Assignment Content
Choosing & Reading an Article
Browse through current issues (since 2003) of a professional psychological journal: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Perceptual and Motor Skills, Child Development, Developmental Psychology, etc. There are hundreds to choose from! Please use the Gateway Online Hybrid Library in your search.
Choose an original research article (it must include clearly-labeled Method and Results sections to count as a research article).
Save the entire article on your computer. You will need to email the article to me for approval.
Read the article carefully. Professional writing takes awhile to read because it is dense and assumes you know something about the topic.
Don’t worry if you don’t understand everything (especially in the Results section) – just try to get the main ideas. Here are some guidelines:
Abstract: The paragraph right under the title and authors is called an Abstract – it summarizes the whole article.
Introduction: The next section is the Introduction (though it doesn’t always have a label) where the researchers review theories and other research related to their topic. They try to make a case for why their research should be done – perhaps it tries to show which theory is correct, or it is exploring an area no one has researched before. This section usually ends with a specific prediction or hypothesis.
Method: This section is where the researchers describe who was in their study (participants), the stuff used in the study (surveys, videos, etc.), and what happened to the research participants (procedures). This helps the reader understand all the important details of how the research was conducted.
Results: In this section the researchers use data to show whether their hypothesis was supported. Lots of different statistical tests are used to analyze the data – don’t worry if you don’t understand what all the tests mean.
Discussion: Here, the researchers summarize the research results in English (not statistics), connect it back to the theories and previous research they included in the Introduction, and consider how their research was important or how it was limited or could be done differently next time.
References: These are the sources actually relied upon in the paper, written in APA documentation style (not MLA or Chicago style).
Writing your Paper
3 page minimum, typed, double-spaced, 1″ margins, 12-point Times New Roman font. Please address the following bullets:
What do you know about the authors of this article? Why do you think so little information is given about the researcher(s)?
In your own words, summarize the study’s predictions and why the authors think it’s important to study this topic (for example, no one else has tested this idea, or it would be good for businesses to know this information, etc.)
Describe the typical person who was in the study (e.g., a newly married man, a female college student) and then describe the procedures of the study from beginning to end as though you were a participant in one of the conditions. What would you read or hear or do from the time you began the study until the time you were done?
Discuss which 2-3 topics from class or chapters in your text best relate to the research topic and why you think so. What topics from class or chapters in your text best relate to the research in your article? Please include page numbers to reference the text. Please include at least 3 connections between your article and the textbook. What questions or comments do you have about the research or the article?
Discuss your reactions to or questions about this research or the article itself.
Your paper will be graded based on the rubric available in this assignment. NOTE this is a minimum 3-page paper. Turning in a paper less than three pages will result in a zero.
