L6A62

Tips for your Research Review & Critique

Organization of your paper by paragraphs:

1. Introduction - describe your research article's purpose, method, findings, and limitations according to the researchers.

2. Body Paragraph 1 - Identify the theories or a theory of gender development that can be applied in the article. How does this relate to the research method. Provide specific examples of how the theory is applied or could be applied. (*Remember Lesson 2)

3. Body Paragraph 2: Explore, discuss, and provide examples of the rhetorical shapings of men, women, LGBTQ persons, etc. as it relates to your research. (If it only focuses on one gender/sexual identity, focus only on the one.)

4. Body Paragraph 3: This is your critique with 3 specific examples of the different levels of meaning and whether they are verbal or non-verbally communicated.

5. Conclusion: Summarize what you have learned from this research article (related to paragraphs 2,3 and 4) and what you think is valuable for practice, consideration, or treatment in human services.

****Must use APA 7 Format and meet the 750 word minimum for full credit. Points will be deducted otherwise.****

Questions to think about for the Rhetorical Shaping of Gender:

· What does gender look like in the research and as the researchers describe their participants?

· Who is the main subject of the research, men, women, both? What are their ages, race and ethnicity, sexuality, etc? Tell me about the intersections of identity represented by the research as it relates to gender.

· How are the participants described and/or stereotyped in the research?

Examples for the different Levels of Meaning:

As you are thinking about answering this for question #3 on the Research Review and Critique Instructions, be mindful that different levels of meaning are communicated verbally and non-verbally:

1. Content Level of Meaning – this is something said or written (verbal)

1. Relationship Level of Meaning – this is something that could be said/written or completely assumed (verbal and/or non-verbal)

1. Symbolic Level of Meaning – this is something that is usually implied that can be written or said or unsaid and assumed (verbal and/or non-verbal)

As you read through your research article you will want to assess what the different levels of meaning are for the research related to gender. Here are some examples:

Content Level - You are looking for the researchers’ summary of their purpose and even who is included in their findings.

· Verbal example: The researchers verbally stated that women aged 18-25 experience higher rates of anxiety and depression related to body image than women aged 26-40 (Marks and Chen, 2018). ****This is not a true statement. I am making it up for this example.****

Relationship Level – You are looking at what this means for the therapeutic relationship in human services or in relation to women and themselves or in relation to women and others.

· Non-verbal example: This content level of meaning for research and body image fails to address the body positive movement that is growing among women, especially women of color. The participants were also largely white and heteronormative, 86%, further excluding LGBT women (Marks and Chen, 2018). This implies that the relationship between women, body image, and depression/anxiety is more specific to a white, heteronormative context, and women who identify as other than this may not have the same relationship to body image and subsequent rates of depression and anxiety.

Symbolic Level – You are looking for what all of this could mean in a broader context about gender and sexuality.

· Verbal and non-verbal example: The researchers stated in their limitations (verbal), “Due to the present limitations in this study related to participant sample size and the lack of diversity in race, ethnicity, and socio-economic status, the results cannot be generalized beyond this study. We assert the results suggest there is a greater need to understand the relationship between women, body image, and mental health across the lifespan and among diverse populations of women, especially in the age group of 18-25 year-olds” (Marks and Chen, 2018, p. 52). Additional limitations found in this study that were not recognized by the researchers may suggest that body image issues and rates of depression and anxiety are not issues among LGBT women, and this exclusion could have unintended consequences for non-heteronormative women’s mental health (non-verbal).

All of this was made up as an example as does NOT come from any actual research, but I hope it helps you to understand your research article better. Other than the content level of meaning, you are using your judgement and perspective to understand the relationship and symbolic level of meaning.

Let me know if you have more questions along the way.

You got this!

Prof. Hill

H. Hill 02.28.2022