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Major steps in writing a Psychology Critique Paper


Psychology is an important subject in social sciences and to grasp deep knowledge, psychology students get a task to write a critique paper in various topics. Critique paper is categorized as a professional paper which help psychology student to learn more about psychology articles, writing, and the research process itself. In writing these papers, students can scrutinize how researchers conduct experiments, interpret results, and discuss the impact of the results. An expert take on why and how to make rationally inspiring critique papers. It is necessary to develop good critique paper in order to judge the overall assessment of a particular journal article, which in turn is a critical in standard research practice. A researcher must be able to professionally examine probable sources and evaluate their level of quality before selecting them in specific study. Also, review of journals is very important to identify both general and unusual mistakes which can be avoided when writing his research papers.

General information- A critique paper is a critical assessment of any information source such as text, media. When writing critique papers, it is necessary to evaluate strictly than just accepting that the text is well written and writing comments such as it is compelling or disappointing and not informative. All these factors do not elucidate the theme for everyone. Accordingly, student has to explain how impressive your conclusion is. The overall task in writing an analytical paper is to transform text's critical assessment into a regular judgment to expand its understanding for reader. Student must keep in mind that he has paid full attention on finding out an author's main belief. He must highlight major principles in effective way, emphasize the argument, review main issues and draw conclusion on the basis of exploration. Whether writing negative or positive critique paper, it must include a reasonable and perfect abstract of the text and suggestion of writer's own admissions and these admissions stress every evaluated statement writer make. When a student prepares critique paper, he must explain his views; scrutinize your own facts, opinions and admissions. Ultimately, writing a critique paper is a way to recognize more about self.

Critique papers are written to highlight positive and negative aspect of the issue raised in topic. Student must provide reasons for the evidence which defends his point. For example, he must admit that journal's author use statistical data to support his opinion, but unsuccessful to point out its sources. In another example, author stated fifty percents of marijuana smokers continue to use hazardous drugs; however, he did not mention how got that information. Therefore, it is not authentic to believe on his statement because his figures are not from reliable sources. It is not advisable for the readers to trust that unchecked figures because these beliefs can be the author's finding. An inference can be made that if no sources are specified, the author casts doubt on his argument. Proper way to write critique papers is to emphasize three components: writer's standpoint, evidence from the references used to develop paper and make argument through explaining reasons of proof to support writer's position.

Main steps- There are some essential steps which must be kept in mind while writing a critique. This paper must be exercised in the third person. Make certain to read paper thoroughly, keeping in mind that teachers always prefer less abstract and summary, but more investigation and scrutiny. When developing critique of any article, student must read the introduction part of the article. He must check whether the hypothesis is clearly stated or not. Whether introduction contains all needed background information and previous research. After thoroughly reviewing basic questions in introduction, student should note down information provided in the introduction and any questions he has in reading introduction. Interpret the methods section of the article and examine whether the study procedure is clearly outlined and examine which variables the researchers are measuring. While reading article, always make a note of queries arising in each section. In the results section of the article, student must focus on all tables and graphs and see how these illustration are made and labeled. Student must check in results section whether researchers present enough statistical information and the researchers gather all of the data required to assess the variables in problem. If there is any flaw or not written according professional style, just note down. The next step is to read the discussion section of the article. Student must find in the article how the researchers construe the results of the study. Whether, results are parallel with their hypothesis. A conclusion drawn by the researchers is logical or not. In the discussion section, Students gets a good chance to take a position. If he has the same opinion with the researcher's conclusions, he has to provide solid grounds for his statement. If he observers that the researcher's views stated in the paper are not convincing and not correct as per theory or off-base, indicate problems with the conclusions and propose substitute clarifications.

Writing the actual critique paper- After reading selected article deeply, construct an outline of thoughts on the article. Following guide will assist structure of critique paper:

First of all, research for good title. It must be an effectual representative of the full article or study. It must include the most pertinent and widely used terms and thoughts used in the article and contain proper words as needed in order to communicate the relationship among those terms and ideas. Therefore, the title explains effectiveness of an exacting method in teaching must contain the name of that method, the subject area that it is applied to, and the students that are subjected to it. Good title should not deceive the reader into expecting more than what is really inside the article. In general, title should be convincing and contain full information of what is being tested.

The first and most important part of critique paper is introduction. This part includes the author name, title, and source alongside with the publication date. Student must write the short critique abstract, then coming up to thesis statement. Start writing paper by explaining the article and authors which is critiquing. A good abstract must explain briefly the whole study. In order to compose abstract, only chosen parts of the study's structure should be included in the abstract with one or two sentences devoted to each part. The correct abstract is that which introduce the topic well, portray the methodology, reveal the general results and draw conclusions based on the results. Students who are writing abstract first time must know that the abstract is the summary of the study for the reader without having to investigate into its complicated details. Student must provide the major hypothesis or thesis of the paper and give details why you believe the information is appropriate.

The next step of writing critique paper is development of Thesis Statement. While writing a critique; student can use 3-5 items to look after his thesis statement. In order to choose correct thesis statement, he may clear the query recommended alongside the text. Also, refer statement from the paper to demonstrate the subject which students are stating by its paraphrasing or direct quoting. In last part of introduction, student should include thesis statement. Remember, thesis statement is the main thought of critique.

After writing good introduction, student must present a concise review of the article, highlighting main thoughts and points, results and discussion. It is essential to give the background of the study to initiate new research. All earlier noteworthy conclusions made by other articles prior to the study must have been revealed and included in the study's review of associated literature. This is to guarantee that the study is not a simple idleness of another study that the researcher simply botched to find out in his readings. The literature review must also be satisfactory so that the reader can comprehend basic facts of the study by drawing from its relationship to other studies done before it. It is important to mention relevant information and edited all facts which do not related to the study. The method used to get results for a particular study must be valid, that is it must match to existing procedural norms for the particular area being researched on. It must also be reliable, which means that it should be the suitable method to be used given the demands of the study.

While writing result section, student must be very cautious. He must write results in well organized way. Tables and graphs must be used as needed. Do not include unnecessary tables to make paper fragile. Tables and graphs should be such that the reader must make comparisons between figures easily by referring to both tabular and figure-based data. It is not necessary to show that the results must be the product of following the proper methodologies described in the previous chapter exactly.

In analysis section, student should present his assessment of the article. Explain any problems which student had with the author's principle, methods, or conclusions. Analysis must focus on problems with the author's disagreement, presentation, or on information and substitutes that have been ignored. Describe all the arguments in concise manner so that reader easily understand critic part and gain knowledge.

The last of critique paper is conclusion. It is again very important part of paper. In this part, student can recapitulate his main opinions, reshape thesis statement using modified words and judge the author's achievement or fail to convince the reader. Critique paper should finish with a general idea of the articles disagreement, student's conclusions and his responses. The conclusions must be review briefly the results and the result's implications as based on the background of the study. The background of a study is considered the foundation and the results the argument, together leading to the conclusion which should provide the answer to the study's aims.

Critique paper is frequently written by psychology students to broaden their knowledge about subject and carry out further research. It is highly recommended to follow correct format and update information with recent development. It will helps student to develop their skill of writing and understanding profoundly about the subject.


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