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Introduction to Psychology: Human Behaviour

Assignment - Critical Analysis

The second written assignment for this unit is a 1200-word critical analysis. The AT2 critical analysis makes up 35% of the overall mark for this unit. There are four documents to assist you to complete the assessment:

The Assessment Task 2 Critical Analysis Document 1 (this document) is designed to explain what the major written assessment is, how to complete it, and the resources you'll need.
The AT2 Critical Analysis Rubric is designed to outline, and explain each criterion (including grade standards) you will be marked on.
The AT2 Critical Analysis Example is an example of a critical analysis on a different topic which you can use to model your own assignment.
The APA 7th Word template file (.dotx) is a special file type that will set up your cover page and styles for APA 7th, which will help you get your formatting correct. You don't need to use this, but it might make your life easier than doing formatting manually. If you don't understand styles, go see this video.

Rationale
As part of your training as a student in psychology and a tertiary student in general, it is vital you develop a set of skills and competencies that will help you become an independent, critical thinker. Critical thinking is the ability to evaluate and critique the strength of claims and the validity of arguments presented on a range of issues. This applies irrespective of who is presenting the argument or where the argument is being presented, be it a social media post shared by an acquaintance, a scholarly article published in a journal article by a leading researcher, or online article written by an "expert". It is important be able to not only critically analyse the claims made by others, but also be able to identify and evaluate reliable evidence and present it effectively.

By completing this assessment, you will begin to develop the ability to critically analyse the strength of evidence in support (or rejection) of claims. You will also develop the ability to find, evaluate, summarise, and present empirical evidence found in scholarly articles to support your argument.

Learning Outcome 1: Develop an understanding of the biological bases of human behaviour and the foundations of individual adaptation to environmental challenges.

Learning Outcome 2: Develop an evidence-based position on an issue pertinent to psychology.

Learning Outcome 3: Demonstrate communication skills

Learning Outcome 4: Demonstrate critical thinking and digital literacy

Learning Outcome 5: Develop real-world professional and academic skills in researching, reading of technical documents, planning, drafting, and editing.

GLO1 Appropriate to the level of study related to a discipline or profession
GLO2 Using oral, written, and interpersonal communication to inform, motivate and effect change
GLO3 Using technologies to find, use and disseminate information
GLO4 Evaluating information using critical and analytical thinking and judgment

Task Outline

Task Summary
Your task is to critically analyse the empirical support for the central claims presented in an online article. To do this, you will be required to:
Develop a search strategy to identify scholarly articles that support or counter the claims made in the article.

Present and explain the relevance of the presented evidence in relation to the primary issue in the article, and comment on the credibility of the claims made by the author of the stimulus.

Adhere to scientific writing conventions to clearly articulate your argument. This includes your ability to construct a logical, well-structured, and well-supported argument.

Stimulus article to be critiqued.

The stimulus article to be critiqued is called "Treating addiction with TMS: A new hope for recovery".Central Claims of the Article
The central claim of the source article is that Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) can be used to effectively treat addiction. The article contains minor and major claims. We would like you to focus on the main claims that (1) TMS is effective in treating cocaine addiction, (2) is effective in treating alcohol and/or tobacco addiction, and (3) TMS promotes neural plasticity in the brain. Your task is to evaluate the veracity of these claims using empirical evidence. You can evaluate these claims using direct evidence (e.g., empirical articles that have assessed TMS), or indirect evidence (e.g., theoretical/review studies, animal models). You should target 3 major claims.

Background to stimulus article
The source article is a blog post in which the author (Stephenson, 2023) discusses whether a form of non- invasive brain stimulation called ‘transcranial magnetic stimulation' (TMS) may be a promising alternative

treatment for addiction disorders. TMS is a technology which emits a magnetic pulse to temporarily and non-invasively (i.e., without requiring surgery) increase or decrease activity in specific areas of the brain. The article suggests that using TMS to emit such magnetic pulses might be used to help treat addiction disorders without the need for medication or surgery.
Scholarly journal articles
In addition to the stimulus article, you are required to find, summarise, integrate, and cite scholarly journal articles to support or reject the claims presented in the stimulus article. The descriptions and explanations of the scholarly articles should be integrated into a cohesive, logically structured argument which supports your major contention. The articles should not be presented as a list of article summaries; you should use the scholarly articles to provide evidence for arguments that you make. There is no minimum or maximum number of articles you must use (aside from being more than none). You need to use as many articles as you deem necessary to make your arguments persuasive. Where possible, try to use research that reflects the current understanding of the topic (i.e. not outdated due to more recent findings). The stimulus article provided above is not included as a scholarly article (but should be included in your reference list).

