Writing Literature Reviews by Galvan

Optional Text: Understanding Research Methods by Pattem

Prerequisites :

The student must have taken or is currently enrolled in the Health or Health Psychology for Women and Minorities lecture courses and has completed both Psych 30 (Research Methods) and Psych 60 (Statistics). In addition, you must have completed the lower division writing requirement before entering this class. If you have any questions about these requirements please come see me.

Objectives :

This course is designed to expose the student to the techniques and research methods used in the area of Health Psychology.

The three major aims of the course are as follows :

1) To gain a better understanding of the methodology and theory behind research in the field of Health Psychology through lecture, research, and critical analysis of papers in the field.

2) To allow the student an opportunity to run and analyze data from a research project in the field of Health Psychology.

3) To give the student another chance to learn about research methods and writing various types of research papers. Since this is a “W” course, there will be a considerable amount of writing involved in this class.

Policies :

1) Attendance : This course involves a lot of hands-on assignments and discussion and since 15% of your grade is based on in-class participation, attendance is highly recommended. All instructions for papers, laboratories, and changes in the syllabus will be announced in class. The instructor will keep a record of how many days the student is either not in class or shows up late for class and your grade will be based on those records.

2) Arrival Time : Class begins promptly at 11:05 a.m. any variation to that time frame will be noted by the instructor. If you must come late to class, please speak with me first. Also, if you must leave class early for some reason, make sure to discuss it with me first.

3) Cheating : No cheating will be tolerated in the course for any work turned in by the student including exams and all papers written in the course. If it is found that a student has turned in a paper that is not their own work (this is called plagiarism) or has cheated on an exam they will receive an zero for that assignment or exam. No exceptions. The issues of plagiarism will be discussed in the course lecture.

Caution: Since example papers will be available to the students in the library and by the professor , it may seem tempting or appropriate to copy the information provided – THIS IS STILL PLAGARISM

4) Due Dates : Due dates for papers will be either announced in class or on the syllabus and will be due during that class period. No late papers will be taken unless accompanied by a doctor’s written notice or unless approved by the instructor beforehand. I will not accept any computer excuses, always backup your work on to at least one extra disk and make sure to leave yourself enough time to find a suitable printer. Again, no exceptions.

The schedule provided is only tentative and therefore the professor reserves the right to make any changes to the schedule. These changes will be announced in class and thus, the student is responsible for such changes.

5) Make-up exams : No makeup exams will be given unless approved by the instructor beforehand or in the case of an emergency (i.e. doctor’s excuse or family crisis). Since you only have one exam in this course and it occurs at the end of the semester – the risk of having a problem is minimized

6) In-class Discussions : This grade will be based on a) your physical presence in lecture and in the laboratory; and b) your comments and discussion in class over the reading material, critique papers, and laboratories. If you do not like to speak up in class than you should consider the effect on your grade.

7) Presentations : All students enrolled in the course must be present for the research presentations. You must be prepared to participate in any discussion of the ideas. Your grade for the presentation aspect of the project will be based partly on your discussion of other people’s work as well.

8) Writing Assignments : Detail explanations for each assignment will be presented to you during the course of the semester. However, each paper should be typewritten and either double or 1 1/2 spaced. All research papers and your proposal should also be written in accordance with APA style as seen in the APA manual.

Important: Example copies of critical reviews and literature reviews are all available in the library for you to look over. Please use these references to help guide you through your writing.

Grade Distribution of the Course :

Total %

Quiz 10

Literature Review 15

In class participation 10

Assignments 10

Critique Papers (2) 30

Empirical Paper and Presentation 25

You will be required to complete a total of three written critical reviews for the course

All students will be expected to have completed the readings on the assigned date and be ready to discuss the articles. Remember: Your in-class grade is partially made up of your ability to discuss the readings in class.

Tentative Schedule:

Date Readings Subject Matter

1/29 Introduction to course

1/31 – 2/2 1 and 2 in packet Methods in Health Psychology

2/5 - 9 Patten Book Review of Research Methods

2/12 Library Session – meet in seminar room on bottom floor of the library

2/14 – 16 Human Psychophysiology

2/19 3 in packet

2/21 Galvan Book Writing Critical Reviews/

Literature Reviews

2/23 Group1 meets for discussion of project

2/26-28 Group 2 meets for discussion of project and practice run

Critical Review for reading 3 due by 2/28 in class

3/2 Writing Empirical Reports (Title, Introduction, Methods)

3/5 – 16 No class – dates for running subjects

Group 1 will have scheduled dates during Tuesday/Thursday dead hours to gather data = 4 sessions from 12:30 – 2:00

Group 2 will have sessions on Monday – Thursday from 4 – 9 every hour for a total of 40 sessions working in pairs

Group 1 will need to enter data for both projects to compensate for less ‘lab time’

Annotated Bibliography due 3/9 by 3:00 p.m.

