The goal of this assignment is to expose students to the wide range topics covered by social psychological research, and the methodologies that are utilized in implementing these studies. In addition, and most importantly, critically reading and reviewing journal articles is a skill that consumers of social psychological research (and frankly, any research) should acquire.

You will choose the article for your review. It is recommended that you get your article from one of the following journals (click here for list). Articles from other journals may be appropriate-- check with Ben if you would like to review an article that is published in a journal not listed on the linked page. You could either search for an article on a specific topic of interest, or you can thumb through a recent issue for something that looks interesting.

Please paperclip a copy of the article you reviewed to your review (I will keep the article; also make sure your review is stapled). Make sure the copy you attach 1) is a "clean", readable copy, 2) includes references, and 3) is photocopied directly from the journal or is printed in .pdf format. Do not attach a printed on-line article in .html (or other) format.

Due date: Your article review must be turned in by Thursday, November 1st, in class (but you can turn it in earlier!).

Approximate length: Most likely each review will be 4-5 pages (of text). It must be double spaced in a 10-12 point font, with 1" margins.

Grading Criteria: An excellent paper will 1) demonstrate an understanding of the theoretical and methodological issues addressed in the research, 2) include a critical examination of the rationale and methodology employed, 3) give a brief summary of the findings of the research, 4) discuss the strengths and weaknesses/limitations of the research/article, and 5) include your overall evaluation of the article. In addition, it is expected that the writing be clear, concise, and error-free. See tips/questions below for hints on writing your review.

1. You may want to choose an article that parallels the topics we are concurrently covering in class, but you do not have to.

2. At the top of your paper (after your name, date, etc.; before you start writing), give the reference, in APA style, for the article you chose.

3. From the introduction—What is the general topic that this paper is addressing? What has previous research on this (or related) topics demonstrated? What is the purpose of the research described in this paper? How does it complement the previous research on this topic? What is/are the author(s) hypothesis/hypotheses? Do the hypotheses make sense to you?

4. Briefly describe the methods used to collect the data. Who were the participants? What did they have to do in this study? What were the measures that were collected?

5. In general, what were the results of the study? (you don’t have to use numbers or describe the statistics) For example, did one group score differently than another group on a measure? Or was there a relationship between two or more variables? Do the results support the hypotheses?

6. What is/are the major conclusions(s) drawn by the author(s)? What are the implications of this study, both in terms of future psychological research and for understanding social behavior in the “real world”?

7. In your opinion, what are the strengths of this research?*

8. In your opinion, what are the limitations of this research? What could the researchers have done differently to avoid these limitations; or what studies could be done as follow-ups to this study to address these limitations?* (hint: if you criticize the paper for the sample that was chosen, you should speculate how this sample biased the results or limits the generalizability of the findings).

9. Overall, what do you think about this research? Is it valuable or informative? How did the article enhance your understanding of social psychological phenomena or how you view current or historical experiences/events.