PSY 221 article critique project:

This assignment is your first step in the process of completing your Article Critique Final Paper .  This assignment provides you with an opportunity to have your article choice reviewed by your instructor and provides the opportunity for your instructor to give you feedback to help you to be successful on your final paper.

Your grade for this project is based on two criteria:

• Your ability to correctly apply current APA guidelines for formatting a paper.
• Your ability to obtain a scholarly resource and correctly format the reference.

Select a journal article that interests you. The article must be related to the topic of child development. The article you select must conform to the following criteria:

1)      The article must be recent (published within the past 10 years)

2)      The article must be a scholarly article (peer-reviewed) that is obtained through the Jerry Falwell Library.

3)      The article must be an original study and not a literature review

4)      If you are unsure if the article is an original study review these guidelines and/or consult your instructor:

a.       The article must be substantial.

b.      The article must be written by the researchers who actually did the study.

c.       The researchers must describe their hypothesis or research question and discuss the purpose of the study.

d.      The study’s methods and results are reported.

e.       The researcher interprets the results and discusses the possible implications of the research.

This assignment must include an APA-formatted title page and APA-formatted reference page listing the article that you plan to critique.

In addition, you will include references for 3 supplementary articles that you will use to support your evaluation when writing your final article critique.

Your grade for this project is based on two criteria:

• Your ability to correctly apply current APA guidelines for formatting a paper.
• Your ability to obtain 3 additional scholarly references and correctly format all 4 of the references that you will use in your final paper.

1)      Choose 3 scholarly journal articles that relate to the article that you chose to critique. These 3 articles will be used to support your evaluation when you write your Article Critique Final Paper. The articles that you select must conform to the following criteria:

a.       The articles must be recent (published within the past 10 years)

b.      The articles must be a scholarly article (peer-reviewed) that is obtained through the Jerry Falwell Library.

c.       The articles must relate to the topic of the article that you chose to review.

3)      Use proper current APA-formatting

The proposal must be a 1–2-page APA-formatted paper (not including the title page and reference page) and include the following components:

·         Title page in proper current APA-format

·         Body of the paper including the following:

o   Title for the article critique

o   A summary of the article in your own words using just 1–2 sentences

o   A brief summary of the article’s hypothesis/research questions

o   A tentative thesis statement: What argument do you plan to make about the strengths and the weaknesses of this article?

o   The strengths and weaknesses of the article including the following:

§  A statement regarding at least 3 strengths and weaknesses of the article.

§  List each main point that you plan to make about the article.

§  What evidence will you use from your 3 additional articles to support each of your assessments about the article’s strengths/weaknesses?

o   A brief summary of your opinion of the usefulness of this article

o   A brief summary of how you feel this article relates to the theories/material that you are learning in this class

o   A list of any questions that you have regarding the critique assignment

·         Reference list in proper current APA formatting

As you draft the body of your proposal, use the following headings:

·         Article Summary

·         Hypothesis/Research Questions

·         Thesis Statement

·         Strengths and Weaknesses

·         Usefulness of Article

·         How Article Relates to Course Material

·         Questions/Concerns

Be sure to review the Grading Rubric for this assignment.

This assignment must include an APA-formatted title page and APA-formatted reference page with all of the articles for your final paper.