3/26-3/30 Review of Statistics

Literature Review Rough Draft due 3/30 in class

4/2 4 in packet Questionnaire Design

4/4 5 in packet Quality of life Research

Rough Draft of Title Page/Methods Due

4/6 6 in packet

4/9 7 in packet Coping Research

4/11 8 in packet

Final Literature Review Due

4/16 9 in packet Social Support Measurement

Critical Review for reading 5 due in class

4/18 10 in packet

4/20 -23 Group 1 Results

Critical Review for reading 8 due 4/20 by 12:00

4/25 - 27 Group 2 Results

4/30 Writing Empirical Reports- Results/Discussion/Abstract

Rough draft of Abstract/Introduction due

Critical Review for reading 10 due

5/2 Stress Research

5/ 4 11 in packet

5/7 12 in packet

5/9 Rough Draft of Results/ Discussion due

5/11 Exam

Critical Reviews for readings 11 and 12 are due on 14^th by 12:00

5/18 (12:30 - 2:30) Presentations Final Empirical Papers due

Instructions for Critical Review Papers for Health Psychology Research Methods

Purpose : The purpose of these papers is to give the student a chance to read some of the latest research in the area of Health Psychology. In addition, the student will be called upon in these papers to utilize the information given during the course to critical analyze the content of research articles. This information will allow the student to become more aware of what is happening in the field and allow them to use the knowledge about research design in this area.

Procedures :

The articles for review are located in the packets purchased at the bookstore. You will be required to write critiques for 3 out of the 6 papers available. Discussion of all papers will take place during class time and will be part of your in-class participation grade.

1) All review papers must be typed and double-spaced (or 1.5 if using a computer) and at least 5 pages in length (this includes a title page in APA style). APA style for review articles is located in the back of the manual with the examples.

2) A review paper is not a summary of the paper you have read !!!!! In a review paper you will want to present the following information :

a) Some background on the topic (very short)

b) Summary of the purpose, hypotheses, methodology, results, and conclusions of the study or studies

** c) Discussion of any problems with the methodology, conclusions, etc.

Are their conclusions justified ?

Include the positive aspects of the paper- what contribution it makes, if any

the control measures the authors took

Make sure to explain why you consider each point you make a criticism or a positive point

The bulk of the paper should be spent on this section. In addition, this section will require most of your time because critical thought is required to truly do a good job of reviewing the work. Your grade will be based on not only your ability to summarize the research, but your ability to understand and critique the study and apply the information to this course.

3) A title page should be included that is in APA format with the following information: Subject heading, running head, authors of article, year of publication, title of article, Journal, vol.(issue), page numbers, your name, University of San Diego

Literature Review papers

Purpose : These papers provide summaries of the studies and information that has been accumulated on a particular topic. These papers do not provide extensive details about one study or another but provide an overall view of what types of studies have been done in the area and what the conclusions have been. In addition, literature review papers point out the shortcomings of the research ( like methodology and interpretation) and what needs to be done in the future.

Format: Must be in APA style and the manual has an example of a literature review paper format in the back. All papers must be at least 15 pages long (includes the reference pages).

Number of articles that are included in the review may vary depending on the topic and the amount of research in that area. If you find too little or too many studies you may want to change or narrow down your topic.

The last paragraph or two of the paper should provide a summary of what has been stated in the paper and where things need to go from here.

Examples of Literature Review papers are available in the library along with examples of critical review papers.

Guidelines for your Research Proposals

Presentations

1) Each person will have a total of 30 minutes to present their proposal

2) Use visual aides, they may help organize your presentation. If you have any handouts, please give them to me at least 3 days before your presentation.

3) Try not to be intimidated by the class while you are speaking, you are there to share your ideas with them.

4) Do not read from your paper. A good speaker uses notecards, visual aids, etc. to guide them through the presentation but never stares down at their written pages. It is very boring to watch a speaker who has to read from their notecards the entire presentation.

5) Part of your grade as a listener in these presentations is to add your input. It is important for you to critique each other’s work (not in a vicious way of course). The intellectual exchange of ideas is key here.

Proposal

Each person will responsible for handing in their own proposal. While certain sections like the budget and methods will be identical for each person within a group, the other sections should be the work of the individual.

1) Must be typed and 1.5 or double spaced in APA style

2) Length is relative; I do not want a three page proposal, but I also do not want a 50 page paper. Average length should be around 20 - 25 pages (not including title page and reference pages).

3) Sections :

a. Title Page

b. First include a project summary (Abstract). Of course, this will have to be written after the rest of the proposal is finished. Here you want to summarize the different sections of the proposal and emphasize the hypotheses and importance of the project.

c. Break up your introduction into a

1) Statement of Significance

2) Background

3) your objectives

The objective section should outline and explain in detail the hypotheses and purpose of the study and how you reached those decisions (i.e., how you based your decision via past literature, studies you have done in the past, etc.).

In the statement of significance section, the aim is to convince the reader that this experiment must be done. You can do this in several ways :

- Point out where the past literature is failing

- The significance of the study’s findings on the survival of a species or the life of humans

- Relevance of question

- Uniqueness of study (especially if investigating a new area)

- How your findings will enrich the literature and what it will add

SELL your product.

d. Method Section : should be divided based on APA subheadings - like participants, materials, etc. Also include a section on the experimental design and statistics that will be used to analyze data. Detail is very important in this section. Remember when you are writing a proposal, you must justify everything that you do and convince the reader that the methodology is necessary. For example, if using rats, you must justify the use of those rats.

e. REFERENCE PAGE - Make sure that all articles referenced in the proposal are on the reference page and that all articles listed on the reference page are in the main text of the proposal.

f. Budget Page

Here you need to justify all the expenses that you are including.

We will go over some of the finer points of each section as the semester progresses but this handout will give you a general idea about the various components

Note: Use Chapters 13 and 14 to help you find sources for funding for your project

Use Chapter 8 to help you when putting this proposal together. I will be using this chapter and the chart I will give you to grade your project.