The aim of this short paper is for you to get more experience reading and thinking about original research in relation to cognitive psychology. You are to read one of the articles listed below and to use it as the basis of your paper. I recommend that you have a look at the abstracts of these papers to see what they are about before you decide which one to use.
Choose one from these articles
Structure of your paper
Your paper must include the following parts:
A. Heading
At the top of your paper, include the authors’ names and the title of the article you are writing about. Also include your first and last names.
B. Summary
For this part, you will demonstrate your understanding of the article and your ability to clearly communicate the science to others. Summarize the paper in no more than 2 pages (double-spaced, about 500 words, without playing games with the margins!) You will lose points if your summary is too long. Part of the challenge you will have is to learn how to convey the main points without getting lost in the details. Your summary should be written in such a way that it could be understood by someone who has not read the article (imagine that you are explaining it to an intelligent friend, a family member, a reporter, etc.)
Your summary should contain 4 paragraphs, using the following structure (do not use these as headings, but organize your paper this way):
- i. Background paragraph
- What is the main research question they are asking, and why are they asking it?
- What were the main variables they examined?
- What are the predictions and the rationale for these predictions?
- ii. Methods paragraph
- What are the relevant details (if any) of the participants?
- What materials did they use?
- What was the basic procedure?
- iii. Results paragraph
- What were the main findings? Describe these in plain English.
- Was their prediction supported?
- iv. Discussion paragraph
- How do the results relate to previous research?
- If the article mentioned any limitations of the study, what are they? Are there other imitations that the article did not mention?
- What are the implications of the findings?
If the article describes multiple studies, you should choose just one to summarize. Because the summary will be all about one article, you do not need to constantly provide citations. If you need to refer to the authors, simply use their last names (e.g. “Kassin, and Kiechel predicted that …”)
The paper must be written entirely in your own words. Do not use quotations in place of describing things yourself. Do not work on this assignment with anyone else. Any text that is copied from anywhere could result in academic dishonesty procedures. It can be challenging to find a way to describe complex scientific material in your own words. My recommendation is that you put the article aside and try to write your summary without looking at it (except to confirm any details you include). Otherwise your mind tends to get “stuck” on the way the authors describe things.
C. Reflection
For this part, you will express your thoughts about the study you summarized. Your reflection should be 1–2 pages. This part of the paper is a little less structured than the summary. What you write will depend on which article you chose as well as your own background and experiences. All writing must still be your own (an occasional quotation might be acceptable, but check with me first if you feel this is necessary).
You might discuss about any of the following in this section:
- What did you learn that you didn’t know before? Will it change anything about how you approach the world?
- Did the article relate to something you’ve seen in the news, in a movie, or a personal experience?
- Is there a major question in your mind that is still unanswered? How could researchers go about answering that question?
- Can you see any connections between this article’s findings and other areas of psychology (or other academic areas you are knowledgable in)?
- Was there something important that you wish the article had considered?
- How could you apply these findings in the real world?
- Any other thoughts you’d like to include after reading the article.