Write a brief summary of the article that you are trying to critique to help you understand it. Determine what questions the study addresses, its dependent and independent variables, the procedures it follows, its results and its broader implications. Consider other questions or aspects that seem relevant to you. Make sure your summary is brief and can be read quickly and easily as a reference guide for your critique.
Write out your objections to the article in point form. Start with anything you did not understand in the article or that was unclear to you. Consider any methodological flaws in experiments, such as sample size, bias by researchers, gender or age of human subjects, outside influences on the study and unchecked underlying assumptions. Write down how these factors could have affected the study's conclusions, and what you would have done differently.
Write a thesis statement that summarizes the major critiques of the study that your paper will make. Write it as one or two sentences that makes a forceful, direct and specific argument about the study. Avoid generalities, such as, "Although the study draws some important conclusions, it does not take enough into account." Be specific, for example, "Although the study's conclusions are well-founded, its sample size is too small and restricted to one gender to be applied broadly."
Use the last part of your thesis statement to provide a road map for your reader. Write one sentence in which you detail how you plan to make your argument and what sorts of evidence you will provide. For example, you could end your thesis statement by saying, "The study falls short in its small sample size, its reliance on outdated statistics and its failure to repeat the same experiment and results multiple times."