Microsoft Word - Assignment Information 20-21.docx
1
Assignment: Literature Summary
After the lab, you are expected to write a 1000-word literature summary on a sub-topic within the area of
east feeding and intelligence.
You should na
ow your topic down to a specific age group, a certain type of
eastfeeding, or a particular
esearch method used. You have a very limited word count, and a
oader topic is very difficult to cover in
sufficient depth.
You can base much of your literature summary on the search that you ca
ied out in the lab, so take note of
the papers that you identified. However, you should ca
y out additional searches (e.g., by varying search
terms or conditions) to na
ow down your topic and further improve the quality of your summary.
This summary should review at least 5 (but no more than 10) key papers on the topic. Most papers should be
ecent (<10 years old). It should start with clearly identifying the search question and end with as clear a
conclusion as you can draw. It should be obvious how the reviewed papers support the conclusion.
Make sure each paper is properly cited in the text and the full reference is included in the reference list (as
per APA 6th style; see course Handbook for details). The reference list is not included in the word count.
Please use the form on the next page for your draft summary. In addition to your summary, please describe
your search strategy (up to 300 words in addition to review word count). The search strategy should be a
ecipe that anyone can follow to a
ive at the same papers that you are summarising.
You can hand in a draft up to 500 words (not including search strategy or references), on which your lab
tutor will provide feedback. The draft will not be assessed. The deadline for the draft is Monday 18th
October 2021.
The deadline for the final version of summary is Thursday 18th November 2021 at noon. The final summary
is assessed and the grade will contribute towards the final course mark (20%). For each calendar day that
work is late, the mark will be reduced by 5%. On day 6, those who have still not submitted the work receive a
mark of zero.
Below are assessment criteria:
1. The chosen question is suitably na
ow and has been clearly stated; key terms have been
iefly
defined.
2. The search strategy is clearly described and can be followed to a
ive at the same set of papers.
3. Five to ten recent and relevant papers have been identified for the summary.
4. The relevant findings from the key papers are presented coherently and in sufficient detail to build up
and support a logical argument.
5. Conclusion follows on from the reviewed literature and is clearly stated.
6. Some limitations and future study ideas are identified.
7. The work presents a good standard of academic writing, grammar and spelling. It is well-structured and
well-presented. Sources are co
ectly referenced (main text and reference list).
2
Literature Summary Form (to show what should be in a Literature Summary)
Title:
Search strategy :
Review:
References
Briefly describe your search strategy. Which database(s) did you use? What were the keywords that you used? How did you
combine them? How many hits did the search return? Did you use any limits? If so, what were they? Word limit: 300 words
Word limit 1000 words
Remember to include references for all studies cited in your literature review and make sure they are formatted according to
the APA guidelines, 6th ed (see course Handbook for details).
Microsoft Word - Literature summary outline.docx
Summary title
It should be informative and directly reflect your specific topic
Search strategy (up to 300 words)
- Provide the reader with step by step instructions on how you located the papers you used.
- This includes the databases used, exact search terms and how they were combined, any limiters
used (dates, population ages, types of papers, etc.). State the number of papers at each step of the
search.
- You only need to provide you final search ‘recipe’ – don’t include any preliminary searches or dead
ends.
- It can be written in prose, or in bullet points.
Literature review (up to 1000 words)
Introduction:
- State your specific research question, and situate it within the wider
eastfeeding and intelligence
topic. Why is your question important?
- Explain how you’re defining intelligence and
eastfeeding, and how you are going about answering
the question.
- You can use extra references to support your question or definitions.
Main body:
- You need 5-10 published papers. Most should be from the last decade (2011 onwards). Avoid meta-
analyses, as they can be very difficult to report.
- Summarise each of the key papers you selected. The summary should include the population, study
design, tests used, findings and limitations.
- Provide enough details that the reader understands what was done, and what the results were
without having to read the paper.
- Link the papers and paragraphs as much as you can. Try to create a mini-na
ative and show how the
various studies work together to answer your question.
