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State the research question and explain why it’s interesting: In other words the Problem statement: What is the main issue, question, or problem that the authors seek to investigate? Include the species under investigation.
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State the hypothesis/hypotheses tested.
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Briefly describe the methods and the variables (design, participants, materials, procedures, what was manipulated {independent variable(s)], what was measured [dependent variable(s)], and how the data were measured.
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Describe the results. What differences were significant? This does NOT mean to write the statistical results. I do NOT want to see statistics in your summary, but rather a description of the statistical results in your own words.
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Explain the key implications of the results. Avoid overstating the importance of the findings . Your own personal evaluation/critique of the study. Do you feel the conclusions that the authors made were appropriate given the design of the study, the original question, Why or why not?
General outline:
Introduction:
a) Problem statement: What is the main issue, question, or problem that the authors seek to investigate? Include the species under investigation.
b)Lit Review: How is the problem contextualized in the literature? Summarize the previous research reviewed in the paper… what has already been done, what we learned, what questions remain?
c) Theoretical framework/rationale: What is the rationale behind this research and/or the authors’ hypotheses? What overarching theoretical account are they trying to support or disprove (it will likely be one we’ve covered in the text).
d)Research variables: IV(s) and levels and DV(s) – This may be less clear for studies that are observational, use comparative designs, etc. In this case, you will need to describe the approach and identify the variables.
e) Hypotheses: What is the author’s hypothesis(es) and predictions?
Method:
a) Sampling: How many subjects (species) were there and who were they? How were subjects chosen?
b)Research design: What research design was used (within subjects/repeated measures, between subjects, observational, comparative)?
c) Data collection methods: How were the data collected? Describe the general method/procedure.
Results:
a) Interpretation of results: What did the results indicate? What conclusions were drawn? Don’t include any specific numbers/statistics here. Instead, describe the effects that were observed and the findings. Were hypotheses supported?
Discussion:
b)Limitations and Future Directions: What did the authors mention as some limitations and/or future directions for their study? What are the next steps in this line of work?