There are two forms of reading/thinking that are necessary for a strong article analysis:
ANALYSIS= Presentation of main issue/s; Identification of approach of author; Brief summary of content.
Nota bene: the majority of your essay should not be a recapitulation of the scholarly publication. Providing a brief summary will help foreground your arguments, but the objective is not to recount the essay verbatim.
INTERPRETATION= Contribution, impact on theories of period; How does the essay affect general ideas or concepts about a work of art; How does it affect your thinking about the object(s) in question.
a. Identify the scholar’s main thesis argument
b. Locate the type(s) of evidence used to support their topic
3. Reflect and analyze the essay in its entirety
a. Consider if this essay is persuasive? Does it convince you as the reader of their main argument?
b. If not, what is lacking in their argument?
c. Does the essay help you understand this artwork better?
d. If yes, how so? What did the author introduce that was unique? If not, where did the article fall short?
It is important to be critical (not criticizing) of your article. Do not provide a simple summary of the article. A critique aims to evaluate the work; a criticism will focus only on faults.