1. Thought paper

   Overview: you will find research articles related to the topics we discuss in class. Your job is to choose one research paper, and to write a critical argument that links your chosen research paper to the text and/or the class discussion. The thought papers are meant to provide an opportunity for you to engage with the subject matter in an academic way. I strongly recommend that you choose a topic that you want to learn more about now and work towards submitting that thought paper.

    

   Length: Between 900 – 1000 words, not including references or title page (assignments that are too short, or too long, will be penalized). Make sure to include a word count on the cover page. While is not a long paper, is does require some time, and careful consideration, to do well. Plan accordingly.

   Topic: You may select any topic covered in class or raised in the textbook, with the caveat that it has to be about child development involving human children. You then have to select an appropriate research article (see below for details).

   Purpose: Thought papers should include a critical analysis of a research article, on a topic related to child development (any topic covered in class or in the text is fine). The goal of the assignment is to encourage students to think critically about the course content in a specific area of interest.

   The Thought Paper must include:

   • (a)  a cover page with your name, the course code, my name, the word count (including everything 
from the first word of the introduction to the last word of the discussion, not including the 
references section); and the title of your topic (make the topic meaningful); 

   • (b)  a brief introduction to the topic that contextualizes the topic (explains the significance of the topic, 
situates it within the area of cognitive development, defines the main terms, etc.); 

   • (c)  a brief introduction to your selected article that makes clear the study’s goals and defines any 
additional key terms; 

   • (d)  a summary of your chosen article; 


   (e) critical commentary on your research article (keep in mind that critical includes both negative and

   positive aspects), making sure to include justifications;

   • (f)  an explanation of what you think the most valuable contribution that study has made is (i.e., take- 
home message); 

   • (g)  a reference section; and 

   • (h)  the abstract the selected article (make sure to indicate which article they are from; cut and pasting 
is fine, as is a screen shot of the abstract with identifying information). 


   Late penalty: You must submit the thought paper by the due date. After that, it will be considered late and a late penalty will apply (20% per day, or portion thereof), unless there is appropriate documentation to support the late submission.

   Important: Your thought paper should reflect your own work, even if you discuss the topic with your peers. Be very careful to not plagiarize.

   WHAT COUNTS AS A RESEARCH ARTICLE FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT?

   A research article is defined as one presenting the results of a study (studies) or experiment(s). To help you understand the topic selected, you should consult additional sources such as books, book chapters, and review articles. The research article must be published in a peer-reviewed, scientific journal. Some good research journals that cover development include: Developmental Psychology, Child Development, Journal

    

   of Experimental Child Psychology, Journal of Educational Psychology, Cognitive Development, British Journal of Developmental Psychology, Social Development, Infant and Child Development, Personality and Individual Differences, and Journal of Cognition and Development. This is not an exhaustive list.

   The article you select on must be a report of empirical work (i.e., not just describing a theory) and must be reports of a study (or studies) that the authors conducted (i.e., not a meta-analysis or discussion of others’ work). Additionally, they cannot be chapters in a book nor can they be theses/dissertations. In addition, you are to select articles published from the year 2007 onward (though it is fine if you consult older work to familiarize yourself with your topic). If you are not sure if an article meets the requirements, please come and talk to me or email one of our teaching assistants about it.

   PsychInfo is a valuable database for finding the necessary article – make sure you know how to use it. If you don’t, then contact the library staff for assistance (they sometimes hold workshops). When choosing an article, keep accessibility in mind (i.e., don’t chose an article that you have to wait weeks to get delivered if the deadline is coming up). Many recent development articles are available on-line through the Carleton system.

   If you select an article that reports more than one experiment, you may choose to write your paper on only one of them. If you do this, you must indicate that you are doing this in your paper.

   Of course, it is fine to consult other resources to better familiarize yourself with the topic, methodology, etc.

   WHAT WILL THE THOUGHT PAPERS BE EVALUATED ON?

   In grading this assignment, we will be evaluating the inclusion all components, and their quality. Here is a list of what we will be evaluating (the bolded items are more heavily weighted, but all of them contribute to the final grade):

   • Cover Page (including word count) 

   • Introduction to topic 

   • Introduction to paper 

   • Research article: Summary and Critical Commentary 

   • Take-home message and explanation 

   • Writing Quality throughout 

   • APA Throughout 

   • References 

   • Abstract arise included 

   • Articles published from 2007 onward 

   • Staying within the required word count 
SOME GUIDELINES TO KEEP IN MIND: 
1) Use VERY few quotes (ideally none, but if necessary, use one or two short quotes, making sure to cite them properly). 
2) Don’t report the statistics – report results in meaningful sentences (esp. if you don’t understand them). For example, instead of reporting mean scores and t-values, report something like, “While the 6-year- olds performed significantly better on the single-addition task than did the 4-year-olds, there was no 


    

   difference between the 6- and the 5-year-olds on this measure.”. Typically, the beginning of an article’s

   discussion section will report the main findings clearly.
3) Do not write article summaries with too much detail – you should be writing a summary such that when

   we read it, it is clear to us that you understand: (a) what question(as) the researchers wanted to answer; (b) who participated; (c) what the participants did; (d) what the researchers found; and (e) what the researchers interpret the results to mean. You should not present enough detail to replicate the study.

   4) Report the dependent variable – spell it out (e.g., “Researchers measured …”)
5) Do not need to mention that participants didn’t know about the purpose of the study unless you have

   reason to think otherwise (i.e., a concern).
6) Make your critical comments about meaningful aspects of the study. For example, were the tasks

   selected problematic in some way? Were there reasons to be concerned about the generalizability of the findings? Were there aspects of the study that were particularly well done? In all cases, justify/explain your critical comments.

    

    

    

    

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