Research Article Summary & Critique Guidelines

Instructions: Read the assigned article, then write a summary and critique paper. Use this rubric as an organizational guide and address all the items listed in this rubric.

Length Requirement (1 point): Your summary/critique should be 2 (full) pages minimum but no more than 4 pages. If your paper is 5+ pages, one point will be deducted for each page over 4 pages, this is to encourage concise writing.

Writing Style (1 point): Your summary/critique should be well-written. Be sure to edit your paper prior to submitting for grammar, spelling, and general writing structure.

Section 1: Summarize each section of the article (5 points)

1. Create the heading “Summary”as a level-2 APA style heading.
2. Address all points in the Background (the Introduction) section of the rubric (2-3 paragraphs total…broken down as follows)
   1. In 1-2 sentences, summarize the background research that lead to the current investigation.  In other words, explain what brought about this current research. Summarize what is known/not known from the research literature described in the introduction to this article.
   2. Explain the purpose of this research. In other words, what do the researchers want to understand, and why do they say that this research is important? What is their research question?

• What is the hypothesis/research question of this study? In other words, what questions do the researchers expect to address? Identify this in your own words.

1. What justification do the authors provide that gives support to their hypothesis? In other words, why do the authors make such a prediction?

1. Address all points in the Methods section of the rubric (1-2 paragraphs)
   1. Describe the participants in the study, what groups were used and how were the groups created.
   2. Indicate what type of research method was used (Experimental? Correlational? Descriptive?) and you know.

• Describe each of the variables of interest, and how they were measured (i.e., questionnaire) or manipulated.

1. For each variable- was it used as independent or dependent variable in this study, and how do you know?

1. Address all points in the Results section of the rubric (1-2 paragraphs)
   1. What were the results? Do not cite statistics or numbers; summarize (describe in words) the findings.
   2. Indicate whether or not the results support the hypothesis.

• Describe the overall conclusions of this study. What conclusions do the authors make? (2-3 sentences).

Section 2: Provide a detailed critique of the article (5 Points) Address all points in the Critical Review section of the rubric:

1. Create the heading “Critical Review”as a level-2 APA style heading.
2. Describe the significance of the results of this study. To do this, please specifically address why these results are important. What do the results contribute to our understanding of people’s thoughts and behaviors in real-world situations? Do not use personal experience or anecdotes; instead discuss the significance as it applies to people and psychology in general. (1-2 paragraphs)
3. Please describe, in paragraph form, a thoughtful critique of the article. Use the following questions as a guide. Do not tell your personal experience; instead, use the steps involved in critical thinking to assess the strength of the method the authors chose to test their hypothesis. Indicate whether the authors’ conclusions are logical in light of their findings. (1-2 paragraphs). Use the questions below to consider in your critique.
   1. Were there any other variables, other than the ones they studied, that might have affected the results of this study and hence, cause us to question their findings?
   2. How realistically does this article’s methods reflect how people behave in real life? How could the study have been designed differently to better address their research question?
   3. Is there anything that the authors could have done to make their findings easier to understand (i.e., would more graphs or pictures help)?
   4. What other investigations should be done in the future to better understand the relationship between the variables that the authors were studying?

Section 3: Reference. (1 point)

1. Create the heading “Reference”as a level-1 APA style heading.
2. List the citation for the article in correct APA style.

 

Discussion (2 points): For each article, there will be a time in class for discussion related to the article. Each student will be responsible for “leading out” in the discussion for one article. All students should be prepared to participate in the discussion. Each member of the group will rate the other members regarding their level of participation in the discussion.