1-2 page single spaced essay

Article Review (10 points)

For this assignment, you will choose one of four articles to read and respond to. Print out your chosen article or download it to some platform that will allow you to electronically highlight and add comments, personally, I use Mendeley. You will very likely have to read it several times to fully understand it. If needed, use online resources to look up terms that you are uncertain about.

Directions

An important skill for those who want to continue in academia or explore research is the ability to understand and translate scientific writing. For this assignment you will assume the role of a reporter writing about a study in the field of child development. The goal of this assignment is for you write an essay (1-2 pages) that explains an empirical research article (see options below) to a general readership; currently the average reading level in the US is 7-8th grade, therefore your writing should read something like a magazine or newspaper article or Scholastic Science Reader from middle school.

In your opening paragraphs try to capture your reader's interest without divulging the results of the study. Draw your reader in and get them interested in the study by giving them the background on the problem presented in the study and the potential solution that is being explored. You can get all of this information from the articles listed below, but you need to come up with the "hook," some way of getting them interested in reading more.

Once you have your reader's interest, in the middle paragraphs of your essay you can focus on how the study was conducted (i.e., how many people where in the study, how were participants were selected, where they were from, what participants did in the study, and did any problems arise during the study, etc.) Again, you want to write about these things without divulging the findings of the study, yet.

Then, present the findings from the study and discuss the study's implications and help your reader understand the importance of the findings.

Finally, take one paragraph (3-5) sentences to reflect on the findings of this study and your own behavior or experiences. Was anything from the study particularly salient to you? How might you use this information in your future career or personal life? Many of you are majoring in topics other than HDFS or psychology; how might you incorporate this information or methodologies used in your own field?

NOTE: Everything you write has to be in YOUR OWN WORDS. You MAY NOT copy and paste a single line of text from the article into your essay.

Content Requirements

I. Introduction (2 points)

Your introduction (1-2 paragraphs) should focus on information contained in the introduction of the article. You are writing as a science writer, an educational reporter, whose job it is to take complex studies and translate them into language that can be digested by a general readership. Your exact approach to writing this essay is up to you, however you must be sure to include the information below in the opening paragraphs of your report.

A. Give your essay a relevant and interesting title and place your name under the title.

B. What is the topic of research that these experiments are addressing?

C. Be sure to present all of the researchers’ questions and hypotheses, but don't give away the results of the study in the introduction.

II. Explaining the Study Methods (2 points)

The middle paragraphs (1-2) of your article should focus on the methods from the article. You must be sure to include the information below in this part of the paper:

A. Explain how the researchers tested their ideas, including:

a. Who was in the study, and how were they involved?

b. What information did participants report themselves?

c. What was being measured?

III. Discuss the results: (4 points)

In your final paragraphs (2-3) describe the results of the study, including the following information in this part of the paper:

A. What did the researchers learn?

B. How did the results relate to the researcher's hypotheses? Did they find what they expected? Or something unexpected? If the hypothesis was not explicitly stated, what do you think they expected to find?

C. What were the limitations of the study? If not explicitly stated, think critically about what may not have worked or what you would do differently as a researcher.

D. What are the implications for future study? What do the authors recommend for research moving forward?

V) Personal reflection (1 point)

A. Was anything from the study particularly salient to you? How might you use this information in your future career or personal life?

B. Many of you are majoring in topics other than HDFS or psychology; how might you incorporate this information or methodologies used in your own field?

VI) Proofread your writing and place a reference for the article in APA Style at the end of your essay, including the digital object identifier (doi). (1 point)

A. Although you are writing for a general readership, your writing should still be formal. Do not use contractions or slang in your writing. Compose your paper single-spaced in a Word document using a 12-point font.

B. References

You do not need to include in text citations for this article, nor should you need to access or include resources other than your selected article. You will need to include an APA style reference of your selected article on a separate page, under the heading “References”. You can learn more about APA formatting here: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html

Articles

You may choose one of four articles on the following topics to read and respond to. You will find these articles in Canvas (Files). I suggest that you read the abstract of all four articles to determine which one interests you the most.

1. Social and Emotional Development

a. The Role of the Family Context in the Development of Emotion Regulation (Morris et al., 2007)

2. Language & Cognitive Development

a. Bilingual experience and executive functioning in young children (Carlson & Meltzoff, 2008)

b. Social cognitive development during adolescence (Choudhury et al., 2006)

3. Parenting and Child Outcomes

a. Intensive Parenting: Does it Have the Desired Impact on Child Outcomes? (Schiffrin et al., 2015)