ONLY USE THE ARTICLE GIVEN AS A SOURCE
This article
critique paper will include
1. Summary of the Article: 1 ½ page minimum
An article critique should briefly summarize, in your own
words, the article research question and how it was addressed in the article. Below
are some things to include in your summary.
· The summary itself
will include the following:
1.
Type of study (Was it experimental
or correlational? How do you know?)
2.
Variables (What were the
independent and dependent variables? How did they manipulate the IV? How did
they operationally define the DV? Be specific with these. Define the terms
independent and dependent variable and make sure to identify how they are
operationally defined in the article)
3.
Method (What
did the participants do in the study? How was it set up? Was there a random
sample of participants? Was there random assignment to groups?). How was data
collected (online, in person, in a laboratory?).
4.
Summary
of findings (What were their findings?)
2. Critique of the study: 1 ½ pages
minimum
· This portion of the article critique assignment focuses on
your own thoughts about the content of the article (i.e. your own ideas in your
own words). For this section, please use the word “Critique” below the last
sentence in your summary, and have the word “Critique” flush left.
· This section is a bit harder, but there are a number of ways
to demonstrate critical thinking in your writing. Address at least
four of the following elements. You can address more than four, but four
is the minimum.
· 1). In your opinion,
are there any confounding variables in the study (these could be extraneous
variables or nuisance variables)? If so, explain what the confound is and
specifically how it is impacting the results of the study. A sufficient
explanation of this will include at least one paragraph of writing.
· 2). Is the sample
used in the study an appropriate sample? Is the sample representative of the
population? Could the study be replicated if it were done again? Why or why
not?
· 3). Did they measure
the dependent variable in a way that is valid? Be sure to explain what validity
is, and why you believe the dependent variable was or was not measured in a way
that was valid.
· 4). Did the study
authors correctly interpret their findings, or are there any alternative
interpretations you can think of?
· 5). Did
the authors of the study employ appropriate ethical safeguards?
· 6).
Briefly describe a follow-up study you might design that builds on the findings
of the study you read how the research presented in the
article relates to research, articles or material covered in other sections of
the course
· 7).
Describe whether you feel the results presented in the article are weaker or
stronger than the authors claim (and why); or discuss alternative
interpretations of the results (i.e. something not mentioned by the authors)
and/or what research might provide a test between the proposed and alternate
interpretations
· 8).
Mention additional implications of the findings not mentioned in the article
(either theoretical or practical/applied)
· 9).
Identify specific problems in the theory, discussion or empirical research
presented in the article and how these problems could be corrected. If the
problems you discuss are methodological in nature, then they must be
issues that are substantial enough to affect the interpretations of the
findings or arguments presented in the article. Furthermore, for methodological
problems, you must justify not only why something is problematic but
also how it could be resolved and why your proposed solution would be
preferable.
· 10).
Describe how/why the method used in the article is either better or worse for
addressing a particular issue than other methods
3.
Brief summary of the article: One or Two paragraphs-6 points
·
Write the words “Brief Summary”, and then begin the brief
summary below this
·
In ONE or TWO paragraphs maximum, summarize the article
again, but this time I want it to be very short. In other words, take all of
the information that you talked about in the summary portion of this assignment
and write it again, but this time in only a few sentences.
·
The reason for this section is that I want to make sure you can
understand the whole study but that you can also write about it in a shorter
paragraph that still emphasizes the main points of the article. Pretend that
you are writing your own literature review for a research study, and you need
to get the gist of an article that you read that helps support your own
research across to your reader. Make sure to cite the original study (the
article you are critiquing).
4.
Grammar and Writing Quality-
· Few psychology courses are as writing intensive as Research
Methods. so make sure to proofread the paper carefully.
· Avoid run-on sentences, sentence fragments, spelling errors,
and grammar errors. Writing quality will become more important in future
papers, but this is where you should start to hone your writing skills.
· If your
paper lacks originality and contains too much overlap with the paper you are
summarizing (i.e. you do not paraphrase appropriately or cite your sources
properly), you will lose some or all of the points from writing quality,
depending on the extent of the overlap with the paper. For example, if
sentences contain only one or two words changed from a sentence in the original
paper, you will lose points from writing quality.
Please note that you do not need to refer to any other
sources other than the article on which you have chosen to write your paper.
Other guidelines
for the article critique papers
1). Pay attention to the page
length requirements= 1.5 pages to 3 pages for
the summary, 1.5 pages to 3 pages for the critique, one or two paragraphs
for the brief summary. If you are
under the minimum, we will deduct points. If you go over the maximum, we
are a little more flexible (you can go over by half page or so), but we
want you to try to keep it to the maximum page.
2). Page size is 8 1/2 X 11”
with all 4 margins set one inch on all sides. You must use 12-point Times New Roman font.
3). As a general rule, ALL
paragraphs and sentences are double spaced in APA papers.
4). When summarizing the
article in your own words, you need not continually cite the article
throughout the rest of your critique. Nonetheless, you should follow
proper referencing procedures, which means that:
If
you are inserting a direct quote from any source, it must be enclosed in
quotations and followed by a parenthetical reference to the source.
“Let’s say I am directly quoting this current sentence and the next. I
would then cite it with the author name, date of publication, and the
page number for the direct quote” (Winter, 2013, p . 4).
Note:
We will deduct points if you quote more than once per page, so keep
quotes to a minimum. Paraphrase instead, but make sure you still give
the original author credit for the material by citing him or using the
author’s name (“In this article, Smith noted that …” or “In this
article, the authors noted that…”)
If
you choose to reference any source other than your chosen article, it
must be listed in a reference list.
5). Proofread everything you
write. I actually recommend reading some sentences aloud to see if
they flow well, or getting family or friends to read your work. Writing
quality will become more important in future papers, so you should start
working on that now!