Analysis of six articles Published in communication journals

1. The Effects of Frustration, Violence, and Trait Hostility

After Playing a Video Game
-Kevin D. Williams1
2. Reaching Out: Newspaper Credibility among Young
Adult Readers
-Cory L. Armstrong; Steve J. Collins2
3. Why We Watch: Factors Affecting Exposure to Tragic
Television News
-Cynthia A. Hoffner; Yuki Fujioka; Jiali Ye; Amal G. S.
Ibrahim

1. Williams, Kevin D.(2009) 'The Effects of Frustration, Violence,

and Trait Hostility After Playing a Video Game', Mass
Communication and Society, 12: 3, 291 310
2. Armstrong, Cory L. and Collins, Steve J.(2009) 'Reaching Out:
Newspaper Credibility Among Young Adult Readers', Mass
Communication and Society, 12: 1, 97 114
3. Hoffner, Cynthia A. , Fujioka, Yuki , Ye, Jiali and Ibrahim, Amal
G. S.(2009) 'Why We Watch: Factors Affecting Exposure to
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Tragic Television News', Mass Communication and Society, 12:

2, 193 216

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Article 1
The Effects of Frustration, Violence, and Trait Hostility
after Playing a Video Game
-Kevin D. Williams
Summary:
Analysis of the structure:
The title contains the variables and the problem but the
context is missing.
The article starts with a brief abstract followed by an
introduction which contains an overview of the problem,
the main focus of the study and the method used in brief.
Review of literature is covered under the headings
Research Concerning Video Games and Revisiting the
FrustrationAggression Relationship.
The objectives and the hypotheses are mentioned under
the headings- Theoretical Rationale and Theoretical
Implications and Justification of the Study.
This is followed by the Methodology, which is further
subdivided in the following manner
Methodology

Design and Operational definitions

Participants
Pilot Testing to Determine Appropriate
Video Games
Procedure of the Main Experiment
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 The Results section is divided into two parts

Descriptive Demographics and Main Experimental
Results.

Graph and table have been used to represent the

findings.

This is followed by the heading Discussion and

Conclusion, subdivided in the following sub-headings
Summary and Implications
Limitations
Conclusion
At the end there is the list of References.
Footnotes have not been used in the article.

Grade:
10

Bad

Excellent

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Article 2
Reaching Out: Newspaper Credibility among Young Adult
Readers
-Cory L. Armstronga; Steve J. Collinsb
College of Journalism and Communications University of
Florida, bNicholson School of Communication University of
Central Florida.
a

Summary:
Analysis of the structure:
The article starts with the introduction. There is no
abstract.
It is followed by Literature Review which also contains
the hypotheses and the aim stated in the form of
research question.
The methodology is described by dividing it into two subheadings Dependent Variables and Independent
Variables.
The Results have been substantiated with tables.
The Discussion section contains the indications and
suggestions that come out of the study.
This is followed by limitations and Future Directions and
References.
Footnotes have been given wherever necessary.

Grade:
10

Bad

Excellent
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Article 3
Why We Watch: Factors Affecting Exposure to Tragic
Television News
Cynthia A. Hoffner; Yuki Fujioka; Jiali Ye; Amal G. S. Ibrahim
Summary:
Analysis of the structure:
The article starts with an abstract followed by the
introduction,
Then the key concepts have been explained under
respective headings which also cover the Review of
Literature,
The hypotheses and the research questions are
discussed under the heading The Present Study. There
are seven hypotheses grouped in three categories.
The Method section is quite elaborate and is explained in
detail under the following subheadings:
Respondents
Procedures
Measures
The Results section is subdivided according to the
research questions and is illustrated with the help of
tables.
The Limitations and Future Research is given in the
Discussion section
References are given.
Footnotes have been used.

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Grade:
10

Bad

Excellent

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Article 4

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Characteristics of the Articles:

All the six research articles are characterised by detailed
titles, mentioning the variables and the problem most of
the times. In some cases the context was also given.
Almost all the articles included abstract at the beginning
followed by an introduction.
In all of the articles the authors have mentioned the
previous research or study that has been done and have
mentioned why was the present study needed.
Hypotheses and research questions are mentioned in the
articles.
In most of the cases the key concepts, variables and other
terms have been clearly defined.
The methodology employed to select the sample, collect
the data and measure the variables have been mentioned
in all the articles.
The collected data are then analysed to see if the
hypotheses are valid or not. Tables, Graphs and Charts are
used to substantiate the results.
All the articles end with a discussion, mentioning the
Limitations and Future Research followed by a list of
books and works consulted in the doing the research.

All these characteristics differentiate these articles from the

articles found in news papers or magazines.

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A common structure based on the study of the six

articles
Based on the study of the six research article the following
common structure can be deduced:
1. Title mentioning the variables, the context and the
problem
2. Abstract
3. Introduction
4. Aims and purpose of the study
5. Review of literature
6. Methodology
7. Results or Findings
8. Analysis and discussion
9. Summary and conclusions
10. List of references
11. Appendices

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