1. Tips on Critiquing Articles The goal of the educational research is to observe phenomena in the field of education and attempt to explain why these phenomena exist. Tip #1: Know the goal of Educational Research

2. Tips on Critiquing Articles Journal articles consists of:  A Title  An Abstract  An Introduction  A Literature Review  A Methodology Section  A Results Section  A Discussion Tip #2: Know how to Dissect a Journal Article

3. Tips on Critiquing Articles The primary function of a title is to help readers identify articles of interest to them. A title may:  Indicate the independent and dependent variables under study.  Indicate the types of people who participated in the study.  Imply causality (i.e. how one variable impacts another). Tip #3: Understand the Purpose of the Title

4. Tips on Critiquing Articles The Effects of Breakfast on High School Student Achievement Sample: Title Can you identify the dependent and independent variables in this example?

5. Tips on Critiquing Articles The abstract summarizes the article, providing the reader with a succinct overview of the research. Abstracts should briefly describe:  the purpose of the study  the research methodology used  the results of the study Tip #4: Understand the Purpose of the Abstract

6. Tips on Critiquing Articles List five ways that the abstract can benefit you in your research process. Challenge

7. Tips on Critiquing Articles The Introduction…  introduces the research problem under study.  establishes the importance of studying the research problem.  defines the key terms used in the study.  indicates the research question and/or hypothesis Tip #5: Understand the Purpose of the Introduction section of the article

8. Tips on Critiquing Articles The Literature Review…  provides an overview of relevant literature.  indicates how the current study will advance the field’s knowledge base.  suggests the rationale for conducting the current study. Tip #6: Understand the Purpose of the Literature Review

9. Tips on Critiquing Articles The Sample  Random samples allow the researcher to generalize the finding to an entire population.  Non-random samples allow the researcher to apply the findings only to the sample under study. Tip #7: Know if the Sample is Random or Not

10. Tips on Critiquing Articles The Methodology Section…  describes the research design used.  describes the tool used to collect data.  describes the procedure used to collect the data.  Indicates the conditions under which the data was collected.  describes the procedures used to analyze the data. Tip #8: Understand the Purpose of the Methodology Section

11. Tips on Critiquing Articles Referencing Module 4 “The Language of Research” in WebCT, identify five terms that you may encounter in the Methodology section of a journal article. Challenge

12. Tips on Critiquing Articles The Results Section…  summarizes the data collected from the study.  links the data to the research hypothesis/problem.  describes what the researcher learned from the data. Tip #9: Understand the Purpose of the Results Section

13. Tips on Critiquing Articles The Discussion Section…  summarizes the purpose and results of the study.  describes the methodological limitations to the study.  discusses the findings of the study in relationship to the literature cited.  proposes specific implications of the study.  provides suggestions for future research. Tip #10: Understand the Purpose of the Discussion Section