WHAT IS THIS ASSIGNMENT
You will be reviewing/assessing a peer-reviewed journal article about communication. This allows you to further familiarize yourself with the discipline and social science journal publishing norms.
WHERE DO I GET AN ARTICLE?
You are to select an empirical communication article from a peer-reviewed, academic research journal, published within the last ten years and written by a UC Davis Communication Department faculty member.
You should select your article from the Communication Department page by looking up different faculty pages. Some of the faculty pages have direct links to their research articles, for others, you may be able to copy/paste the reference in Google Scholar to locate the article. Many faculty members will also have listed book chapters, encyclopedia entries, and other publications that are not from a peer-reviewed, academic journal. It is your responsibility to ensure that the article you select meets the criteria indicated above in bold type.
We HIGHLY suggest that you search while using the UCD Library VPN, otherwise, you will not have free access to the majority of these articles. Please DO NOT pay for any article your UCD tuition pays for access, again, using the library VPN will be needed for free access.
SUBMISSION DETAILS
There is no need to add your name, class name, section, or any other information at the top of your submission. We have all of this information when you submit through Canvas.
Your submission should be: one- to two-page write up in essay format, single-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, 1-inch margins all around. Submissions must be in Word or PDF (free access to these can be found on the IT site). We cannot read submissions in other formats. Submissions we can’t read won’t be graded. Also, all submissions must be via Canvas, not email.
WHAT DO I WRITE ABOUT?
In your write-up/essay be sure to include the most important components of the article by addressing the following:
- Clearly state and explain the hypothesis and/or research question(s) that drive the author’s study. What communication aspects is the author addressing?
- Describe how the author(s) conducted their research. That is, what was the design of the study used by the author(s) to answer the research question(s)/assess their hypothesis? What methods did they use to address their hypothesis/research questions?
- What results or findings do the author(s) claim? And, what are the implications and/or relevance (importance) of those findings, according to the author(s)?
- Comment on what you see as the strengths and weaknesses of the article. That is to say, what did you like about the research and reporting, and why? Also, what parts of the study and write-up do you feel could be improved, and how?
A full submission will also include:
- Provide a full citation/reference for the article using APA publication format. If you are not familiar with the structure of this citation style or need some guidance, please use the OWL Purdue site (Links to an external site.) for help. This should be added to the bottom of the last page of your write-up.
- Your paper does not need to be styled in any type of publication format (i.e. APA, MLA) only the citation (in-text citation and reference). You do not need a separate reference page, simply note the reference in APA format, at the end of the write-up.
- Provide a link or PDF of the article you are reviewing, list this after the citation.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
If you have doubts about the academic rigor of another journal, please check with your TA before using it. FYI, all submissions are run through the TurnItIn (Links to an external site.) software to ensure the validity of your submission.
