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OB/HRM GUIDELINES ON REVIEWING JOURNAL ARTICLES

As an alternative way of obtaining research participation credits (instead of participating in

research studies), you may review journal articles (1 article review = 1 full credit) (a list of

acceptable journals is appendedNO REVIEWS WILL BE ACCEPTED FOR NON-

LISTED JOURNALS).

All reviews must be sent to the relevant instructor by the last day of classes at the very

latest. No exceptions.

Submissions MUST BE sent as a MS Word (.doc or .docx) or .pdf file to the relevant

instructor.

It is the students responsibility to find the definitions for any unfamiliar terms (e.g., dependentvariable; confounds) prior to completing the assignment. To find an article to review, we

recommend going to the WLU library online which can be accessed either from a computer at

home or on-campus as follows.

1. Connecting from home:(a)Go to WLU library site (http://library.wlu.ca/).(b)Click on Quick Links: Off-campus login.(c)Follow directions to login.(d)Find Articles.(e)Journals by title (online or print).(f) Full text electronic journals.

2. Connecting from on-campus at WLU:(a)same as above except start at letter (d).

Once you find the journal, you can browse recent issues of this journal online to find a topic of

interest to you. If the article you select has more than one study, you only need to select one

study (from that article) to review.

The summary of the article should flow from these questions and should not be a simple

restatement of the abstract.

1. What is the phenomenon that is being studied?2. What were the hypotheses?3. What were the independent and dependent variables?4. How was the hypothesis tested?5. What were the results?6. What criticisms can you make about the research? (e.g., threats to validity, sample

issues, operational definitions, confounds, demand characteristics?)

7. How could these problems be resolved?Be sure to summarize the study in your own words. DO NOT directly quote.

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Tips on How to Read Journal Articles

Preparing YourselfHow you read is as important as what you read. Reading an important article is not very

helpful if you do not know how to identify the main points. Most researchers write articles fromthe perspective that the reader has a working knowledge of the phenomenon that is being

investigated. Consequently, the main points will be lost if you do not have a basic understandingof the phenomenon you are reading about. If this is the case, you should first read a reviewarticle or the relevant chapters in a textbook concerning the phenomenon. Once you have a

working knowledge of the phenomenon, the articles you read will make more sense.

As you read articles you will begin to develop a point of view or a perspective as to howyou want to focus your paper. Use this point of view or perspective to help you decide which

articles to read and which articles to not read.

As you read an article it is important to take systematic notes. The best approach is to tryand summarize main points and ideas rather than copying parts of the article word-for-word. You

can do this through the use of note cards in which you have one note card for each article andeach article is summarized on the note cards. The advantage to this approach is you can organize

the note cards by topic, issue, author, or the outline. Alternatively, you may wish to make notes

directly on your copy of the article. This can be done by highlighting sections that make

important points or writing your comments on the article. Be careful not to simply engage inmassive photocopying. If you do this, you will eventually have to reread everything you

photocopied to determine why you thought it was important.

Evaluating the Article

When reading research articles it is important to remember that each section of the articlehas a defined purpose. You should be very aware of the role of each section of a research articleby now. However, if you are not, the APA (American Psychological Association) manual

discusses the types of information in each section of a research article. You should review these

sections of the APA manual. When reading research articles it can be easy to get lost in thedetails. Here are several questions you can ask yourself if you begin to get confused:

1. Why are you reading the article? What is it about the article that is of interest to you?2. What is the theoretical basis for the research?3. What past research suggests the need for the study presented?4. What were the results of the study? Do the results make sense?5. Do other theories potentially explain the results -- other than the one proposed by theauthor?6. Were operational definitions used? Were they adequate? Were the definitions circular?7. Did the researcher eliminate potential rival explanations in the design of the study?8. Does the researcher answer the original question asked?

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LIST OF ACCEPTABLE JOURNALS

* Academy of Management Journal

* Administrative Science Quarterly* Group and Organization Management

* Human Performance* Human Resource Management* Human Relations

* International Journal of Human Resource Management

* International Journal of Selection and Assessment

* International Journal of Training & Development* Journal of Applied Psychology

* Journal of Business & Psychology

* Journal of Business Ethics* Journal of International Business Studies

* Journal of Management

* Journal of Managerial Psychology* Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology

* Journal of Occupational Health Psychology

* Journal of Organizational Behavior

* Journal of Vocational Behavior* Leadership Quarterly

* Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes

* Organizational Research Methods* Personnel Psychology

* Small Group Research