Article Critique.

This assignment is a summary of an article a student selects and is approved by the instructor.

The critique can be formatted any way the student chooses; with the exception of it must be double spaced, with a font size of 12 (the student can chose the font style). There is no need for citations of the article or from the article. The article should be the only reference you use. If you use background material from another source (for example, to look up something in the article you might not be familiar with), it does not need to be cited, as it should not be used in the article.

All abbreviations must be defined according to standard formatting rules. Specifically, the abbreviation must be spelled out at its first use, with the abbreviation following in parentheses. The abbreviation can then be used for the rest of the paper.
IE: The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) was used to assess personality traits. The MMPI was performed at 3 different ages.
If the abbreviated term is only used once, the abbreviation does not need to be included, the term is just spelled out.

DO NOT USE QUOTES.

The summary should include key points from each of the 4 sections of the article:

Introduction:
Summarize the basics from the background information, and define any key terms.
State the author’s hypothesis and describe/ define the independent and dependent variables (if relevant).

Methods:
Describe the participants and relevant recruiting/ inclusion/ exclusion information.
Describe the variable groups (control vs experimental groups,). Samples sizes for groups do not need to be included.
Briefly describe any tests performed by or on the participants (for example, if personality tests were used, it is sufficient to say: The MMPI is a standard personality assessment tool….).

Results:
A description of the specific statistical tests is not necessary, just a basic summation of the results (ie was there a significant difference between the groups? Was the difference predicted by the hypothesis? Did the data support or refute the hypothesis?).

Discussion
What do the results mean? If the hypothesis was correct, what does that suggest about the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable? What further research is suggested? If the hypothesis was not supported, what does that mean?