my Abnormal Psychology Critical Review Assignment. I would like for a completed assignment with reference list in APA 6th. The Frequently Asked Questions list is attached and the instructions are as follows. Instructions In this assignment you are
my Abnormal Psychology Critical Review
Assignment. I would like for a completed assignment with reference list
in APA 6th. The Frequently Asked Questions list is attached and the
instructions are as follows.
Instructions In this assignment you are
to conduct a Critical Review of the literature related to a theory/model
of a particular psychological disorder. You should choose one of the
following disorders: Major Depressive Disorder; Panic Disorder with
Agoraphobia (although these are now separate diagnoses, theories
typically combine them); Bulimia Nervosa, or Obsessive-Compulsive
Disorder. You are reviewing one particular, evidence-based psychological
theory of that disorder. A psychological theory should primarily refer
to thoughts, behaviours, and/or social factors, rather than focusing on
biological factors. An example of a specific theory is Paul Salkovskis’
theory of OCD. It is not sufficient to simply refer to
“cognitive-behavioural theories”. Note that if you do not select a
specific psychological theory (i.e., if you choose to review a
biological theory or if you simply look at “cognitive models” or
something very general) then you will not be eligible to receive any
more than 50% of the available marks in the overview or critical review
sections of the marking criteria.
You may choose to review the
literature on a psychological theory of the disorder you used in the
Case Study Assignment. However you do not have to do so and may choose
another disorder if you wish. The reason that I have limited your choice
to 1 of 4 disorders is that these four disorders have plenty of
well-validated theories building on cognitivebehavioural principles that
should be relatively easy to research.
You will need to provide a
brief overview of the theory/model that you are reviewing. You should
summarise the main aspects of the theory/model although this does not
need to be in much detail.
In your Critical Review, you need to
refer to published literature to critique the evidence for the
usefulness of the selected theory/model. In particular, you should focus
on explaining the key strengths of the theory/model as well as its key
limitations or weaknesses. Some questions to guide your critique might
include: What features of the disorder does the theory/model account for
and what can it not account for? Does the model explain known
characteristics of the disorder (e.g. gender differences in the
prevalence of the disorder, average age of onset of the disorder)? Is
there cross-cultural evidence for the theory/model? How does the
theory/model relate to other theories/models that are accepted in the
literature? Does an alternative theory explain something about the
disorder that your chosen theory cannot (i.e., this would indicate a
limitation of your chosen disorder). Is there evidence that truly shows
the causal role of features described in the model, or is the evidence
mainly correlational? How effective is treatment that derives from the
theory, and how does this compare to the effectiveness of other
treatments for the same disorder? What further research is required to
expand or test the theory/ model or the treatment that derives from it?
You will not be able to address all of these issues within the word
limit and might choose to focus on other issues instead. However you
will need to decide what is relevant and important (i.e., what issues
arise in the literature) for the theory/model that you’ve chosen.
However please remember that no theoretical model accounts for all
aspects of any psychological disorder, so it is important that you show
evidence that you understand the strengths and limitations of the
theory
that you are reviewing. Part of this involves critiquing the literature
that you are reviewing (for example, does a particular study or body of
literature contain methodological flaws that render its conclusions
uncertain?).
Your review should end with a conclusion in which you
provide your evidence-based opinion (using references) of the usefulness
of the theory/model that you’ve reviewed.
I suggest that you use
headings and subheadings to help organize and structure your review. For
some ideas about how to write and present a critical review, see some
articles in the journal Clinical Psychology Review:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02727358 Note: You DO NOT
conduct a meta-analysis for this review, the examples available through
the above link are to illustrate the literature review process.
Referencing
In-text referencing and a reference list (in APA format, 6th edition)
are required. Although there is no set minimum number of references, you
should refer to a sufficient number of sources to broadly cover the
literature on the topic, including literature that presents different or
contradictory opinions/evidence.
Word length Maximum of 1500 words
(excluding reference list and cover page). Please note that anything
after this will not be read/marked. Also note that this is a relatively
small word count for a critical review so you will need to write
concisely. Nevertheless, you are encouraged to read a wide range of
sources relating to your chosen theory/model to ensure that you have an
adequate understanding before writing your review. There is no minimum
word count.
Marking Criteria: The Critical Review will be marked
according to the following criteria, but please refer to the detailed
marking rubric available on Blackboard: Overview of the theory/model
(5 marks) Critical evaluation of strengths and limitations of the
theory/model (20 marks) Appropriate professional writing style (5
marks) Use of relevant scientific literature and appropriate
referencing (10 marks)
Formatting Your assignment should be written
in size 12, Times New Roman font and should be doublespaced.