1.Submit as a Word (or Pages) document (you can export your Google Docs in Word format — do NOT submit pdfs):

– a full draft of your section about Factor 2 — about 5 pages (1,250 words). Be sure to follow the instructions in the module on Structure and Sources — it is the same as for Factor 1.

– a list of the references that helped you write the Process section — in APA format. There’s a quick intro hereand here

2.Create an outline and list of sources for the interactions (or “joint effects”) of your Factor 1 and your Factor 2.

Your outline should focus (as before) on the kinds of differences or changes (to frequency, accuracy, speed, criteria considered, processing steps, etc.) — with one kind of difference or change per paragraph — that are due to BOTH of your factors acting at the same time, in the same experiment.

Ex: Age and Gender have a joint effect on the accuracy of risk perception.

Remember that every source for this section has to include BOTH your Factor 1 and your Factor 2 in at least one experiment that it reports. So if your Factor 1 is Age and your Factor 2 is Gender, then all of the sources for this interactions section should have BOTH Age and Gender in the same experiment(s).

How to write your section about Factor 1: Structure & Sources

You already identified a cognitive process that interests you, like decision making, and you described the parts or steps of it.

Then you chose just one of those parts or steps, like risk assessment, to narrow your focus further and then you described many of the factors that make your sub-process change.

Now your job is to choose only TWO of those factors and you’ll end up describing how each factor (and the two of them together, their “interactions”) change what happens with the sub-process. In the end, you’ll write three separate sections: one about the effects of your factor 1 on your sub-process [that’s what we’re talking about here]; one about the effects of your factor 2 on your sub-process; and one section about how the two of these factors together at the same time act to change your sub-process.

Goal

The sections about your factors are the “meat” — the most important parts — of your lit review. They are also the most specific sections. Your goal when your write these sections of the lit review is to describe in which ways your factors (separately and together) cause changes in how your sub-process happens.

For example, how does the factor Age change a sub-process like risk assessment? Does risk assessment get faster, slower, more accurate, more variable? Do older people pay attention to different things when they assess risk? Do younger people simply skip risk assessment more often than older people?

You will need to write about 1,250 words (about 5 pages) about each factor, so a clear outline will be particularly important!

Structure of your Factor 1 Section: your outline

You need to write about 1250 words — 5 full pages — just about how your factor affects your sub-process. It’s easiest to think of this section as about 15 (fifteen) paragraphs, some longer, some shorter — about 3 paragraphs per page.

How can you plan for this kind of writing? Make an outline with one bulleted item for each paragraph, so you can identify exactly which effect you’ll talk about in that paragraph. You can re-order them later in any way that makes sense to you. Each paragraph should focus on only one effect or change in the way your sub-process happens:

Example outline items:

• • Paragraph 1. Age makes risk assessment slower for health risks [Summarize and cite the studies that found or question this result.]
  • Paragraph 2. Age makes risk assessment slower for financial risks [Summarize and cite the studies that found or question this result.]
  • …
  • Paragraph x. Age makes risk assessment less accurate for financial risks [Summarize and cite the studies that found or question this result.]
  • Paragraph y. Age makes risk assessment more accurate for risks to others [Summarize and cite the studies that found or question this result.]
  • …
  • Paragraph z. Age changes the process of risk assessment: different criteria are considered more important [Summarize and cite the studies that found or question this result.]
  • Paragraph aa. Age changes the process of risk assessment: younger people frequently don’t assess risk [Summarize and cite the studies that found or question this result.]
  • Paragraph bb. Age changes the process of risk assessment: older people use more knowledge from experience [Summarize and cite the studies that found or question this result.]
• …

Important Tip. When you write this section, be sure NOT to mention your cognitive process, other factors, or other sub-processes! Only talk about your factor 1 and your sub-process; nothing else. Separating information this way in different paragraphs makes you look focused and smarter : )

Sources for your Factor 1 Section

You need to understand how researchers think about the effects of your factors, but only how your factors affect ONE sub-process: the one you chose. Everything else is totally irrelevant for now!

1. Look for Existing Literature Reviews! Scan them. Make a list of the studies that focus on both your sub-process and your factors.

2. Become a master with PsycInfo: use your sub-process and factor as search terms

3. Google Scholar (scholar.google.com — not regular google!!) is often helpful, too. But you need to check that the sources you find are really research publications.

Important tips:

• Do NOT waste your time with keyword search on Google.com! Do you want to check 3.8 billion results for ‘reading’?!
• Do NOT ever pay to read scientific articles! The SJSU Library gives you access to them all for free.
• For more tips and details, see the items in the module called Tools & Tips: How to Research the Existing Literature to Develop your Research Question
• Collaborate with your classmates who are interested in the same sub-process.

Checking Relevance

As you are drafting and after you’ve finished a first version, check what you wrote to make sure that it’s all relevant and informative.