Due in Week 5 and worth 230 points.
In the Strayer Library, go to the EBSCO-Host Academic database. Find a recent research article from a scholarly journal in the field of psychology. It must have been published less than twelve (12) years ago. Be sure to select an article for which the full-text is available. This will be your “target article”. Actual journals for which full-text is available include Advances in Cognitive Psychology, British Journal of Social Psychology, Journal of Positive Psychology, Issues in Forensic Psychology, Journal of Psychology, among many others. In some cases, publishers do not make the full-text available on EBSCO-Host for twelve (12) months after publication. Note: Do not use newspaper or magazine articles or Websites such as Wikipedia to complete this assignment. Read Strayer University’s guidelines against plagiarism.
Your selected article must meet all of the stated criteria or your assignment will not be accepted. Before proceeding, please ensure that your selected article meets the following criteria:
- Full-text is available in EBSCO-Host database.
- Is a scholarly journal article in the field of psychology.
- Was published less than 12 years ago.
Read key sections of the chosen article in order to derive its general gist. Begin by reading the Abstract of the article. Subsequently, read the Introduction and the Discussion sections. Search through the paper for any figures or tables. Be sure to read as much of the paper as is practical in order to digest as much as you are able.
Write a paper of 450-600 words (1.5 to 2 pages) in which you:
- Identify your selected article, using a proper APA-style in-text citation that corresponds to an entry in the reference section, as explained below under “How to properly cite your article”.
- Describe what type of article it is and how you are able to discern its type. For example, is it primarily a review of existing research, a report of new research, or an analysis of a professional issue? If it is a research article, identify the type of research involved.
- Summarize, in a paragraph or two (2), what you have learned about the content of the article. Include the main purpose of the article, the major findings, and how the major findings are supported.
- Explain the manner in which your selected article fits into the overall field of psychology. Next, identify the corresponding chapter(s) from your textbook, using a proper APA-style in-text citation to your text.
- Explain the fundamental reasons why this article is different from and similar to articles in non-scholarly periodicals, such as magazines and newspapers.
How to properly cite your article
In APA format, we put the full listing of each source in a “reference” list at the end of the document. In the body of the text, we use what are called in-text citations. Here is an example of an in-text citation:
The article I selected is one about well-being in senior citizens who are housebound (Houston, McKee & Wilson, 2000).
For the purposes of this assignment, you only need to put one (1) in-text citation to your target article and one (1) in-text citation to the textbook. However, you may cite either of these sources as many times as needed. For instance, you must always give an in-text citation with a quote. Here is an example.
-
This study was grounded in “Hopelessness Theory”. The authors state that “according to the theory, the causal chain to hopelessness and depression begins with either a perceived negative life event or the perceived non-occurrence of positive events” (Houston, McKee, & Wilson, 2000).
-
This relates to the chapter in our textbook (Santrock, 2006) on “Coping”.
-
We should keep in mind that “the context of our lives includes our homes, schools, churches, cities, neighborhoods, communities and colleges, as well as nations” (Santrock, 2006, p. 6).
Since there are only two (2) required sources in this paper (the target article and your textbook), you only need to cite these two (2) courses. However, in a longer research paper, you would use an in-text citation for every source. Please note that if you do use additional sources in this assignment, then you must provide the corresponding in-text citations and references for each and every source.
Citing a book:
References to books use the following format:
Author list. (year of publication). Title (should be italicized). Volume or edition information, if applicable. Place of publication: Publisher.
Example:
Santrock, J. W. (2006). Human adjustment. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
The corresponding in-text citation would be: Santrock (2006).
Citing a journal article:
References to journal articles use the following format:
Author list (Year of publication) Title of article. Name of Journal, Volume number, page numbers.
Examples:
-
- Houston, D. M., McKee, K. J., & Wilson, J. (2000). Attributional style, efficacy, and the enhancement of well-being among housebound older people. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 22, 309-317.
-
- Ludicello, J. E., Woods, S. P., Scott, J. C., Cherner, M., Heaton, R. K., Atkinson, J. H., & Grant, I. (2010). Longer term improvement in neurocognitive functioning and affective distress among methamphetamine users who achieve stable abstinence. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 32, 708-718.
- Peterson, C., Bonechi, A., Smorti, A., & Tani, F. (2010). A distant mirror: memories of parents and friends across childhood and adolescence. British Journal of Psychology, 101, 601-620.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
- Be typed, double-spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; Since the only resources you will be using for this assignment are the article and your textbook, you need not include a reference page. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
- Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required assignment page length.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
- Identify key concepts that provide a foundation for the study of adjustment.
- Summarize the major psychological perspectives.
- Use technology and information resources to research issues in psychology.
- Write clearly and concisely about psychology using proper writing mechanics.
Grading for this assignment will be based on answer quality, logic / organization of the paper, and language and writing skills, using the following rubric.
