Alcoholism and the Brain: Neurological Effects Behind Dependence and Withdrawal

190 Final Report

The structure for your report is somewhat flexible, but it must include a summary, introduction, methods, results discussion and a list of references (all in APA, of course!). As discussed in class, you may construct your final report as a 100w paper, so that there are essentially a series of chronologically-ordered article summaries. If this is your approach, you must state the rationale, background information and theoretical propositions in an introductory section. To complete your paper with the page limitations, you will also have to summarize some of the studies more than would be expected in a 100w paper. You must describe what was done in the studies that you have sited, but some detailed information (e.g., numbers of participants) should be omitted. You must also have a conclusion/discussion section which is your critical analysis of the work that you reviewed. This is where you tie everything together, and you discuss the imitations and the strengths of the research on your topic.

If you choose to organize your paper as a traditional research paper, it would read like a review article, which I’m sure you have come across in your research. You might organize your paper in this way and I’ve provided some additional example formats below. In all cases, the methods and results would be discussed, but they would greatly summarized.

Finally, for all papers, instead of an “Abstract”, you should open your paper with a summary of your research. It should include a rationale, thesis, methods (e.g., humans, animals, tests?) general results, and final conclusion. Your paper is to be based on empirical research (7 references), and is to be at least 7 pages in length (please, no more than 10 pages). Your research report will be graded on content and clarity (first and foremost) and format. Remember APA format!

Critical Evaluation and Final Paper Tips

During the course of the semester you will read, critically evaluate and discuss scientific material. Below are some general tips followed by a “checklist” that follows the format of a scientific report. Please use this guide as a reference for your final term paper and when reading and evaluating journal articles.

General Tips For Your Critical Evaluation and Final Paper :
 Write as though you are writing the paper for submission to a scientific journal.
 Be careful of colloquialisms. Although the active form of writing is generally more engaging, the written word is not like the spoken word. Avoid using ’empty words’ or words that are just filler words.
 Get your final draft proof read by friends, family or the Writing Center. If they don’t understand your paper, you haven’t been clear enough.

Introduction
 The introduction serves to logically present the background information/provide context for the study.
 Is the question (research/scientific hypothesis) clearly stated?
 Why is it important (rationale & justification)?
 Are the objectives clearly stated? And the second question;
 Is the scope of the research appropriate?
 What are the alternative hypotheses & how do you test among them (statistical hypotheses)?

Methods
You will need to describe some of the methods. Below are some considerations when describing methods.
 Are you including animal and human studies? What are the pros and cons of each?
 Describe what materials or instruments were used and how they were used in the study.
 Was the research design satisfactory? And the second question;
 Were the research methods sound?
 Standard equipment such as furniture, stopwatches, pencils and paper, can usually be mentioned without providing a lot of details.

Results
Questions to be considered are:
 Were the results for described in the research appropriate for the stated objectives?
 Did the results make sense, and did the conclusions extend beyond what the data showed?
 Were statistical hypotheses clearly supported or refuted?

Discussion
This section is intended to your conclusions to the literature. Below are questions to be addressed.
 Have you discussed the potential explanations for the results discussed?
 Have other studies come to similar/different conclusions?
 Did the authors account for discrepancies among research findings?
 Are the conclusions supported by the data?
 What is the main point?

Comments: You should discuss the strengths and weakness of the research. You might also suggest changes that would strengthen this line of study.

STANDARD GRADING RUBRIC: WRITTEN RESEARCH REPORT
Low Average High Total Points
Ill-defined rationale and purpose. No evidence of purpose or direction of research. Lacks central theme. No discussion of necessary and sufficient treatment issue/research. Minimal background and little rationale provided Complete background, clear rationale. 8
Presentation so lacking in detail that topic remains undeveloped. Incomplete development. More information is needed. Topic is thoroughly described. Presentation is rich in information. 8
Lack of any logical organization of ideas. Articles discuss several treatment issues but relationship to each other unclear Some organization of ideas is evident, but there remains confusion. Well-organized ideas. Organization provides a clear idea of background and purpose. 7
Little understanding of experimental procedures and/or variables. Understanding of experimental procedures and/or variables, but little understanding of concepts and rationale behind them. Clear description of manipulations and procedures, and the logic underlying their use. 5
Results ill defined. Results stated, analysis unclear. Results and analysis clearly stated. 5
Conclusions and implications unclear and unsupported. Conclusion and implications somewhat vague. Merely restates article summary conclusions, lacks integration of material Conclusions and implications clear and persuasive.
The conclusion is strong and leaves the reader solidly understanding the research presented, and why the findings are important and relevant. Excellent integration of material clearly delineating necessary and sufficient treatment issues
10
Good content, but lacks cohesion. Weak transitions between ideas. Some cohesion, but not smooth throughout the document. Reads well. Good cohesion, smooth transitions between ideas. 4
 Grammatical errors substantially detract from the paper.
 Spelling or punctuation errors detract substantially from the paper.  Grammatical errors interfere with reading the paper.
 Spelling or punctuation errors are noticeable.  Grammatical errors are minimal and do not detract from the paper.
 No or minimal spelling, or punctuation errors.
-6 per
section
Reference and citation errors detract significantly from paper Missing or incorrectly written references or citations. Uncited work in references or unreferenced work cited. All references and citations are correctly written and present. Up to -8