Sources Comparison Paper

Media vs. Peer-Reviewed Research

Parents and caregivers are constantly bombarded with conflicting information from the media. For this assignment your job as a student of developmental psychology is to help them assess the accuracy of a particular media article. You will need to find an article that would be readily available to parents via popular media (internet, newspaper, magazine, or parenting book) and support or discredit the information with peerreviewed research. Give evidence that will contradict or support the popular- press author's claims. Include how the average parent could be influenced by the article.

As a student of developmental psychology, would you recommend the article to a parent?

•Your popular media article should be geared towards parents and needs to address an development covered in class. Populuar press sources include but are not limited to magazines, newspapers, etc. Further examples of articles are posted on Pinterest under various boards (http://pinterest.com/DrKAtchison/). Students are encouraged to find their own article, but these may be used as well.

•Summarize the popular-press article

oAttach a copy of the article to your essay.

•No quotes, unless previously approved by your instructor

•Your essay should be in APA format, with all sources correctly cited.

oYour paper should include a reference page, listing your popularpress and peer-reviewed articles

oYou do not need a abstract or title page for this assignment

•Use at least 1 peer-reviewed resources to support or discredit the popular-press article. You may need more than 1 article to address the issues discussed in your popular-press article

•Proof of completely the plagiarism quiz must be submitted prior to grading the paper. I will not grade papers that are not accompanied by a plagiarism quiz.

•A grading rubric will also be posted on D2L and is attached.

•You will turn in your articles ahead of time to make sure they are appropriate for the assignment. (Please see schedule in syllabus for due date) •Think Critically!!

The following questions need not all be addressed in your paper, but may help give your essay direction.

•What is the author's theoretical orientation?

•Has the author evaluated the literature relevant to the issue?

•Does the author include literature taking positions she or he does not agree with?

•Does the author use appeals to emotion, one-sided examples, or rhetorically charged language and tone?

•Is there an objective bias to the reasoning, or is the author merely "proving" what he or she already believes?

•How does the author structure the argument? Can you "deconstruct" the flow of the argument to see whether or where it breaks down logically (e.g., in establishing cause-effect relationships)?

•In what ways does the article contribute to our understanding and in what ways is it useful for practice?

•What are the article's strengths and limitations?

The questions above have been adapted from http://www.utoronto.ca/writing/litrev.html

Note: Peer-reviewed articles can be located by searching the GSU library database.

Examples of appropriate journals include Child Development, Infancy, Infant Behavior and Development, Developmental Science, Developmental Psychology, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, and other similar journals. If you have a question about the appropriateness of a source, feel free to ask!

For information on APA-style and references please visit:
• APA style website: http://www.apastyle.org/
• Tips: http://www.apastyle.org/previoustips.html
• FAQ's: http://www.apastyle.org/faqs.html
• Reference Examples: http://www.apastyle.org/faqs.html#8
• Additional APA help: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/.