Psychology Journal Article Report

Overview: The overall goal of the research component of the course is for the student to read an article in a scholarly psychology journal, academically reliable periodical, or a solid item from the internet, and to write a report on the article. (A list of acceptable journals, periodicals, or internet sources will be provided together with the possible locations where the student can access these sources, for example various libraries in the area) Requirements for the report: Minimum two (2) FULL single space word processed/typed pages (with 1inch margins all around, using Arial 12 font) and based on the article read. Course title and student's name must be indicated on the upper righthand corner of each page. Title of the article must be noted on the first page. Information in the order listed below must be provided, written in paragraph form just like a regular paper. The BACKGROUND information which was available to the authors that prompted them to do the study must be summarized. (WHY the study was done.). The source of the information must be referenced through intext citations, using the name and date system used by the American Psychological Association (APA). quotes, must include the page number from which the quote was taken; paraphrasing, does not need to include page number information. (For instance, if you obtained information from the Rosenhan article referenced below, you would document it by putting author's names and date of publication (and for direct quotes, the page number) in parenthesis. Examples: "If sanity and insanity exist, how shall we know them?" (Rosenhan, 1973, p. 250) OR Rosenhan demonstrated it was difficult for trained staff to differentiate healthy pseudo-patients from true patients (1973). If you wish to reference a paper that you did not read yourself, but which is referred to in the paper you read, the proper form is as follows: (Szasz, 1970; cited in Rosenhan, 1973). The HYPOTHESIS of the study must be stated. (A hypothesis makes a specific PREDICTION: NOT a statement of purpose.) The METHODS used in the study must be described. In all cases, identify the subjects used. Identify the method used with one of the general methods Chapter 2 of the textbook. (Experimental Research)If so, identify the independent and dependent variables and the control and experimental groups. Naturalistic or laboratory observation? Case studies? Surveys? Psychological tests?). Any necessary information about the method that will show what was done must be stated. Statistical methods should not be included. The most important RESULTS of the study have to be described. (What information did they obtain? Not the conclusions of the study.) The CONCLUSION of the study has to be described. (Did it SUPPORT or REFUTE the original hypothesis? What are the implications of the research?) Complete Reference Information, in APA format, is required . A sample is included below. (Please note that there should be at least one intext citation for each article listed in your reference section AND there should be an exact match between articles listed in your reference section and articles cited in the text of your report. Articles not cited in the text of your report should not be included the reference section.).