To complete this assignment, you need to read a peer-reviewed empirical journal article (for what is an empirical paper, you can find information here) and write a 4-page response paper.
The empirical journal article must be related to a MAJOR topic discussed in the course. It can be an article cited by the textbook, or one not cited in the textbook. But it must investigate both the brain and cognitive function. The brain variable can be either an independent variable, e.g., brain stimulation, lesions, etc., or a dependent variable, e.g., single-cell recording, EEG/ERP, fMRI, etc.
The article must be published recently, i.e., in 2023 – 2024, in a formal scientific journal. You can use Google Scholar, PubMed, or our university library search engine to find the article.
In the response paper, you need first to clarify the research question and briefly summarize the rationale of the study (1-page maximum), then describe the research method and major findings (1.5-2 pages). How the findings can help to answer the research question should be clearly discussed (0.5-page maximum). At the very end, students need to give their thoughts/critiques/comments on the study, e.g., in terms of its strength, novelty/importance, weakness/flaws, related future studies, etc. (1 page)
When you summarize the results, you must copy/paste at least one figure/graph/table from the original paper’s results section to the end of your term paper. You need to make a clear reference to the figure/graph/table and explain it in the results section of your term paper.
The review article should be 4 pages long and in APA style (double-spaced, with a normal margin, 12-point font). The page number limit does not include the references (or figures if you need any). PAPERS LONGER THAN 4 PAGES WILL NOT BE GRADED.
Unless you have a lot of experience in writing scientific papers, I strongly suggest you find a simple paper (i.e., the study reported in the paper is not too complex) to write this term paper.
You should NOT use any AI systems to help you summarize the article and/or polish your term paper.
The assignment should be submitted to Canvas “Final term paper”. Do NOT directly email me your paper.
YOU ALSO NEED TO SUBMIT THE ARTICLE YOU READ to Canvas!
You should NOT use direct quotes in your paper.
You should NOT copy/paste sentences from other people’s work. If you just make minor modifications to others’ sentences, that is still counted as plagiarism. Also, please check your plagiarism score after submitting your paper. But you cannot fully rely on the plagiarism score. It is YOUR responsibility to make sure you follow the rules.
If you have specific questions related to this assignment, I am always more than happy to answer them. However, I do not pre-read/pre-evaluate your term paper. So please do not send me your paper just asking for general feedback or corrections before you submit it. You need to come up with specific questions.
This term paper is only 4-page long (precise), and you have plenty of time to complete it. Although the deadline is set on April 22 (the final exam period), I strongly encourage you all to complete it before the deadline. This will make sure you won’t miss the deadline and have more time for exams. Because of that, the deadline for the final paper is hard, as specified in the course syllabus. Late submissions will NOT be accepted. If you choose to work on the paper at the last minute, and for some reason (e.g., unexpected situations) you cannot complete it by the deadline, you will need to accept the consequence.
You should NOT share your writing with other students. This must be individual work.
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Grading: Detailed grading rubric will be given in a lecture video and uploaded to Canvas.
Introducing research topic and rationale (15 points; 1-page maximum)
Describing the major research method and findings (35 points; 1.5-2 pages long)
Discussing how the finding answered the research question (10 points; 0.5-page maximum)
Students critique/comment/thoughts (20 points 1 page) For this part, you can generate ideas using the discussion section of the original paper.
https://libguides.csmd.edu/empirical_research#:~:text=What%20is%20an%20Empirical%20Article,quantitative%20or%20qualitative%20research%20methods
