures completed by PGY1 Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in Emergency Medicine residents to compare them to the Competence by Design requirements. Their study underscored the importance of monitoring collection against pre-set targets. They concluded that residency program curricula should be regularly reviewed to allow for adequate clinical experiences.

Rehearsal simulation for antenatal consults by Anita Cheng and team 27 studied whether rehearsal simulation for antenatal consults helped residents prepare for difficult conversations with parents expecting complications with their baby before birth. They found that while rehearsal simulation improved residents’ confidence and communication techniques, it did not prepare them for unexpected parent responses.

Review Papers and Meta-Analyses

Peer support programs in the fields of medicine and nursing: a systematic search and narrative review by Haykal and co-authors 28 described and evaluated peer support programs in the medical field published in the literature. They found numerous diverse programs and concluded that including a variety of delivery methods to meet the needs of all participants is a key aspect for future peer-support initiatives.

Towards competency-based medical education in addictions psychiatry: a systematic review by Bahji et al. 6 identified addiction interventions to build competency for psychiatry residents and fellows. They found that current psychiatry entrustable professional activities need to be better identified and evaluated to ensure sustained competence in addictions.

Six ways to get a grip on leveraging the expertise of Instructional Design and Technology professionals by Chen and Kleinheksel 29 provided ways to improve technology implementation by clarifying the role that Instructional Design and Technology professionals can play in technology initiatives and technology-enhanced learning. They concluded that a strong collaboration is to the benefit of both the learners and their future patients.

In his article, Seven ways to get a grip on running a successful promotions process, 30 Simon Field provided guidelines for maximizing opportunities for successful promotion experiences. His seven tips included creating a rubric for both self-assessment of likeliness of success and adjudication by the committee.

Six ways to get a grip on your first health education leadership role by Stasiuk and Scott 31 provided tips for considering a health education leadership position. They advised readers to be intentional and methodical in accepting or rejecting positions.

Re-examining the value proposition for Competency-Based Medical Education by Dagnone and team 32 described the excitement and controversy surrounding the implementation of competency-based medical education (CBME) by Canadian postgraduate training programs. They proposed observing which elements of CBME had a positive impact on various outcomes.

You Should Try This

In their work, Interprofessional culinary education workshops at the University of Saskatchewan, Lieffers et al. 33 described the implementation of interprofessional culinary education workshops that were designed to provide health professions students with an experiential and cooperative learning experience while learning about important topics in nutrition. They reported an enthusiastic response and cooperation among students from different health professional programs.

In their article, Physiotherapist-led musculoskeletal education: an innovative approach to teach medical students musculoskeletal assessment techniques, Boulila and team 34 described the implementation of physiotherapist-led workshops, whether the workshops increased medical students’ musculoskeletal knowledge, and if they increased confidence in assessment techniques.

Instagram as a virtual art display for medical students by Karly Pippitt and team 35 used social media as a platform for showcasing artwork done by first-year medical students. They described this shift to online learning due to COVID-19. Using Instagram was cost-saving and widely accessible. They intend to continue with both online and in-person displays in the future.

Adapting clinical skills volunteer patient recruitment and retention during COVID-19 by Nazerali-Maitland et al. 36 proposed a SLIM-COVID framework as a solution to the problem of dwindling volunteer patients due to COVID-19. Their framework is intended to provide actionable solutions to recruit and engage volunteers in a challenging environment.

In Quick Response codes for virtual learner evaluation of teaching and attendance monitoring, Roxana Mo and co-authors 37 used Quick Response (QR) codes to monitor attendance and obtain evaluations for virtual teaching sessions. They found QR codes valuable for quick and simple feedback that could be used for many educational applications.

In Creation and implementation of the Ottawa Handbook of Emergency Medicine Kaitlin Endres and team 38 described the creation of a handbook they made as an academic resource for medical students as they shift to clerkship. It includes relevant content encountered in Emergency Medicine. While they intended it for medical students, they also see its value for nurses, paramedics, and other medical professionals.

Commentary and Opinions

The alarming situation of medical student mental health by D’Eon and team 39 appealed to medical education leaders to respond to the high numbers of mental health concerns among medical students. They urged leaders to address the underlying problems, such as the excessive demands of the curriculum.

In the shadows: medical student clinical observerships and career exploration in the face of COVID-19 by Law and co-authors 40 offered potential solutions to replace in-person shadowing that has been disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They hope the alternatives such as virtual shadowing will close the gap in learning caused by the pandemic.

Letters to the Editor

Canadian Federation of Medical Students' response to “ The alarming situation of medical student mental health” King et al. 41 on behalf of the Canadian Federation of Medical Students (CFMS) responded to the commentary by D’Eon and team 39 on medical students' mental health. King called upon the medical education community to join the CFMS in its commitment to improving medical student wellbeing.

Re: “Development of a medical education podcast in obstetrics and gynecology” 42 was written by Kirubarajan in response to the article by Development of a medical education podcast in obstetrics and gynecology by Black and team. 43 Kirubarajan applauded the development of the podcast to meet a need in medical education, and suggested potential future topics such as interventions to prevent learner burnout.

Response to “First year medical student experiences with a clinical skills seminar emphasizing sexual and gender minority population complexity” by Kumar and Hassan 44 acknowledged the previously published article by Biro et al. 45 that explored limitations in medical training for the LGBTQ2S community. However, Kumar and Hassen advocated for further progress and reform for medical training to address the health requirements for sexual and gender minorities.

In her letter, Journey to the unknown: road closed!, 46 Rosemary Pawliuk responded to the article, Journey into the unknown: considering the international medical graduate perspective on the road to Canadian residency during the COVID-19 pandemic, by Gutman et al. 47 Pawliuk agreed that international medical students (IMGs) do not have adequate formal representation when it comes to residency training decisions. Therefore, Pawliuk challenged health organizations to make changes to give a voice in decision-making to the organizations representing IMGs.

In Connections, 48 Sara Guzman created a digital painting to portray her approach to learning. Her image of a hand touching a neuron showed her desire to physically see and touch an active neuron in order to further understand the brain and its connections.