Earn Research Units by Method 2 (Writing a Research Paper):

To earn a research unit by writing a research critique, follow the procedure below:

Examine current issues of academic psychology journals (e.g., American Psychologist, Developmental Psychology, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Experimental Psychology) in the current periodicals section of the library (Psychology section), and select an article within one of those journal issues to critique. Note that you must critique a CURRENT (i.e., this year or last year) research article.
Write a one- to two-page paper following the outline given below.
1. Reference: List the complete citation information for your article, or attach an electronic copy of the article you have read.
2. Area in Psychology: Describe the general area of psychology being investigated (e.g., memory, family processes, health psychology).
3. Research Question: Describe the general research question being investigated.
4. Methodology: Briefly describe the type of research participants (e.g., rats, college students, five-year-old children), the number of participants, and how the participants were studied (e.g., given questionnaires, observed in the field, videotaped, asked to perform some task).
5. Results: Briefly describe the results obtained from the study.
6. Critique of methodology: Critique possible study confounds (e.g., describe reasons why the obtained results could possibly be due to effects other than the hypothesized effects).
7. Discussion: Briefly discuss the importance of the study's results, and describe a future study that might be useful in the general area of psychology being studied.
Address each of the points above to receive 1 research unit. Submit your completed paper on turnitin.com (instructions for submitting papers on turnitin.com) under the Assignment called "OPTIONAL Research Critique"