For this assignment you will write a 2-page double-spaced (12 font) critique of the article, Is Homophobia Associated With Homosexual Arousal? (homophobia and arousal.pdf) (Links to an external site.). Few students in the past have expressed concerns with this topic – I recommend treating this as any other scientific article for this particular assignment (remember it is an older article and hence some terms may be obsolete/controversial). Papers must be typed in 12-point, double-spaced, Times New Roman font, with 1 inch margins and uploaded to TurnItIn as a .doc or .docx file. If you do not have MSWord, you can access it in a UNT computer lab so that you can convert your file to MSWord.

The purpose of this task is to give you more experience in critically examining mental health information–a skill that is useful for professionals and consumers.

You may discuss the paper with other students, but each critique paper should be written independently.

Papers are to include an APA style reference section (see the Purdue Online Writing Lab (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. for details). Your heading should not take up more than 2 lines of text and should include the authors, name of the publication, year of the publication, and name of the article. See APA formatting powerpoint for detailed information.

Critique Paper Tips

*Refer to Chap 2 (Research Methods) ask yourself the questions of critical thinking as you evaluate the article.
*Address BOTH positives (strengths) and negatives (weaknesses) of the study. Don’t just be a pessimist. The sky isn’t always dark and gloomy. Also, don’t just be an optimist. The world isn’t just about puppies and rainbows 😉
*You do not necessarily have to address every question I have outlined below (Reference the Grading Rubric to see how many questions need to be answered). Use them as food for thought. If your critique is running a little long, pick and choose which questions you want to address. However, it would be in your best interest to address the article as a WHOLE, meaning critique all sections of the article: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion/Conclusion

• Introduction
  • How understandable did they make the variables they wanted to study? What were the variables studied?
  • How well did they explain, reason, and rationalize their theory and hypothesis? What were the hypothesis/hypotheses of the study?
  • How well did they describe the importance of their study?
• Methods
  • What was the sample and how representative was their sample to the population?
  • Did their methods make sense based on the variables they wanted to study?
  • How did they measure and operationalize their variables? How well did they measure and operationalize their variables?
    • Did they use case study, surveys, naturalistic observation, etc.?
      • Did they take into account the limitations of each of these?
  • How realistic was their method to real life (Remember though, that no study can perfectly replicate real life… it is all about how close you can get to it)?
  • How valid and reliable were their methods?
• Results
  • Don’t worry about understanding the statistics.
  • What were the findings and how generalizable or applicable were the findings to real life?
  • Did the researchers make reasonable claims from their study?
    • Did they over-generalize their claims?
• Discussion/Conclusion
  • All studies have flaws! How well did the researchers address the limitations and weaknesses of their study (at least 1 limitation needs to be discussed)?
  • How well did the researchers talk about implications of their findings and future directions (atleast 1 strength/implication needs to be discussed)?

DO NOT:

• Directly quote the article- takes up space, even if you cite the source it is plagiarized because we are asking you to write one page in your own words. Not take up space with quotes.
• Only change two/three words in a sentence from the article, again this is plagiarism
• Write one or two sentences as its own paragraph

Once again… don’t summarize… evaluate/critique the study. Also, don’t forget the positives 😀 😀 :D!