“How Do I Read and Review a Journal Article” for a full review of the instructions on how to find relevant information within published academic research.
Within your submission, you must answer the questions listed below. Your submission must be written in essay style, be 3-5 pages in length (double spaced), and must follow the APA guidelines for citations. Please refer to the content guide labeled, “How do I use APA style to cite my sources?” in the Research Basics for details on how to do this.
There is a grading rubric attached so you can understand how your submission will be assessed. You will notice there are two possible scores listed for each category. This is to allow points to be distributed differently if you are reviewing an article with one study compared to an article with more than one study. Please chose one of the following articles to review.
Article Choices
Darley, J. M., & Batson, C. D. (1973). “From Jerusalem to jericho”: A study of situational and dispositional variables in helping behavior. Journal Of Personality & Social Psychology, 27(1), 100-108.
Mischkowski, D. M., Kross, E. E., & Bushman, B. J. (2012). Flies on the wall are less aggressive: Self-distancing “in the heat of the moment” reduces aggressive thoughts, angry feelings and aggressive behavior. Journal Of Experimental Social Psychology, 48(5), 1187-1191.
Kenrick, D. T., & Gutierres, S. E. (1980). Contrast effects and judgments of physical attractiveness: When beauty becomes a social problem. Journal Of Personality & Social Psychology, 38(1), 131-140.
Choo, P., Levine, T., & Hatfield, E. (1996). Gender, love schemas, and reactions to romantic break-ups. Journal Of Social Behavior & Personality, 11(5), 143-160.
Questions
What was the rationale for the current research (the answer to this should often include previous literature or theory)?
What is the current hypothesis (or hypotheses if there are more than 1)?
How many participants were in the study? Describe the group of participants (gender, age, race, religion).
Describe the procedure. In other words, what happened to the participants from the time they began the study until the time it ended. Make sure to include any measures (surveys or questionnaires) and/or materials (technology or props).
Did the data support or fail to support the hypothesis (or hypotheses)? This answer should be in plain English. You should not be using numbers (statistics) in your answer.
What are the implications of this research? In other words, how does this work affect everyday people, theory formation, interpretation of current events etc. Make sure to describe the social psychological phenomenon, principles, theories, and/or concepts being examined within the article. You can reference your textbook within this answer to tie in some of the concepts we’ve learned, just make sure to use APA guidelines for citation when doing so.
What were the limitations of the current study? You do not need to use the limitations given by the author(s) of the study. You can feel free to rely on what we’ve learned about research methods and ethics to suggest your own. Just be sure to keep an academic tone throughout your writing.
Multiple Studies
If there were multiple studies within your article, you should also answer the following questions:
What is the rationale for completing the additional study?
What is the hypothesis for the additional study?
How is the method different in this study from study 1?
What are the conclusions from this additional study?
How do these conclusions build upon those from study 1?
