A. Logic and objective of this exercise

The Final Text for this class consists of a comprehensive analysis, in the form of an essay, that offers a review of the existing scientific/academic literature in aid of establishing the state of the art and science of a specific problem in the field of Psychology. We will call this text a “comprehensive and analytical review”. The problem to be reviewed has already been selected by the student (andhanded in the assignment #1) and it consist of a subject matter and a application(or “instance”) of said subject matter. The purpose is to review a applicationof a theory, model, therapy, assessment or intervention, and analyze theevidence and/or empirical studies that validate its actual use.

For this, the students are required to accumulate a certain quantity (from ten to twelve articles/texts from academic and scientific primary or secondary sources) and type (Meta-Analysis, Systemic Reviews, empirical and theoretical studies, etc.) of texts. In other words, it requires a comprehensive “Literature Review” (the details of said reviews appear in the instructions for assignments #2, #3 & #4). In many ways, students will be doing asort of “Meta-Analysis”, different from the classical and quantitative Meta-Analysis (as seen in discussion in Unit I), in the almost literal sense that they will “analyze what has been analyzed and beyond it”. To call this text a “Meta-Analysis” might prove to be confusing (and a misnomer in terms of the standard definitionin Evidence Based Practice) so for that reason we could just simply call it a “comprehensive and analytic review”. Although, truth be told, we can’t really call this type of review “comprehensive” but for the aims and purposes of this class, its a good enough start at learning how to do a comprehensive and analytic review.

B. General format and due date

This comprehensive and analytic review will follow the typical rules of any essay, and it will try to apply the minimum standards required for an academic or scientific article. For more details on certain standards regarding in what regards the transparency and clarity of exposition, students should re-read the report (assigned discussed in Unit I) by APA Publications & Communications Board (2008). In terms of the format and divisions there are a few specifications (and even idiosyncrasies) that should be taken into consideration.

The text should be handed in, printed and stapled, following a Microsoft Word format, a letter size twelve (12) and a spacing of one and a half (1.5) between sentences (or line spacing in the paragraph options). The extension of the work should not be less than eight (8) pages or greater than fifteen (15) pages of content.