Help me study for my Psychology class. I’m stuck and don’t understand.

Assignment: Article Synopsis 2 Objective: Your assignment this week is to search for and read a primary literature article on a
behavioral neuroscience topic of your choice. You will then compose a 1 – 2 page (doublespaced) synopsis of the article.

Start by summarizing the main topic of the paper – what are the general topics and
theoretical relevance of the paper? This information is typically found in the Introduction.
– State the specific topic that the paper considers.
– Are there any specific hypotheses being tested? If so, what are they?
– Briefly describe the Methods
• It is not necessary to give every detail of the study’s methodology. Cover the
main points – who were the subjects, what test(s) were administered and how.
PSY 605: Foundations of Biopsychology
– What were the key results of the study?
• The Results sections will give a large number of statistics that may not all be
necessary to include in the synopsis. A good way to decide what to report is to
check which results are shown in the figures, and whether or not any of the other
reported results enhance, question, or contradict what the figures show.
– What are the author(s)’ interpretations of their results and how do they add to the general
theoretical framework of the field?
• This information is typically found in the Discussion. Does it address the data?
Does it follow from the results? Does it fit within the general framework/topic of
the paper?
• Are the author(s)’ conclusions consistent with their results? That is, were their
interpretations of their data too loose? Too strict?
– Your own critique/opinion: did the author(s) back up their conclusions with their data?
What could/should they have done differently? What are some suggestions for follow-up
studies? This is a major component of a successful synopsis – as scientists, it is our job to
evaluate the merits and limitations of the work in our field.
Length of the synopsis
The synopsis should be approximately between 1 and 2 double spaced pages using a standard
font and type size.