Learning to Read Empirical Articles in General Psychology

Many students, particularly underprepared students, struggle to identify the essential information in empirical articles. We describe a set of assignments for instructing general psychology students to dissect the structure of such articles. Students in General Psychology I read empirical articles and answered a set of general, factual questions applicable to nearly any empirical article. Students in General Psychology II read empirical articles and wrote two-page summaries based on the question set from General Psychology I. In both courses, student competence on the assignment and confidence in their ability to complete the assignment improved, suggesting that these assignments aid students in learning to dissect empirical articles.