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4. Using Word summarize one (1) of the empirical articles using the six questions provided below. Your summary of one of the five articles should use the following categories of themes for your paragraphs: 1. The research question or hypothesis which was investigated and the theory behind it was ..... 2. The method of obtaining empirical data was ...... (explain the population sampled, the research design, the measures of psychological phenomenon and procedures necessary to obtain the data) 3. The results of the study are ... 4. The limitations as identified by the authors are ...... 5. The conclusions of the researchers are ..... 6. What I thought about the research is... (Can you trust the research to give good empirical evidence). 5. Include the abstracts of all four articles you found. Select the references, have them formatted and download them into Word. 14
B. Second Assignment (30%): Term paper (Thesis paper) Your term paper (second assignment) is to write a 10-15 page double spaced 12 point font persuasive thesis paper ( no less than 3500 words, formatted to APA style and printed on a good quality printer) on a topic of central relevance to child psychology. Remember that a thesis paper makes a specific claim about what has been discovered in research on the particular topic of your choice and examines the evidence in support of that thesis. Thus you must examine 4 empirical articles from journals which publish empirical research pertaining to child psychology. Make sure that each of the articles reports an empirical study on a topic having to do with children’s behaviour and development pertaining to the topic of your choice. Note that a review article or an opinion paper (journalist piece) will not be appropriate for this assignment. Following the paragraph stems above, part of your assignment is to prepare a summary of the problem, method, results, discussion and conclusions of the four articles. Thus, your summary of each empirical article must include a description of the research question or hypothesis which was examined in the study, a description of the method used to investigate the research question, a description of the measures of psychological phenomena under investigation including evidence for their reliability and validity, a description of how the data were collected, a description of what was discovered (i.e. which hypotheses were supported or what answers were obtained for the research questions) and a discussion of the limitations of the study (i.e., to what population can we generalize the findings, are there competing explanations for the findings or are there variables that need to be taken into account in subsequent studies, etc.) At the beginning of your thesis paper, you must introduce your topic by defining it and locating it within the general field of psychology. You must then present a specific thesis or proposition about a concept, a discovery or theoretical idea for which you hope to provide evidence. You must provide a summary of each of four empirical articles you choose and show how each of the articles supports your thesis. You must give your critique of the research articles (i.e., indicate why you trust the evidence given in the studies and determine whether the inevitable flaws in the research studies cause you to be cautious about your claim of support to your thesis from the evidence given in those articles.) Be sure to discuss any possible threats to internal and external validity posed by the research design(s) used (see Chapter 2 of our text.). Your conclusion must indicate how well the research you quoted supports the thesis of your paper. You must hand in a copy of the Abstract of each of the empirical articles you choose. (Some of all of these abstracts maybe from your first assignment). The main body of your paper develops the thesis and provides references to your library research sources to back up your claim. Be careful to document the ideas and references. Please note that it is an academic offence, called plagiarism, to use another's (including students who have written papers in preceding years) ideas without acknowledging them. Important points are: 1. Spelling, grammar, neatness and organization are crucial. 2. Your title page must include the title, author, class, and date and running head. 3. On the second page must appear an Abstract which is a summary of your thesis statement, a summary of your library research regarding the thesis and a summary of your conclusion. It should resemble the abstracts of the research studies you found. 15
Page 1 and 2: PSYCHOLOGY 213.3 61 (T1) Child Psyc
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