Writing a paper based on a journal articlePick a topic/article that is of interest to youIT MUST be an empirical article that discusses a developmental issue in developmental psychological science!Read good quality literature on that topicWrite notes (in your own words) on the article(s), especially noting the points that you want to addressDecide on 1-3 subtopics or issues to addresswhat did you learn! What perspective do you have and what perspective do the authors have? How do you view the authors theoretical perspective as benefiting what you learned versus how did it limit how they viewed the topic?Organize your notes and the points that you have made to address those issuesWrite an outline-referring to the ideas that you want to discussPositive and thoughtful discussion of the articles benefits and weaknesses. How would you do this study if you had the chancebe realistic!Write a draft of the content of that paper making sure that each paragraph has a substantive point. Use some examples.Think about the issues outside the boxTalk to friends, other students, loved ones about your thoughts/arguments. Put in your thoughts into the content and into the discussion.Leave the paper alone for a day.Review it again. Check for language (3rd person), ideas, accuracy, etc. Are you saying what you intended to say? Does the paper make the points you want to make? Is the paper leading somewhere and have you used your article(s) to discuss the topic? Rewrite certain sections, if needed.Write the introduction/summary and then review your conclusions.
DO NOT——–Use articles that are from newspapers, magazines, websites, agencies, reviews!Copy or plagiarize from the articlechanging 1 word in an entire sentence IS plagiarizingWrite this paper the night before it is dueUse unprofessional languageTry to use up space by adding in things that are not needed. You should be making a point in each paragraph.Put the name of the journal article in the paperinstead use a reference page and use the authors last names to refer to the articleGive me covers or designs on the paperI look for professional styleUse APA if you have any questions or come to me and ask if you have questions about style.
Journal Article Critique Assignment
This assignment is worth 10-20 total pointsapproximately 5-10 points for each of the 3 sections. The last section involves the most thought and will be given higher weighting if done well. This last section is the critique part.
1. Use of appropriate article?0-5 points.
Did the student review/critique an appropriate journal article? (Note: Students can use 1 or 2 articles but if you use 2 articles to compare/contrast, the articles must be related (i.e., on the same topic))?
Was this an empirical study? Was this a developmental study?
NOTE: Articles in the the following journals are typically given higher grades: Child Development, Developmental Psychology, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology and Developmental Science. However, the article must be an empirical article (a study that is conducted so the article MUST have a Method and Results section to qualify).
2. What are the psychological or environmental factor(s) and the developmental outcome(s), and what is their purported relationship? How did the researchers conduct the study that suggested a relationship between these factor and this developmental outcome? 5-10 points. (Questions listed below are examples of what you can write about as you are telling about the study and about the findings of the article. YOU DO NOT have to answer each question in your paper).
Was the theoretical perspective (or developmental themes) of the author(s) discussed in relation to the articles goals and findings?
Describe the importance of the developmental outcome
Describe the prevalence of the psychological or environmental factor(s). How likely are these factors to stay stable or to change across development?
What is the design that is used to study these factors across development and is it measuring consistent concepts across development.
What link is suggested between the these factor and developmental outcome?
Who were the participants in the study and what measures were taken from the participants to understand the developmental concept?
How do the measures they use relate to the goals and the findings? Are the measures used consistent across developmental periods that are studied? Why or why not?
Describe the results of the study (DO NOT quote hereuse your own words to describe the findings).
Bullet point 6 should be general, not specific. For example, you can say there were 56 adolescents who participated in the study 3 times across their high school years. I do not need to know their exact ages or that they were from Italy or whether they are from an urban area unless it is important to the outcomes the article obtained. In addition, I don’t need to know the exact tests they used but rather what the tests were intending to measure. The entire section should be your understanding and interpretation of the method and findings and their meaning for understanding development, (in YOUR words, not the words of the authors directly).
3. What is an alternative explanation for the results of the study? 5-10 points
Why might there have been a relationship between measures of exposure to the environmental (or psychological) factor and indicators of a particular developmental outcome, (even though there may not, in fact, be a causal relationship between these two variables)?
Is there any evidence for an alternative explanation of the findings?
What important information do you now know in developmental science and how does this contribute to your thought process related to future developmental research?
What problems could arise if people unquestioningly accept the proposed relationship and dont consider your alternative explanation as a possibility?
What future work and thoughts could contribute to improving developmental science outcomes?
This is YOUR thoughts and ideas about the study and how it relates to your understanding of development. This section is worth the most. YOUR thoughts on how this article contributed and what you still want to know about this topic in developmental science so that science can move forward on this topic.
