Multitasking Essa: A Critical Review

Purpose: This assignment will provide practice to locate and interpret scholarly research and develop your skills to communicate effectively about psychological literature.

Topic: You will write a three to four page paper (excluding the title page and references) on the topic of “multitasking” using two empirical articles. One of these articles (Bowman, Levine, Waite, & Gendron, 2010) will be discussed in class to ensure that you understand the purpose, method, and findings. You will be responsible for locating and summarizing a second article on the same topic (multitasking) using PsycINFO. To aid your PsycINFO article selection, you will be required to use the search terms “Multitasking” AND “Instant Messaging” AND “Achievement”. Based on these results, you must select a peer-reviewed, empirical article published within the last ten years.
Format: Your title page, in-text citations, and references should conform to APA guidelines. You do NOT need to include an Abstract. Make sure that you do NOT directly quote your sources. Instead, paraphrase when appropriate.
Content: Your first paragraph should be an introductory paragraph sparking the reader’s interest in the topic. Why is it interesting and/or important to study multitasking? The paragraph should end with a thesis statement presenting the main idea and focus of your paper. The thesis statement sets the reader up for what he or she will learn by reading your paper. In other words, what is the goal of the paper? Your introduction should be approximately half a page.
Your body paragraphs should be a review of the literature. Your literature review should present relevant information in a coherent and organized fashion. For each of the articles, summarize the main question that it addressed, the general methodology, and the overall findings (results). Help the reader understand the similarities/differences among the studies with connecting statements at the start and/or end of your paragraphs (e.g., “In contrast to findings by Rose et al., (2018), Smith’s (2015) study showed that...”). Strong writing presents relevant information in a clear, succinct, organized fashion using straightforward, accurate, unbiased language. Your body paragraphs should be approximately two pages.
Your conclusion is where you integrate and interpret the information that was presented in your literature review. What is a “take home” message about multitasking? Does the evidence suggest that multitasking is efficient/effective? Why or why not? What is a practical implication from this research (i.e., how could these findings be applied to real life?)? What more remains to be learned about multitasking? Your conclusion should be approximately one page.
Length: This assignment should be approximately 3-4 pages double-spaced (excluding the title page and references

Writing Fellow (WF) Paper: Multitasking Literature Review

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This is the second of two papers on which you will work with a Writing Fellow (see syllabus for further information. The relevant deadlines are as follows:

Purpose: This assignment will provide practice to locate and interpret scholarly research and develop your skills to communicate effectively about psychological literature.

Topic: You will write a three to four page paper (excluding the title page and references) on the topic of “multitasking” using two empirical articles. One of these articles (Bowman, Levine, Waite, & Gendron, 2010) will be discussed in class to ensure that you understand the purpose, method, and findings. You will be responsible for locating and summarizing a second article on the same topic (multitasking) using PsycINFO. To aid your PsycINFO article selection, you will be required to use the search terms “Multitasking” AND “Instant Messaging” AND “Achievement”. Based on these results, you must select a peer-reviewed, empirical article published within the last ten years.  

Format: Your title page, in-text citations, and references should conform to APA guidelines. You do NOT need to include an Abstract. Make sure that you do NOT directly quote your sources. Instead, paraphrase when appropriate.

Content: Your first paragraph should be an introductory paragraph sparking the reader’s interest in the topic. Why is it interesting and/or important to study multitasking? The paragraph should end with a thesis statement presenting the main idea and focus of your paper. The thesis statement sets the reader up for what he or she will learn by reading your paper. In other words, what is the goal of the paper? Your introduction should be approximately half a page.

Your body paragraphs should be a review of the literature. Your literature review should present relevant information in a coherent and organized fashion. For each of the articles, summarize the main question that it addressed, the general methodology, and the overall findings (results). Help the reader understand the similarities/differences among the studies with connecting statements at the start and/or end of your paragraphs (e.g., “In contrast to findings by Rose et al., (2018), Smith’s (2015) study showed that...”). Strong writing presents relevant information in a clear, succinct, organized fashion using straightforward, accurate, unbiased language. Your body paragraphs should be approximately two pages.

Your conclusion is where you integrate and interpret the information that was presented in your literature review. What is a “take home” message about multitasking? Does the evidence suggest that multitasking is efficient/effective? Why or why not? What is a practical implication from this research (i.e., how could these findings be applied to real life?)? What more remains to be learned about multitasking? Your conclusion should be approximately one page.

Length: This assignment should be approximately 3-4 pages double-spaced (excluding the title page and references).

Polished Draft Grading: Your polished draft submission will be graded on a scale from 0-10. A polished draft represents your best effort at the assignment. It is of quality comparable to what you would turn in for grading. It is not an outline, a rough draft, or a first draft. Proofread carefully to remove any grammar or spelling errors. This will ensure that when you meet, your Writing Fellow can focus on larger issues like organization, presentation, and clarity of style. Your polished draft submission will be graded via the following rubric:

**Full points indicate that all required sections were included; however, drafts are NOT evaluated for accuracy of content. Full points does NOT mean that the paper is perfect! 

Final Submission Grading: Your final submission will be graded according to the grading posted rubric posted on Blackboard labeled “Grading Rubric: Multitasking Literature Review.” The maximum score is 90 points.

Reminders: All submissions should be double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, and submitted via Blackboard as either a .doc or .docx file (Microsoft Word software) by the deadline specified in the syllabus.

WRITING FELLOW (WF) PAPER: MULTITASKING LITERATURE REVIEW

GRADING RUBRIC