作者：沈燕
【Abstract】This is paper is to critically analyze the journal article “Personal Epistemology of Psychology， Theology and Pharmacy Students： A Comparative Study” by Minna Kaartinen‐Koutaniemi & Sari Lindblom‐Yl?nne （2008） from the aspects of research question， research design，， literature review， methodology and methods， as well as prospects， in an attempt to highlight the important elements in academic writing.
【Key words】critical review; journal article; academic writing
【作者簡介】沈燕，女，上海政法学院，讲师，硕士研究生，研究方向：二语习得，英语教育研究。
Ⅰ.Introduction
This paper will critically analyze the journal article “Personal Epistemology of Psychology， Theology and Pharmacy Students： A Comparative Study” published in Studies of Higher Education by Minna Kaartinen‐Koutaniemi & Sari Lindblom‐Yl?nne （2008）. The article aims to examine interdisciplinary differences in students’ personal epistemology by comparative approach with semi-structured interviews and qualitative content analysis.
Ⅱ.Research questions
Instead of research questions， the article under analysis explicitly states its hypotheses at the end of the Introduction， “the personal epistemology of students firstly evolves from interaction with the nature of the discipline， secondly from the disciplinary environment and curriculum， and thirdly from academic practices and aims modified by university teachers” （p. 180）， narrowed down from its research purposes “to describe and interpret students’ conceptions of thinking and reasoning based on data gathered by qualitative interview.…to compare the variation in students’ personal epistemology between three disciplines” （p. 180）. The hypotheses， together with the research purposes， clearly indicate the research will be directed towards a qualitative study with comparative approach， as one can learn from the expressions like “to describe and interpret students’ conceptions” and to “to compare…between three disciplines”. The phrase “evolve from” also indicates a causal relationship between students’ personal epistemology and the three aspects under investigation， which can be addressed by research techniques like content analysis employed in this work. “A hypothesis is a predicted answer to a research question” （White， 2016： 193）. Research questions are important in that they equip readers with important information about the direction of the study （Creswell， 2014：128）. By summarizing the issues to be investigated， these hypotheses per se serve their purposes to guide the readers， as well as the research design.