How do I understand scholarly articles?
To assist you with your ability to understand scholarly articles, we will deconstruct and analyse empirical research articles in the week 2, week 3, and week 4 seminars. In these seminars, we will show you strategies to approach and understand the sections of an original research article. In general, the sections of a research article include the introduction, method, results, and discussion. Week 2 will focus on the introduction and methods sections. In week 3, the focus will be the results and discussion sections. In week 4, we will discuss systematic review and meta-analysis and how to summarise research articles succinctly.

How do I find and use scholarly articles?
You will be required to generate and implement a search for relevant scholarly articles using the Deakin library scholarly article search engines. The week 2 - 4 seminars have been developed to assist you with finding scholarly articles. You will be shown how to create and implement a search using the Deakin library search engines. This will include how to identify key terms, how to use different search functions, how to retrieve articles and how to summarise/cite the articles you have found. In week 5 we talk about critical thinking and application of evidence, and weeks 7 - 9 focus on writing skills.

Referencing: APA 7
Introducing Crime and Criminology

RESEARCH ESSAY:

The task
Drawing on academic literature and scholarship and understanding of key concepts and issues relevant to the unit content, students are required to provide a 1400-word research essay to one of the four questions provided in this Instruction Guide, which examine topics covered in weeks 7-10 of the unit (cybercrime, white collar and corporate crime, environmental crime, and state crime).
A key requirement for AT4 is to demonstrate your ability to conduct research. In their response, students must draw on a minimum of eight (8) academic sources to support their discussion, referenced in the Deakin Harvard 2020 style, which includes in-text referencing and a reference list. These can include academic, scholarly, and reputable sources such as books, journal articles, government reports, legislation, and sentencing judgments. Please note that media articles are not considered academic sources. For further information about appropriate resources, see the ‘Reputable Source Guide' included in the AT4 assessment folder.
Additionally, you will complete a 200-word self-assessment coversheet to accompany your responses. This coversheet will provide you with an opportunity to reflect on your performance, evaluate your work against the assessment criteria, and identify areas for improvement.

Essay topics
Please choose and respond to one of the following topics:
Some accounts of corporate crime highlight the notion that harmful practices are embedded in our economic and legal systems. Analyse a specific case of white-

collar crime and assess whether the criminal behaviours can be attributed, at least in part, to systemic factors inherent in capitalism.
Criminalization is an ineffective approach to responding to environmental harm.
Regulation offers a more effective set of strategies. Critically discuss this statement as it relates to a recent Australian example of environmental harm (within the last 3 years).
Cybercrime presents unique challenges for law enforcement and regulatory agencies. Drawing on scholarly sources and evidence, critically discuss this statement using a recent (last three years) cybercrime case study.
State crimes underscore the necessity of human rights definitions of crime. Critically evaluate this statement, considering how state-perpetrated atrocities highlight the limitations of traditional legal definitions of crime.

As part of this assessment task, you are required to complete a self-assessment coversheet to accompany your responses. This self-assessment component allows you to reflect on your performance, evaluate your strengths and areas for improvement, and consider how you've drawn upon past feedback you've received in this assessment.
Please follow these instructions for completing the self-assessment coversheet:
Assess how well your responses align with each rubric criterion. Justify what you believe is a fair score or grade for your work, considering your strengths and areas for improvement (approx. 100 words).
Reflect on how previous feedback, both in ACR101 and other university units to date, has informed your current work. How has past feedback influenced your approach to this assignment? (approx. 60 words).
Request specific feedback from your markers. What are some areas you'd like specific feedback on to improve your future performance? (approx. 40 words).

What to do

Step 1 GETTING STARTED: Choose your topic for the list of questions above (only one!).

Step 2 DOING RESEARCH: Start looking for, downloading, and reading relevant books, articles, and reports. Review any relevant textbook chapters (especially Chapter 27) and Study Guide materials.
Next, brainstorm the issues that arise from simply reading the essay topic and try to get a sense of your own views on them. What do you see as the most crucial elements of the debate? What evidence do we need to understand about the issues raised to respond to the question(s) posed?
Referencing is required, using the Deakin Harvard style, so next look up some of the references used by the authors of the relevant textbook chapter(s) to provide evidence and support for the points they raise. Use the Library and other databases to find these and other relevant academic sources. Your essay requires a minimum of 8 academic sources, so you'll need to read widely before you decide what is most useful to you.
Remember, this task is asking you to identify and discuss scholarly debate about the topic you have chosen from those listed above. So, the argument in your essay should be constructed around the weight of evidence from your reading of these academic sources. For example: if in your research you find that most academic opinions agree that a human rights approach for youth offending is what is needed, then this would form the basis of your argument in whether (or not) to raise the age.
Be sure to also discuss alternative arguments as well - try to provide a balanced, critical discussion, but still argue a particular perspective (i.e., don't ‘sit on the fence').
Without conducting enough reading/research, it is very difficult to know how you are going to respond to the essay question. Ideally, you would spend at least several days researching and reading, perhaps over the course of a couple of weeks. Allow yourself time to process information and to take efficient notes.
Make thorough notes of the sources you read, as you go - you'll need them for your reference list later. And remember that all direct quotes and paraphrasing need page numbers in your in-text reference, though you should limit the number of direct quotes used. It is better to try

If you need help finding academic sources or improving your study skills:
Review the online resources at the Criminology Resource Guide.
Take a look at the various Skills for Study, including How to find relevant articles and books.
Watch the videos on digital literacy.
Review the various Study Support tools and services.
Contact your liaison librarians Brad, Chrissy, and Isabelle, via their dedicated discussion board on the Cloudsite: Discussions > ‘ASK Your Librarians'.
For technical difficulties contact IT Help.
For individual help with understanding this assignment (e.g., academic writing, study skills, etc.), and other personal issues contact the Study Support staff.

Step 3 PLANNING YOUR ESSAY: Write an essay plan to the question you have chosen (optional)
Your essay plan should evolve as the research progresses. Write down ideas as you read until a clear, supportable argument evolves. Next, organise the points that support your argument into a coherent order and make sure you have references to support them. Briefly plan what you want to include in your conclusion - that is, where you are going/need to get to (to wrap up your argument).
There are no hard and fast rules about how best to plan and lots of resources available on the web to help you find the best approach for you. How you present your plan is totally up to you and is not part of your assessment- it's just a handy research tool that we suggest in you get in the habit of using. You do not need to include full, polished paragraphs or large sections of text, it is simply about demonstrating how you are going to respond to the question and how you will present this. Even key words and references are sufficient in a good plan.

Introduction
In one sentence, outline the elements of the debate you have chosen to focus on (this will be three or four of many that might be analysed; your discussion will not be exhaustive because of the word limit - that is fine). You should choose the points that you see as most important. It is good practice to acknowledge this briefly in your essay.
Indicate what you will argue about the issues
Dot point how the discussion will proceed.

Body paragraphs (3-4 of these)
Each paragraph should identify one element of debate about the issue you have chosen to discuss
What does the evidence show (critically assess various arguments, points of view, research or commentary on the issue and make note of relevant references)?
Which views are most persuasive according to your analysis? And, importantly, you should explain why these views are persuasive and/or reliable.
Conclusion
What have you argued?
Why have you argued this?
What do you want to convince your reader of?

TIPS
Dot points are best for a plan!
Further help with your planning process will be offered during seminars.
There are several support services and guides available to help you with planning your assignments, including research essays, so please review the Drafting your Assignment guides.

Step 4 WRITING YOUR ESSAY: Write a 1400-word essay responding to your question, ensuring that:
You first review the Essay Writing guides available, including the Study Support materials embedded within the ACR101 Cloudsite.
You have a clear introduction that outlines the topic being discussed (i.e., the nature and extent of the research ‘problem'), the key points of your argument and how you are going to argue it.
You follow your rough plan (step 3, above) as this will ensure that you follow a coherent and logical direction.
Your paragraph structure is clear and follows what is outlined in the introduction.
Each paragraph should relate to a key point/theme of your argument, as well as fit the overall flow of your essay (perhaps think of them as ‘themes' related to your essay).
Make sure the first sentence of each paragraph - also known as a ‘topic sentence' - clearly identifies what the paragraph is about and how it fits within the overall narrative of your essay.

For example: ‘Another key feature of the debate surrounding crime in the home is...' - this reinforces its relevance, but also shows how it fits with what you have already said.
Your argument is supported by clear, relevant, and appropriate evidence drawn from the academic literature that is also correctly cited using the Deakin Harvard (2020) guidelines.
You provide a strong and coherent conclusion, which does more than simply repeat the material raised in your essay. A conclusion should summarise the key points, but also highlight the overall outcome of your essay - i.e., what is your broad answer to the question posed?
You adhere to the formatting requirements outlined at the end of this document.
Your essay should be presented on a new page, separate from, and followed by the Reference List.
You complete a final proof-read to avoid any unnecessary spelling, grammar, and expression errors.