The goals of this assignment are to:
1) learn to read scientific research papers,
2) develop critical thinking skills,
3) integrate scientific findings and draw a conclusion supported by evidence, and
4) practice writing concisely in a scientific manner.
Following are some examples of possible topics (i.e., not too broad, such as "memory" or "cognitive psychology"):
Topic Approval and Preliminary References (see course syllabus for complete and most-current assignment details!)
Submit a maximum 50-word description of the specific topic you plan to write about for your literature review plus APA-style references for two research articles related to your chosen topic.
Mini Literature Review (see course syllabus for complete and most-current assignment details!)
For this assignment, you will choose a topic that is broadly related to the course topics. Your topic must receive feedback from the instructor (see 'components of paper' below). The Mini Literature Review should cover specific details of the research you read on your topic.
A research study means that data have been collected and analyzed. Look for paragraph headings within the article like Methods, Results, Conclusions (or Discussion). The article may also contain tables, graphs and statistics.
Theoretical or review articles are not empirical because the authors have not collected their own data. They are summarizing the data that other researchers have found.
Remember that any words that you include in your literature review that are not your own words nor common knowledge must be cited. This is true for both direct quotes and for paraphrasing.
Here is a good guide to paraphrasing from the APA: https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/paraphrasing
And here are some hints from APA for introducing citations in your text as either parenthetical or narrative citations: https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/basic-principles/parenthetical-versus-narrative
