You can receive extra credit in this course for writing one (or more!) double-spaced papers in which you summarize and provide a critical evaluation of an approved empirical journal article. Please allow me to approve articles you’ve selected before you begin to write. Guidelines for this assignment follow.

Summary. You should begin this section with a complete reference to the article you are critiquing. Be sure that the reference is in APA style. Next, you should provide a brief synopsis of the article. In your synopsis, be sure to answer the following questions: What is the central question (or questions) that the researchers are trying to address? Who are the participants? What methods were used? What were the major research findings?

Critical Evaluation. You should begin this section by discussing the limitations of the research. For example: Is the sample appropriately diverse? Were appropriate "controls" included? Are the authors’ conclusions supported by the research findings? Are alternative interpretations possible? In discussing the limitations of the study, do not rely, simply, on the limitations discussed by the authors. Your grade will depend, in part, on evidence that you are thinking critically and independently. In this section, you can also talk about whether the article confirms or contradicts the findings presented in your text or in class, what the findings mean for you personally or for society, and how the study might be improved.

You can get ideas about journal articles that you might like to read from the references section of your textbook. You might also do a search of PsycInfo (see me for more information) to find articles that may not be included in your text. To ensure that you are reading "quality" journal articles, please limit your selections to the following journals. Please also limit your selections to articles that were published after 1990.