Conclusion:
- State your conclusion, and any limitations of your summary. This needs to follow the findings of the
studies you reviewed.
- State the implications of your conclusion. What does this mean for medical professionals, or new
mothers?
- Provide 1-2 ideas for further research that could help solve any remaining uncertainties.
References
- The references don’t count towards your word limit.
- Every paper in references must be cited in the text, and every citation must be in references.
- Your references must be in APA style. You can check the 7th edition APA style here:
https:
owl.purdue.edu/owl
esearch_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/ge
neral_format.html
- Be mindful of the rules for capitalisation and italics, and use hanging indents.
Summary vs essay
How is a literature summary is different from the tutorial essay assessment you completed in Psychology 1A
and 1B? Here is a very
ief overview of the major differences, and a few similarities.
The two assessments are actually quite different. The key differences are:
- Goal: The literature summary is a focused review of a small handful of papers that all address one
common question. It presents the key findings of these papers, identifies their strengths and
weaknesses, and uses them to build up a logical argument. It’s a lot less na
ative than an essay. You
are not trying to tell a story – instead, you are presenting and evaluating evidence. There should be
no subjectivity in the piece.
- Choosing evidence and presenting search strategy: The rules for choosing your evidence are much
more stringent and systematic. You need a set number of papers XXXXXXXXXXand most should be very
ecent (less than 10 years old). Moreover, you can’t just
ing in any paper – you need to limit
yourself to the small selection you a
ived at using specific search terms. Hence, there is a separate
search strategy section that gives you space to explain in detail how you found your papers.
Someone reading your work should be able to use your strategy step-by-step to find the same
papers you did.
- Question focus: You have a choice in the precise formulation of the question you are answering.
While the overall topic area is the relationship between
eastfeeding and IQ, you need to na
ow it
down to a smaller, more manageable formulation. For example, you can limit yourself to a specific
length of
eastfeeding (over 10 months) or to a specific measure of IQ or a related measure (like
white matter development).
- Structure and content: In your introduction, you need to clarify your key terms (for example IQ,
attention, or
eastfeeding) and set out the question you are addressing. In the main body, you need
to present the studies in a systematic manner, highlighting their methodological details that affect
how well they can answer your question, and clearly stating their strengths and limitations. In the
conclusion, you need to summarise and weigh the evidence, and give a clear and well-justified
conclusion – what is the answer to the question you set?
- Writing style: A literature review is usually characterised by a more formal academic tone than an
essay. You need to be very concise and precise in your writing style, as you only have 1000 words to
discuss a range of complex papers and still draw a satisfactory conclusion.
Some similarities between the written assignments:
- Both are written using a three-part structure, with an introduction, a main body and a conclusion.
- Both are answering a specific question.
- Both use scientific sources to support the answer.
- Both require the use of APA style citations and referencing, as well as an academic writing style.
You can use this list of similarities to reflect on how your Year 1 work has prepared you for this
assignment.
Video games and aggression: review of
longitudinal research in adolescents
Search strategy
PsycINFO database was used for locating relevant research articles. Firstly, title and abstract
searchers were ca
ied out for "video game" (2869 results) and "aggression" XXXXXXXXXXresults). These
two searchers were then combined using the AND function, which produced 298 search results.
After a
ief review of the results, I decided to focus on longitudinal research. I used a title and
abstract search for "longitudinal" XXXXXXXXXXresults), and then combined it using the AND function
with the previous search, producing 29 results.
I na
owed that search down to peer-reviewed journals, and to papers published in the past 10 years
XXXXXXXXXX), which left me with 24 papers.
I then manually scanned each paper's title and abstract, selecting papers that used a longitudinal
co
elational design to investigate the relationship between any video game play and aggression in
adolescents, defined as aged between 10 and 19 (Kuruvilla et al, XXXXXXXXXXReviews, meta-analyses and
experimental designs were excluded from the search, as were studies which did not measure
interpersonal aggression as their main outcome.