Popular media may have very different audiences, goals, and conclusions as compared to peer-reviewed sources on the same topic. Becoming a scholar-practitioner requires honing your critical thinking skills so that you are able to evaluate information and recognize the differences between popular media and scholarly, peer-reviewed research articles. This assignment provides you the opportunity to test your skills in using the library to find appropriate sources and in using Turnitin to check your work for academic integrity.
| Tips for Students:
Be sure to reference both the news article and the research article. Do your best to follow APA style. However, what is most important at this stage is that you make sure that your reader can find both of these articles. Remember to paraphrase rather than copy from the articles. Use your own words to describe the information provided in these articles, and do your best to use a scholarly tone. You will find out how well you paraphrased after you submit your paper for grading through Turnitin. |
Note: This assignment will be graded using this rubric: Document: Module 3 Assignment 3 Rubric (Word document)
To Prepare: For this assignment, find a popular media news article that is reporting on a research study that relates to health. Then, locate a full text research article (not just the abstract) that is published in a peer-reviewed journal and that is on a similar topic as the news article. If you can find the exact study that the news is reporting on, that is ideal, but if not, just look for a similar type of study. Look for recent news and studies, not more than six months old. You will find many news items that are not reporting on an actual research study. A tip is to look for news that contains phrases such as “scientists found . . .,” “research reports . . .,” and “study finds . . .”
Review the Academic Integrity tutorial in the Learning Resources before you begin, and apply those principles to what you write. Remember to paraphrase rather than copy from the articles. Use your own words to describe the information in the articles, and do your best to use a scholarly tone. You will find out how well you did on paraphrasing after you submit your paper to the Turnitin Assignment link for grading.
Tip: The following sources for public health news will often provide the research article citation right in the news report:
