Journal Article Summary Extra Credit

Locate a Psychology journal article in the on some topic related to Cognitive Psychology using PsychInfo -- ask the science librarian if you need assistance. A few rules:

1. The article must be an experiment (not just a literature review) and must be from a scientific journal (e.g., Journal of Experimental Psychology). Psychology Today would be an example of a publication that's NOT scientific. Email me the journal name if you're not sure.

2. You need to select an article that's not related to any other psychology your paper project you may be working on in other classes (hence, the term "extra" credit).

The assignment MUST be typed, double-spaced, and in paragraph format! This is to be an in-depth summary (excuse the oxymoron), and must be 2 pages in length.

HAND IN THE ARTICLE WITH YOUR SUMMARY. Be sure to fully discuss the following points -- the amount of extra credit received will depend on how thoroughly you answer the questions.

Introduction

1. What was the purpose of conducting the study/what were the researchers studying and why?

2. What were the researchers' hypotheses?

Method

1. Who were the participants/how were they selected?

• How many groups were there?

2. Design

• What were the Independent variables (IV)? Identify the different levels of each IV.
• What were the dependent variables (what was measured)?

3. Procedure: explain what the participants did during the experiment.

Results

1. What were the main findings?

• Did the IVs affect performance on the DV?

Conclusions

1. What did the authors conclude?

2. Can the results be generalized to other populations?

3. What are the limitations of the study? How could it have been improved?