Assignment: Reading Article Abstracts

Assignment: Reading and Analyzing Article Abstracts

For this assignment you will need the abstracts for the articles and books from the bibliography which you created in the previous week. (If you have non-abstracted books you need to find a book review; try searching Sociological Abstracts to see if there has been a review in Contemporary Sociology (Reviews through 1997 are available in JSTOR). (If you have a copy of the book, skim the first chapter.) For each of the eight items answer the first set of questions. Then, based on the type of article you think it is, select the second set of questions. Answers should not be in essay form, but you should use full sentences. IF the abstract does not explicitly contain the information, say so and then make an educated guess if possible.

Note: If your articles have their full text available, use the absract from there rather than that from the data base. In ProQuest this is called the "headnote." If there is full text without an abstract (such as from the Journal of Black Studies) use the first paragraph.

For all articles:

What is the topic of the article?
How does this article or book relate to your research topic?
Is this article or book original research, pure theory (no original research presented), a literature review or guidance for professional practice? (See examples in blackboard course documents to help answer this.)
Based on your answer to the previous question, choose the appropriate set of questions below andanswer them.

if your article is this type:	Answer these questions:
Original research	What was the main hypothesis or research question? What method was used (for example survey research, qualitative interviews, experiment)? Who or what was the unit of analysis? How many people or other units of analysis were studied (i.e. sample size)? What was the main finding? What are the implications for research, theory or practice are discussed?
Literature review	What was the nature of the literature reviewed? What were the main themes identified? What limits of the literature are mentioned? What is the main conclusion? What implications for research, practice or theory are discussed?
Pure theory	What is the main idea of the theory presented? What theoretical paradigms and/or other theorists are discussed? What are the main concepts mentioned? What limitations are discussed? What implications for research, practice or theory are discussed?
Practice-oriented	What type of practitioner is the article aimed at designed for? What kind of clients/subjects is it aimed at? What kinds of recommendations for practice are made? What research, theory or previous approaches to practice are mentioned? Was the recommended practice evaluated? How? What limitations are mentioned?