| It is worth looking at each of these things in a little more detail to understand what Pare means. A journal article – as opposed to an essay – should have: | • a tight focus which allows one (or at most two) ideas to be dealt with, and about three or four major points in the argument to be made | • a synthesis of research literatures not a review. Reference should be made only to the key texts and debates on which the particular paper builds and to which it makes a contribution | • theory, if it is used, should be explained largely in the writer’s own words and as economically as possible, referring only to the particular theoretical aspects that are needed in the paper | • citations which do not crowd out the text; the majority of the word allowance should be devoted to the paper itself, which is after all the contribution. |