A critical review of a journal article is a comprehensive evaluation of the article content, formal structure and methodological approach. Success in this task, requires students to develop analytic and reflexive skills as prerequisites to identify the article´s key research question(s), relevant findings and main conclusions reached. Critical skills are also an important aspect of a student's academic and future professional lives, yet this has been a largely overlooked component of academic training. This paper aims to provide undergraduate students with a simple and straightforward set of guidelines that allow to develop a more complete understanding of research articles. The content, structure and common mistakes of research papers are addressed, along with the most relevant standards for review. With this structure, we hope students will be able to more thoroughly analyze and critically discuss the strengths and weaknesses of a research article.