The Summary should summarize the journal article section-by-section:
The summary of the Introduction should include details on the research questions or hypotheses, the important empirical and theoretical background
information the authors included, and the rationale they gave for the study.
Note: Make sure you use the past tense and are clear when you are referring to something the authors did, said, or included. (Correct: “The authors discussed
prior research that found self-concept predicted academic achievement.” Incorrect: “Research suggests self-concept predicts academic achievement.”)
The summary of the Methods section should include the research design, the sampling approach and sample characteristics, and the main variables and
how they were measured. Without duplicating or quoting the article, explain what the researchers actually did in the study.
Note: Although we have already discussed the basics of quantitative research design, Modules 5 & 6 cover specific quantitative designs in more detail, so
feel free to jump ahead if you are unclear on the design used in your article. I am also available to discuss this with you.
In summarizing the Results section, pretend that you are the author reporting the results to students who have not read the article. Your summary of the
results should enable a reader to see the main points and be able to interpret them without referring back to the article.
Note: Although you should summarize the relevant descriiptive statistics, some statistical analyses in your article may be beyond what we have learned in
this class. You are not expected to summarize or evaluate these in great detail. However, you do need to understand the purpose of the analyses the authors
did and what they found. I am happy to talk through this portion of your article with you.
In summarizing the Conclusions and Implications, detail each conclusion presented by the authors. These should parallel their research
questions/hypotheses. What inferences did they draw from their results? Then summarize any implications they discussed based on these conclusions,
including recommendations for policy or practice. Be sure to also list any limitations they included.
If the authors did not include some of the information above, explicitly state that they did not. (Be sure though! Sometimes things are mentioned in other
sections of the article.)
Rely first and foremost on the assignment instructions and grading rubric (included below), but you might also find these questions helpful as you read and
think about your article: Questions to Think About When Critiquing Journal Articles.pdf Download Questions to Think About When Critiquing Journal
Articles.pdf
Similarity Check and Submission
You MUST submit your critique of the article through the appropriate “Turn It In” link included below. Turn It In is a reference check system that evaluates the
similarity between your work and other works to help monitor and avoid plagiarism. Your submission MUST have a similarly index of no more than 25% in
order to receive credit for the assignment. (Note: The higher the percentage, the more your work is similar to and potentially copied from other works.) It is up
to you to check and make sure that your similarity index does not exceed this threshold. You may edit and resubmit multiple times prior to the due date. If
your final submission has a similarity index of greater than 25%, a grade of 0 will be automatically assigned.
Examples
Two example quantitative critiques (both Summary and Evaluation portions) are included below. They are not perfect, and they were not originally written for
this assignment. Thus, they might not include everything you need to include for your assignment and/or they might include things you do not need to
include. And, note that they are not in the current APA format. Please do not over-rely on them.