Background:

Writing up research findings is a key skill within psychology. There are existing conventions on how to write up research findings, and one of these is writing an abstract. Writing abstracts requires you to communicate the main points of a paper concisely. In this exercise, we are using the task of writing abstracts as a way to learn how to read and summarise research papers, which will be very helpful to you in the later Written Assessment 4 - your Literature Review.

Your task:

In this assessment, you are given a research paper. The paper has had the abstract removed. You are to write an abstract for this paper.

The abstract should be:

200 words (this word count reflects the word count used by most academic journals for published research)

A concise summary of the major aspects of the paper: the issue, the question/s, the method, the findings, and the implications.

An accurate summary of the major aspects of the paper: the issue, the question/s, the method, the findings, and the implications.

The assessment will attract points according to the schedule below. Total points for the assessment add to 100, and the grade will be multiplied by the 10% unit-marks available for this assessment.

A concise summary of the main points of the article

An accurate summary of the main points of the article

Total = 100 pts max

Taking accurate, relevant and organised notes while reading research papers is a key skill in any discipline, including psychology. It is also an important part of undertaking a literature review (your Written Assessment 4). Your notes of the research articles you read are the foundation for writing up a literature review.

Task

In this task, you are provided with two research papers (one qualitative and one quantitative)

Using these two papers, fill in the Research Articles Notes Table:

Each Article will accrue points according to the following schedule. A total of 50 points are possible for notes on each of the 2 articles to be summarised. The point-score total will be multiplied by 10% to form part of your final grade in the unit.

Background

Continuing with our theme of practising key skills for our larger assessment piece, the Literature Review, in this assessment we are learning skills of critical evaluation. Critical evaluation is a phrase you will see throughout your time at university and throughout the health sector. It is a key skill not only for undertaking Literature Reviews, but any time we need to make a decision based on the current body of evidence. For example, should we use therapy intervention x or y - your answer will depend on our critical evaluation of the research literature in relation to both of these.

Your Task

You are to take the two articles you were provided for Written Assessment 2 and identify:

a) examples of critical evaluation

b) the main features of these evaluations.

For each article, you are to find an example of each the following:

1. A comparison of different research findings

2. A critique of the limitations of previous research

That is a total of four (4) examples, two (2) for each paper. There is no word count for this exercise, as you will be including extracts from the research papers.

Please use the following headings in your submitted assessment, and include the following information:

Article 1

APA citation

Type the article's full citation here

Example 1 Comparing different research findings

Type in the example from the article here

Example 2 Comparing different research findings

Type in the example from the article here

Example 1 Critiquing limitations of previous research

Type in the example from the article here

Example 2 Critiquing limitations of previous research

Type in the example from the article here

The language used in these evaluations

What words and phrases does the author use in making their evaluations? For example, linking words such as 'thus', comparing words such as 'however', or critical words such as 'limited'.

What is the target of the evaluation

What is the author critiquing? Are they critiquing methodology (e.g. sample size, measures used, population)? Are they critiquing the research's philosophical approach (e.g. how they conceptualised the problem as individual rather than social; how they defined a key concept like sexism or confrontation)?

Each example of Critical Evaluation will attract points according to the schedule below. For the two examples, the total points accrued will be multiplied by 10% to form part of your total grade for the unit.

A Literature Review is utilised by psychologists to make judgements and decisions about clinical treatments and social interventions. It is a way to evaluate the research findings on a particular issue, and come to a conclusion about the issue based on these findings. All the skills which you have practised in the previous three assessments - writing an abstract, taking notes on research findings, and critical evaluations - will help you in this assessment.

Your task

You will find potential literature review topics on the website for the unit. You will develop a coherent framework for the reader to understand the substance of past findings, and give direction for future research. Your review should: 1) have comprehensive citations to literature, accessible by you as a CQUni student, that are within the scope of the review, 2) exclude literature that is not in the scope of the review, or is similarly only of tangential relevance to the review, 3) create a coherent framework for understanding the substance of past findings, rather than a simple recitation of the relevant literature, 4) identify research "gaps" and future directions for the topic area of the review.

The word count (excluding the abstract and the reference list) is 2,500 words.The Literature Review needs to include:

• An abstract (of 200 words)

• An introduction

• A review of the research covering the points outlined above

• A conclusion

• An APA formatted reference list

• You should have a minimum of 10 academic (i.e. primary, peer-reviewed research papers or scholarly books/book chapters) as your references; although you may need more to satisfy point 1 above.

The assessment will accrue points according to the following schedule. Total points will be multiplied by the percentage credit for this assessment in calculating the unit grade.