In this course, you will complete a Capstone paper in which you apply your critical thinking skills to an issue or problem for which you will create a research question. As you develop your research question your goal is to 1) learn about something you do not know now; 2) identify something doable; and 3) be specific enough that you can gather data and literature about a topic for which there is not already a definitive conclusion. During your review of the literature relevant to your research question, you will integrate current, scholarly articles that represent various perspectives regarding your research question. Then, you will synthesize the information you integrated by identifying the patterns and themes across the articles, as they relate to your research question.
This week, you will practice evaluating examples of critical thinking. You will examine current, scholarly articles and evaluate the first two elements of critical thinking—integration and synthesis.
and use the “APA Course Paper Template (APA 7)” for this Assignment.
Assignment (2–3 pages, not including title page and resources page)
For the two current, scholarly articles you selected, contrast the evidence of integrationand synthesis between the two articles, including in your description how well they meet the rigor of integration and synthesis:
Integration—bringing together scholarly resources relevant to a research question; articles, survey data, and other resources (varied credible data sources are evident)
Synthesis—what you learned from having brought the integrated resources together; patterns and themes across them; how it relates to your research question (Research question is How has Covid-19 impacted students’ mental health?)
Be sure to support your Assignment with specific references to the Learning Resources and peer-reviewed sources from the Walden Library and/or the internet. Use proper APA format and citations, including those in the Learning Resources.
Baumann, C., Rousseau, H., Tarquinio, C., Batt, M., Tarquinio, P., Lebreuilly, R., Sorsana, C., Legrand, K., Guillemin, F., & Bourion-Bédès, S. (2021). Effect of the COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown on mental health among post-secondary students in the Grand Est region of France: results of the PIMS-CoV19 study. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 19(1), 265. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12955-021-01903-9
Resources
Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2020). The miniature guide to critical thinking concepts and tools (8th ed.). The Foundation for Critical Thinking.
Provide the research question that your research paper will be attempting to explore. In other words, create a question that you could answer through research. Explain why you are interested in researching this topic; why is it important?.
List five (5) sources in APA format (this should also include the link you retrieved them from) and briefly (in a couple of sentences) explain how each article connects to your research question (this does not have to be too detailed. The article summaries will be done in Milestone 2)
-For the selection of your five (5) articles, usePsycINFO or PsycARICLES. Your articles MUST be:
Peer Reviewed (a. limit your search to “peer-reviewed” and b. check to see that the journal itself is peer reviewed by looking at their website-it will always be noted)
The articles MUST be of standard length (do not use a brief report or an abstract)
The articles MUSTcontain a research study that was conducted (e.g. have Methods and Results sections)
Guidelines for Submission: You will upload the paper as a Word document to Blackboard for grading and feedback. Please see the feedback provided by your professor in course.
To help you with this Milestone even further, review the following instructions:
– A research question might look like this “is there a relationship between individuals’ personality traits (e.g. agreeableness) and volunteering?” To create your own research question, consider the following example formats (you can choose to use any of them or use something else):
What is the relationship between ________ and _____?
Does _______ increase the likelihood that _____ will happen?
Does _______ decrease the likelihood that _____ will happen?
How does _________ happen?
Requirements: 2-3 pages
this will be a 3 milestone project, this is just the first milestone. I will ask you to please make sure you get the 5 articles from the following websites : PsycINFO or PsycARICLES.
For this Milestone 2 assignment, the following critical elements must be addressed:
You will use the five (5) sources you identified in your Milestone 1 assignment to address your chosen topic. Remember that for this milestone 2 assignment, you are, in essence, building your literature review (introduction section) for your final paper. A literature review is both a summary as well as an explanation of knowledge. This assignment is going to allow you to summarize, evaluate, and compare the original research you have found, and it will help orient your reader.
Next, based on your understanding of each article, answer the following questions that pertain to essential literature review elements:
Summarize the claims made by the authors of the existing research in the field regarding the topic you have chosen. (Make sure you explain the claims the authors made about their researched topic as well as the conclusions they reached).
Describe the specific research designs used in the presented research and explain how these designs were used to address the research topic. For example, what were the specific methods used to address their research questions? What types of research design(s) were used (be specific)? (make sure you briefly include the number of participants, their demographics (gender, age, and so forth if the article provides them), and briefly explain where and how the research was conducted (the procedure).
How did the research designs used by researchers help in conducting their research?
What overall conclusions can be reached by you, based on your own review and presentation of these studies and references?
Two samples of how you should structure the information in your literature review are attached along with the rubric. Although the samples do not contain all of the information required for this milestone, it should give you an idea. Please follow the examples I have provided.
Guidelines for Submission: You will upload the paper as a Word document to Blackboard for grading and feedback. Your submission for this milestone must be follow APA paper guidelines. Your submission should not exceed 5-6 pages (excluding the cover and reference pages). It should include a cover page and reference page, be written with 12-point Times New Roman font and double spacing, and you will follow proper APA citation and reference format.
Any thoughts that are not your own MUST be cited in proper APA format. Direct quotes (short and long) MUST be cited and formatted following APA guidelines. Even if you paraphrase information, it MUST be cited. Papers are being evaluated through SafeAssign. Plagiarism will NOT be tolerated. If plagiarism is discovered, it will result in a grade of 0 for the assignment and possible disciplinary action. AU’s writing center can assist you if you are unsure. You can also use the following Purdue OWL link: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/ to help you with your citations and references.
