Student Name:
My research topic: “The effects of social media on adolescents’ self-esteem.”
An essential skill, whether you enter the field of psychology or a related discipline, is to be able to summarize and evaluate empirical research. Empirical research refers to research articles that present novel research findings (as opposed to providing an opinion or review). These readings and your textbook provide an overview of the breadth of the research on psychology.
Completing a literature review for this project will consist of identifying a topic of interest, finding an empirical research article related to your topic, read and summarize the introduction, methods, results, and conclusions, and provide a critical analysis of the article and its relation to your topic.
STEP 1: Identify a topic of interest.
Finding a solid topic is one of the most important steps when writing any type of paper. The key to selecting a good topic for your psychology paper is to select something that is narrow enough to allow you to really focus on the subject, but not so narrow that it is difficult to find sources or information to write about.
I recommend you choose a topic that interests you or you are passionate about.
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Question (What is the Mental Illness that you chose to focus on? Please give the clinical definition of the Illness.): |
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Why did you choose this topic? |
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Why did you choose this article? 1. 2. |
STEP 2: Finding an article.
You must find an EMPIRICAL (research) article related to your topic. You should choose an article published
within the last five years from a psychology journal.
You have access to these journals through the St. Augustine College Library:
List your reference in
APA style below. You do not need any additional citations within your paper for the assignment. Below, find a review of what APA style format is. You can also find more information through the St. Augustine College Library:
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1. 2. |
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Example Format: Last name, Initials. (Year). Article title. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), Page range. DOI or URL Example Reference Entry (double spaced; second line should be indented): Mounier-Kuhn, P. (2012). Computer science in French universities: Early entrants and latecomers. Information & Culture: A Journal of History, 47(4), 414–456. |
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Did you submit your title and reference page with your outline? |
STEP 3: Literature Review Summary & Analysis.
Article 1:Your paper should then include the following information:
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What theoretical idea(s) or research questions inspired the study/article? |
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What methods were used to investigate the topic? |
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What were the most notable results? |
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How do these findings relate to your topic? |
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What question/s do you have about this topic? |
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What were the main strengths of the article? |
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What were the main weaknesses of the article? |
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What implications do the results have for real life and/or for future research? |
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What lingering questions do you have about this topic? |
Article 2: Your paper should then include the following information:
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What theoretical idea(s) or research questions inspired the study/article? |
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What methods were used to investigate the topic? |
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What were the most notable results? |
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How do these findings relate to your topic? |
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What question/s do you have about this topic? |
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What were the main strengths of the article? |
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What were the main weaknesses of the article? |
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What implications do the results have for real life and/or for future research? |
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What lingering questions do you have about this topic? |
Total: /17 pts
