Psychology in the News
STEP 1: Find a popular news article from within the past 10 years that reports on the results of a psychological study. This should not be a blog entry, but a published article from a news source such as Time Magazine, The New York Times, Newsweek, NPR, CNN, Fox News, etc. A great place to look is the APA’s Psychology news portal. Read through the article and ensure that it is descriptive and sufficiently long enough in order to draw conclusions from the original research mentioned.
STEP 2: Go find the psychological study or studies that are mentioned in the news report. Sometimes those are not freely available online, so you may have to track down the original study through your library’s website. You can find these articles within reputable journals, such as the American Journal of Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Emotion, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Counseling Psychology, Journal of Educational Psychology, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and Memory. The study should have been performed within the past 10 years.
STEP 3: Write a paper between 250-500 words that:
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- describes and summarizes both articles
- compares and contrasts the key points, style, and purpose of the news article with that of the research article
- examines if the news article accurately describes the research
- includes correct APA citations (both in-text and in a reference page) for both of the articles
Rubric
| Criteria | Proficient | Developing | Not Evident | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finds appropriate news article and writes summary | Finds a detailed and relevant news article on a psychological topic, and provides a coherent summary of the article. | Does not provide enough detail in the summary or does not find an appropriate news article | Poor choice of news article, incomplete summary, or difficult to understand. | __/5 |
| Finds appropriate research article and writes summary | Finds a detailed and relevant peer-reviewed article on a psychological topic, and provides a coherent summary of the article. | Does not provide enough detail in the summary or does not find an appropriate journal article | Poor choice of research article, incomplete summary, or difficult to understand. | __/5 |
| Compares and contrasts the news and research article and examines accuracy of the news article | Compares and contrasts the key points, style, and purpose of the news article with that of the research article | Does not fully compare and contrast the key points, style, and purpose of the news article with that of the research article | Does not compare and contrast the key points, style, and purpose of the news article with that of the research article | __/5 |
| Includes correct APA citations | Provides accurate in-text citations AND a reference page for the articles used | Does not fully provide accurate in-text citations AND a reference page for the articles used | Does not provide accurate in-text citations AND a reference page for the articles used | __/5 |
| Total: | __/20 | |||
