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Critical Thinking Paper  Due 2/9/05

The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate an article about some concept in Psychology.  There are many issues that people are concerned about that are relevant to an Introduction to Psychology class, like ADD, ESP, depression, weight control, PMS, TV and violence, memory boosters, happiness, stress... Choose a topic that is interesting to you, and is mentioned in Wade and Tavris.  Find one article about your topic; this is not a research paper.  Read it and think critically about it.  Your paper will tell me if this article is based on good information, or is it psycho  babble? 

Doing the assignment:

  • Read this whole assignment before you proceed.
  • Choose a topic
  • Check the textbook to see if your topic is addressed (if not, see me)
  • Look up the topic of the article in Wade and Tavris and read what it says..
  • Re-read pages 12-29.
  • Find an article in a newspaper or popular magazine on your topic.  Your article must be 500 or more hundred words long in order to give you enough to think and write about.
  • Read the article carefully.
  • Take notes as you read, using your own words.
  • Leave the article behind at this point.
  • Think about what you have read.
Many students do not realize the seriousness of plagiarism. Writing about complex material is difficult, and often it seems that the author has said it so well that your own words will be inadequate. There are however two important reasons for doing it the hard way: 1. If you can’t put something in your own words, it usually means you don’t understand it yet. If you don’t understand it, it has no business in a paper you are writing. Please see me for help understanding difficult articles. 2. Plagiarism is theft. It can result in an "F" for the assignment, being dropped from the class, or even dismissed from school.

Writing the paper:

  • Summarize the article. 
  • What are the key terms presented in the article? Are they
  • defined? Are they given "operational definitions" (see page 13 of Wade and Tavris)?
  • Is evidence used to support the author's points? What type of
  • evidence is it (case study, observational study, correlation, or
  • experiment)? Are you convinced by the evidence? Why or why not?
  • What assumptions does the author challenge?
  •  What assumptions does the author have built in to his/her argument?
  • Is the author's point of view falsifiable? Look up the definition of falsifiable again, just to be sure.
  • What emotions does the article evoke?
  • Does the author use "either-or" thinking? Does he or she argue by anecdote?
  • What questions arose for you that are still unanswered? (The answers to the interesting questions in Psychology tend to be complex and have multiple interpretations.) 
  • Is the point of view in this article consistent with related information presented in your textbook?
  • Be sure your paper has a professional appearance. 
  • Cite the article and textbook using APA style.
  • Grade your paper using the rubric below.

Grading

Professional Appearance (typed, free of typos, etc...) 10
Writing is clear and logical 10
Introduction clearly and succinctly summarizes the article/ article is appropriate 30
Body evaluates the article using at least 4 of the critical thinking guidelines 30
Conclusion is logically derived from the body of the paper and give your opinion of the article 20
Grade your paper yourself using these criteria and earn 5 additional points