Psychology-Critical Thinking / Review

Critical Thinking / Review

OPTION 2 READING ABOUT ORIGINAL RESEARCH AND WRITING A REVIEW

As an alternative to participating in experiment(s), you may read a brief article (called a “comment”) in the most widely-read psychology journal in the world, American Psychologist. Each comment is a psychological commentary on an original article that appeared in a prior issue of the journal. The comments are around one to two pages long. By reading a comment, you will get an insider’s perspective on psychological issues and research, as well as understand a little bit about the original article itself. Once you read a comment, you will write a brief review. You will receive 25 POINTS PER review/article. Thus, if you choose this option as your only research credit opportunity, you need 4 unique summaries to earn the 8 research credits. We expect that this should take you around one hour to one hour and 15 minutes total, which is equivalent in time to doing a research study (accounting for extra time involved in signing up, etc…). To get credit, you need to turn in “the review,” which is described below, to your instructor . Your instructor will review it and assign credit in the Moodle grade book.

Finding a Comment: You can get your research comments on any university computer, by following these directions:
(1) Start by copying the following link and pasting it in a NEW webpage http://www.lib.umt.edu/research (or go to UM’s library website and navigate to the research page)
(2) Scroll down and click the link, “Databases”
(3) Click the “P” tab
(4) Scroll down and click the “PsycINFO” link
(5) If you are NOT already logged into “UM Login” via Moodle, Cyberbear, etc… then you will have to enter your NetID and password in order to proceed. Once you log in, the homepage for PsycInfo will appear (see image below).
(6) In the 1st line of “boxes,” type “American Psychologist” in the first box
(7) In the next box on the right, click the arrow and select “Publication title – PUB”
(8) In the 2nd line of “boxes,” type “comments” in the first box
(9) In the second line of “boxes,” click the arrow to choose “anywhere” in the 3rd box
(10) Then, next to “Publication Date.” Click the arrow and select “Last 3 years.” Do NOT use comments older than 3 years.

Steps 5-10 should look like this when you are finished:
(11) Then, click the orange “Search” button
(12) Scroll down the page to see all of your options. At the bottom of the page, click “Next page” to see even more options.
(13) Once you choose a comment, click on the “Full-Text PDF” button that will bring up the comment. Note that the comment will appear as it does in the journal; in other words, it will not necessarily start at the top of the first page and often extends to a second page.
(14) Ensure that it is in fact a comment; thus, it should be a short written critique of some other prior article. Some other short things are obituaries, awards, book reviews, etc…, and you cannot review those. Also, you cannot use a full-length article, which is usually 8-15 pages.
(15) Be sure to SAVE your comment (the article) to your hard drive, jump drive, etc…! You WILL turn it in with your review!
(16) Read the comment, and then write your review! (See Instructions below.)
(17) Note: If you are writing on more than one comment, remember, you must use a different review. You are not allowed to turn in a summary of the same comment more than once for credit.

IMPORTANT: Instructions for the Review
(1) An adequate summary should be roughly one page (at least), double-spaced, in 12-point, Times New Roman font with one-inch margins. Your essay should be written in complete, grammatically correct sentences, and without spelling errors.
(2) At the top of the page in the right hand column, provide your name, course and section number.
(3) Summarize the main points of the comment. What was the part of the original article that the authors liked or disliked? What were the main objections or praises the authors raised about the original article?
(4) If you have time left over (that is, you have not exceeded 1 hour and 15 minutes total time from starting to look for the article to finishing your report), then add a brief discussion of your own opinion of the author’s comments. Do you think they were correct? Did what they say make sense?
(5) Importantly, at the end of the review, include the following statement: “I estimate that I worked ________ hours on this review.” THIS ESTIMATE DOES NOT NEED TO BE PERFECT, but it is required for credit.
(6) Submit your review and the comment to your professor by the deadline.
IF YOU FAIL TO FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS, YOU WILL NOT GET CREDIT!

DO NOT PLAGIARIZE!
When you are writing your summary, be careful you do not commit plagiarism. For the sake of this class, plagiarism occurs when you copy somebody else’s words (even just two words in a row) and you do not put them in quotes. If you do use quotes or summarize someone else’s words, be sure to cite your reference! It also occurs when you use ANY words from a fellow student’s assignments, which will be fairly obvious! Just don’t do it! Students found to have committed plagiarism, will be asked to redo the assignment. Depending on the severity of the plagiarism, the student can be given a failing grade for the class and face additional sanctions per the Student Conduct Code.
WHAT HAPPENS IF I DO NOT COMPLETE THE RESEARCH CREDITS?
As stated in the syllabus, if you do not complete the research credits, you will receive 10% reduction in grade than what was otherwise earned (e.g. A- to a B-).