SONA PARTICIPANT INFORMATION How to Complete the PSY 2201/4433 Alternative Research Assignment The alternative research assignment to participating in studies on the Sona System is to read and summarize a research article in psychology. You will write a one-page summary (single or double spaced) for each article you read. Here are the requirements: 1. The article must present original research (e.g., have data) and not be a theoretical paper or a review of the literature. The article must be published between 2000 Present. The article must come from a Psychology research journal, such as the ones listed below. You need to find your own article from the University Library using the PsycINFO database. You CANNOT use articles from magazines such as Psychology Today. -Journal of Abnormal Psychology -Journal of Addiction and Mental Health -Journal of Adolescent Health -Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis -Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology -Journal of Applied Psychology -Journal of Applied Social Psychology -Journal of Clinical Psychology -Journal of Cognition and Development -Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology -Journal of Positive Psychology 2. Article length matters! If the article is 5 pages or less, you can earn .5 Sona Credits. If the article is 6 pages or more, you can earn 1 Sona Credit. 3. First, select your article depending on the number of credits you want to replace. Use the PsycINFO database through the University Library (on campus) to find articles in the recommended journals. You can type the journal name into the search database to find articles. To get full length PDF articles for free, you need to access the library database on campus. Do not pay for articles online. 4. On the top of your article summary list the article reference. You must provide a full citation including the article authors, article title, journal title, journal volume number, and the beginning and ending page numbers. 5. After you have read the article and written your summary go to our Blackboard site, âSona System
s Alternative Researchâ. This site is located under the list of âMy Organizationsâ on your Blackboard homepage. This is NOT the same Blackboard site as your PSY 2201/4433 course. 6. On the organization navigation menu select âAlternative Assignmentâ. Click on the assignment that coincides with the length of your article. That is, if you wrote a summary for a short article, click on the assignment called âShort Article Summary #1 (1-5 pages)â. You must post your paper in the correct location to receive Sona credit. For your second short article, post under the link called Short Article Summary #2, and so on. 7. Upload your summary to this Blackboard assignment link. Your paper will automatically be checked for plagiarism using SafeAssign (built into Blackboard). You cannot simply copy and paste the abstract of the article, or portions of the article text, and your summary must be in your own words. 8. Check that your originality report shows you have a similarity index of 29% or less. If you have a similarity index of 30% or higher, you must rewrite your summary until the similarity index is 29% or less. 9. The Sona Committee will review and grade your paper on a pass/fail basis during Week 15. If you pass the assignment, you will receive credit in the Sona System and will receive an automated email. If you fail the assignment, you will be notified by email and you will have the opportunity to redo the assignment. We will notify your instructors of your scores and your instructor will add your points to their grade book during the beginning of Finals Week. 10. The deadline for article summaries is Friday of Week 14 at 5 PM each semester. The deadline for any revisions of failed papers is Monday of finals week by 5 PM. 11. All questions about the alternative assignment and the Sona system should be addressed to the Sona Administrator (see header). Please do not contact your PSY 2201/4433 instructor as they are not responsible for the administration of the Sona research or alternative research assignments.