Each student is required to write an article critique paper based on one of the research articles present on Canvas only those articles listed on Canvas can be critiqued – if you critique a different article, it will not be graded). If you are unclear about any of this information, please ask.
What is an article critique paper?
An article critique is a written communication that conveys your understanding of a research article and how it relates to the conceptual issues of interest to this course.
This article critique paper will include 5 things:
1. Title page: 1 page- 4 points
• Use APA style to present the appropriate information:
o A Running head must be included and formatted APA style
▪ The running head is a short title of your creation (no more than 50 characters) that is in ALL CAPS. This running head is left-justified (flush left on the page). Look at the first page of these instructions, and you will see how to set up your running head.
▪ There must be a page number on the title page that is right justified. It is in the header on the title page and all subsequent pages.
o Your paper title appears on the title page. This is usually 12 words or less, and the first letter of each word is capitalized. It should be descriptive of the paper (For this paper, you should use the title of the article you are critiquing. The paper title can be the same title as in the Running head or it can differ – your choice). The title should be bolded.
o Your name will appear on the title page, include 2 double spaced lines between the title and your name (see the title page here). Your name and institutional affiliation (the name of your university) should not be bold.
o Your institution will appear on the title page as well
o For all papers, make sure to double-space EVERYTHING and use Times New Roman font. This includes everything from the title page through the references.
o This is standard APA format. ALL of your future papers will include a similar title page
2. Summary of the Article: 1 ½ page minimum, 3 pages maximum – 14 points
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?)
3. Critique of the study: 1 ½ pages minimum – 3 pages maximum – 16 points
• 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
4. 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).
5. References – 1 page-4 points
• Provide the reference for this article in proper APA format (see the book Chapter 14 for appropriate referencing guidelines or the Chapter 14 powerpoint).
• If you cited other sources during either your critique or summary, reference them as well (though you do not need to cite other sources in this assignment – this is merely optional IF you happen to bring in other sources). Formatting counts here, so make sure to italicize where appropriate and watch which words you are capitalizing!
6. Grammar and Writing Quality-6 points
• Few psychology courses are as writing intensive as Research Methods (especially Research Methods Two next semester!). As such, I want to make sure that you develop writing skills early. This is something that needs special attention, so make sure to proofread your papers 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.
• We will give you feedback on your papers, but I recommend seeking some help from the FIU writing center to make sure your paper is clear, precise, and covers all needed material. I also recommend asking a few of your group members to read over your paper and make suggestions. You can do the same for them!
• 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.
