Journal Article Analysis

YI TZU TAN
For graduate students, analyzing a journal article in ones
discipline is a good way to know how to write a research paper and
think critically. The process of the analysis could be challenging.
Students have to read through the article, digesting it and trying to
logically state their ideas in their own words. As an accounting student,
I chose one of the articles that professor Ling Lei Lisic published to
study. Professor Ling is an Associate Professor in the Department of
Accounting in George Mason University. The title of the article is
Accounting fraud, auditing, and the role of government sanctions in
China. The reason why I chose this article is that I have an interest in
auditing. Later on, I will explain my analysis by three different theories.
Firstly, as reading the article, it is obvious to know the structure
of this article by its subtitles. There is an introduction, literature review,
hypothesis, sample and statistics, results and conclusion. Generally, it
follows introduction, methods, results and discussion (IMRD) pattern. In
the introduction, to let people know why the topic is discussed
particularly about the phenomenon in China, the author remarked the
economic background of China and pointed out that a high growth rate
of economy leads to potential accounting and auditing problems. In my
view, one of reasons that the professor chose China as the specific

topic is that she is from China. She had studied in accounting in

Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Due to the area of her expertise and her
background, I believe that the professor is familiar with Chinas market,
policies and economy. Basically, this article follows APA citation guide.
This is common and understandable because APA style is mostly used
to cite sources in the social sciences. In the paragraph of data
research, the author not only uses citations but also shows the figure
of the tables. In the conclusion, the author summed up her ideas. The
article started from a general topic by introducing the background of
the world and China. It narrowed down to the key question how this
phenomenal is created. At the end, every statement was mentioned
clearly one by one again. An organized structure is always adorable to
read because it seems to be written logically.
Secondly, I analyzed the article via Harris rhetorical concepts.
The quality of auditing is always an issue. The results of previous
studies on audit quality in China vary because of different levels of the
development of the audit market. The exigence is that it is hard to
measure the quality of audit services, and the risk is unpredictable.
The object of the study is frauds committed during 1999 to 2005. The
author found that there was a four-year gap between the date of frauds
committed and the date of enforcement reports on average. Thus, the
sample is based on enforcement reports to 2009. The impact of
auditors on the incidence of accounting fraud is the key question of the

study. I definitely think that the relationship between auditors and

companies is very tricky and subtle because the auditors have to
insight the company to find if there is any mistake and the potential
fraud. At the end, it is mentioned that the auditors should be aware of
the role of the government plays in the marketing. What is more,
according to the findings, it suggests the government put more effort
in monitoring to increase audit quality in the present market. This
study shows the existing and possible problems. The government can
use the information before issuing or reversing the law and policies.
Last but not least, I assume that it does not seem to be proper to apply
in other countries because of Chinas policies and the unique market.
This material is suitable to people who would like to invest in China.
Finally, the Creating a Research Space (CARS) Model was
developed by John Swales. It is to analyze journal articles and to
display with the organizational pattern. According to CARS model,
there are three moves in the introduction of this article. Generally
talking about Chinas economy and its industries is move 1. Thanks to
its circumstance, the author pointed out what the cause was. In move
2, even though this issue has been noticed, there is a gap in previous
studies. It is hard to know if auditors are able to provide high quality
audit services. This is unmeasurable. There are more fraud incidents
happening and veiled. However, the fraud number of the official
reports only depends on whether the court sanctions its fraud. Move 3

of this introduction is consisted of the outline purposes, the driving

question and its value of the present study. By following CARS model, it
is handy that the readers can understand the basic purposes and
concepts that the author tries to say simply.
Analyzing article is good for people to train and practice thinking
critically. This is an accounting academic research paper. By
understanding the insight of article, I found that I know more about
writing an academic paper.