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Writing as Critical Thinking
or details from a research report, flowery language would simply be extraneous and,
perhaps, distracting. It takes critical thinking on the part of students to learn the importance
of precise scientific writing. Practice in using APA-style writing helps students learn and
incorporate this lesson.
Reading and Critiquing APA-Style Papers
Related to making gains in critical thinking by writing in APA style is gaining the ability
to use critical thinking in reading APA-style reports. When students first encounter
such a report to read, they are often overwhelmed by the different types of writing in the
various sections and may simply maintain that they cannot make any sense of the report.
However, after learning about how psychologists write the various sections, students
often begin gaining a measure of critical thinking in reading, and even critiquing,
research reports.
In much the same way that they must think critically about each section when writing
a research report, students should use a critical eye in conducting a literature search and in
reading those sections. For example, in reading the Abstract, students must be able to
apply critical analysis skills to determine whether an article is likely to be related to their
research topic or area. This type of skill is crucial in using time effectively in a literature
search. With the introduction, students should read with a critical eye toward the author
developing a research hypothesis. Does each study add to the progression of thought that
leads to the hypothesis? Has the author summarized each study accurately? Is there an
alternative interpretation of any study that the author has missed (or simply ignored) in
deriving the hypothesis? The Results section requires students to apply their critical think-
ing skills about the data and analysis. Is the analysis appropriate for the type of data that
the author reported? Does the author provide all the necessary information for the analysis
(or analyses) used (e.g., is there an interaction term/finding for a design with two
independent variables?)? Finally, in reading the Discussion section, students must criti-
cally analyze the author’s conclusions to determine whether they are appropriate. Also,
critical thinking about the Discussion section can lead a student to develop an idea for a
new research project that is an outgrowth of the one the student is reading. Thus reading
and critiquing research reports provide ample opportunities for students to develop and
use their critical thinking skills.
As an example of such reading and critical thinking, Gareis (1995) had introductory
psychology students read and critique articles cited in their textbook. Rather than simply
summarizing the articles, students described study variables, hypothesis, operational
definitions, and method plus results. In addition, they critically evaluated the study, dis-
cussed how the article demonstrated concepts from the course, and compared the actual
article to its description in the text. In their evaluation of the assignment, students reported
that it helped them to “think critically about research” (p. 234). Of course, student reports
are not necessarily the same as actual outcomes. On the other hand, students were able to
spot inconsistencies between their text and the actual research. Although some of the
inconsistencies were minor (e.g., number of participants in a group), some were much
more important (e.g., describing a within-subjects design as a between-subjects design).