T1 How to write a Critical Evaluation PDF

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This will you you for your assignment, the critical evaluation. This will give you the guidance you need to understand and complete your essay....

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1 PY1101 – Writing in Psychology APA 7th Edition “HOW TO” GUIDE

In Psychology, we use the formatting guidelines as set out in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), 7th Edition. This is a starter guide to the APA formatting guidelines. This guide is not all-inclusive, but will help get you started for your first assignment. Setting up the Format You need to consider all aspects of the format of the document. The easiest thing to do is to adjust your ‘default’ settings in Microsoft Word to the following: 

Font = Times New Roman, Size 12 

This is non-negotiable



Line Spacing = double – everywhere (including the References)



Page Numbers = upper right corner 



Title page should have a page number

Margins = 2.54cm (top, bottom, left & right)

Headings Level of Heading

Format

1

Centred, Boldface, Upper and Lowercase Heading

2

Flush Left, Boldface, Upper and Lowercase Heading

3

Flush Left, Boldface, Italics, Upper and Lowercase Heading

4

Indented, Boldface, Upper and Lowercase Paragraph Heading Ending With a Period.

5

Indented, Boldface, Italics, Upper and Lowercase Paragraph Heading Ending With a Period.

2 Example of Heading Levels (Source: https://owll.massey.ac.nz/referencing/headings-in-apa.php)

3 Writing the Critical Evaluation  Follow the APA Guidelines – APA Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th Edition) – especially for referencing  Write clearly and concisely for an academic audience.  Avoid the use of direct quotes  Proofread your work! Title (on Title page)  You must have one  Should summarise the main idea of the paper simply and with style – concise statement of the main topic and should identify the actual variables or theoretical issues under investigation and the relationship between them  Recommended length 10-12 words The critical evaluation should include an introductory paragraph, evaluation of each of the research papers, and a concluding paragraph. Introductory Paragraph: 

Starts on a new page



Describes the research topic(s) being critically evaluated



Statement of the aims and purpose of the critical evaluation

Critical Evaluation Body:

Critical evaluation body: 2000 words… 400 words per article 120 words intro 260 words conclusion Each of the research papers should be evaluated separately using the following questions as a guide: 

Identify the source o

Where was the research paper published?

o

When was the research paper published?

o

Who was the author of the research paper? Peer reviewed? Webpage? Magazine? Reliable?



Analyse the argument o

Is the argument made by the researchers based on sound theory? Evidence? Enough literature reviews?

o

Have the researchers presented alternative sides of the argument?

4 List both pros and cons This will make an informed judgement on the findings’ validity o

Have any technical terms or jargon been properly defined? Eg: helicopter parenting…has it been defined?

o

Does the evidence support the argument? Logic, evidence

o

Are the hypotheses proposed by the researchers appropriate? Valid of an argument Are they testing the right thing?

o

Are the arguments made by the researchers weak? Check for flow of theory Check for past evidence before they make a claim/hypothesis



Examine the research methodology o

Who were the participants in this study? Large vs small sample size-gender differences? Generalizable?

o

Does the research include a representative sample? Whether the participants characteristics represent the wider population

o

How were the participants recruited for this study? Gender and age distribution, ethnic background

o

How was the study conducted? Descriptive, experimental, correlational…



Evaluate the results1 o

Are the results presented clearly?

o

Do the results support the hypotheses made by the researchers?

o

Are the results interpreted with insight? NOT REQUIRED!



Analyse the conclusions/implications o

Are the conclusions supported by the findings and other evidence?

o

Are the conclusions logical or are they beyond the scope of the study? Sound evidence Logical flow of theory and speculations Logical reasoning with evidence Researcher bias…affiliated with some research company? Contradictory findings in the past?

Concluding paragraph: 

Synthesis of the findings form the critical evaluations.

Provide solutions 1

An evaluation of this section requires knowledge of Statistics and Research Methods, a topic that will only be covered in PY2103, PY2107, and PY3101. Hence, you may ignore this section for this assignment.

5 Identify common findings, patterns in findings



Draw a conclusion from the evidence.

Is there a take home message?



Provide recommendations for future research.

Do the findings pose any questions? Yes or no…not enough-recommend what is the next step in this field of research? Rationale behind your recommendations

References st



1 Level Heading



Starts on a new page



Use APA style – no spaces between references, hanging indent format, alphabetical order (by leading author surname), authors’ initials only, no first names



Only include references actually cited in the report but make sure that you include ALL sources cited in the report



All sources MUST be cited in the text of the report where they are referred to



Secondary citations in the text – only acceptable if the original is not available in the library. This should be avoided, if possible: o

Format - (Smith as cited in Jones, 1994)

o

Only Jones (1994) [secondary reference] should appear in the reference list

APA referencing tips: Citing in-text Number of

How to Reference

Example of in-text citation

Authors One author

Author (YEAR).

Isaac (2001) indicated in his research…

Two authors

(Author, YEAR). Always cite both names every time the

In a recent study,… (Isaac, 2001) (Jones & Smith, 2008) OR Jones and

Three or more

reference occurs. For works with 3 or more authors –

Smith (2008) (Jones, et al., 2010) OR Jones, et al.,

authors

include only the last name of the first

(2010)

When the authors

author followed by et al. It may happen that two references have

Example of two references, with common

are the same

the same leading authors. In this case,

authors:

cite as many surnames as needed in text

Jones, Smith, Pitt, Munro, Cave, Tang and

to distinguish between the two references,

Gabrieli (1996)

followed by a comma et al.

Jones, Smith, Pitt, Munro, Perry, Simpson and Land (1996)

6 In text, these would be cited as… Jones, Smith, Pitt, Munro, Cave, et al. (1996) Jones, Smith, Pitt, Munro, Perry, et al. (1996) When the author

It may happen that you are citing two

Jones & Smith (1996a)

has more than one

works which were published in one year,

Jones & Smith (1996b)

publication in a

by the same author. In this case,

year

distinguish each of the works using a,b,c

*Use the corresponding letter to

etc.

distinguish the works in the reference list.

Direct Quotation (using words that are not your own) Direct quotations should be avoided. 

Use quotation marks e.g., “blah, blah, blah” (author, year, p. #)



Ensure that you include the page numbers of the quotation in the citation o



e.g. (Jones, 2008, p. 24)

If quote is more than 30 words long, needs to be inserted as an indented paragraph.

Summarising 

Refers to taking ideas from a large passage of another source and condensing them, using your own words. This must be referenced.

Paraphrasing 

Using the ideas from another source but changing the phrasing into your own words. This must be referenced.

7 APA Reference List Examples

Books

Structure Author, A. A., & Author, A. A. (year of publication). Title of book.

Example Abrams, A., & Hogg, M. A. (1999). Social Identity and Social

Journal articles –

Publisher. Cognition. Blackwell. Author, A. A., Author, A. A., & Author, A. Black, D., Lawson, J., & Fleishman, S.

with a doi

A. (year of publication). Title of article.

(1999). Excessive alcohol use by

Title of Journal, Vol#(Issue#), page

non-elite sportsmen. Drug and

numbers. https://doi.org/xx.xxxx/xxxx-

Alcohol Review, 18, 201 – 205.

xxxx.xx.xxx

https://doi.org/10.1234/1234-

Journal articles –

If the article has no doi, simply finish

without a doi

with the page numbers.

1234.24.225 Murdock, B.B. (1962). The serial position effect of free recall. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 64(5), 482-488.

For more referencing information: 

Recommended text: Burton, L.J. (2014). An interactive approach to writing essays and research in Psychology (3rd ed.). Wiley & Sons: Milton, QLD.



JCU website – APA referencing style tips.



Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition.

8 Frequently Asked Questions about Assessment Task 1: Critical Evaluation

1) Where can I find the 4 articles to be evaluated? Answer: The 4 articles can be found on the subject outline and the Reading Resources on learnJCU.

2) How many references are needed? Answer: At a minimum, the assignment requires 4 references for the 4 articles that you are evaluating. However, you are free to cite and use other references to support your arguments.

3) What is the word limit? Does it include the references? Answer: The maximum word limit is 2000 words. This limit excludes the title page and the references.

4) Is an abstract needed? Answer: An abstract is not needed....