Find one research article on aging and review it for quality and findings. You can find relevant articles through the Saint Joseph’s College Library. For more information, view this step-by-step tutorial (transcript).
You will want to look only for research articles, and you will have to specify a topic before you can search the databases.
Note: The approach above will take you only to research articles that have direct links to the articles listed. If you have the time (or money) to do so, and want a better selection, do not specify free full text. You can then request that copies of selected articles be sent to you by our library—usually these are free, but can take a week or more to get. See instructions on the library website for how to access this service.
Now, carefully read the article you retrieved and write a 2-3 page paper with the following information included:
Describe the problem that the researchers are trying to investigate (that would usually be that something that is unknown at present and needs to be investigated).
Review the article’s brief summary of previous research done on this problem; this is usually found under the heading of Background, or Review of the Literature. Read this carefully and summarize what is known and not known about the problem before the study you are reviewing was done.
Next, state what the researchers are asking in their study (this is the research question or hypothesis).
Finally, summarize what the research found (the answer to the research question) and describe if and how this information could be applied by older adults or by those who work with older them.
NOTE: Not all articles you find will be research articles, some may be commentaries or clinical reviews. To assure that you’ve found a research article, look back at steps a through d above to see the type of information and format you will find in a true research. If you can’t find this type of information, you’re probably not reading a research report.
