PS51009D — Science Communication Assessment

Applications of Psychological Research

Dr Gordon Wright & Dr Bence Palfi

Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London

2026-03-18

Overview

This deck covers everything you need to know about the science communication assessment for PS51009D.

Blog and resources ps51009d-blog
Assessment brief assessment.qmd
How to publish contributing.qmd
Example post posts/example-post
Formatting guide posts/formatting-guide
Submit your work Moodle

The assessment at a glance

Two components, one deadline: Monday 11 May, 12 noon

Component Format Weight
Science communication piece Blog post (800–1000 words) or video recording (4–5 min) 90%
Reflection piece Written (480–600 words) or recording (2.5–3 min) 10%

Important

Both components are submitted via Moodle. Submissions not received via Moodle will not be marked.

Component 1 — Science Communication (90%)

Choose one target article and communicate the research to a non-expert audience.

You must:

  • Summarise the research question, method, findings, and conclusions
  • Write in the third person (you did not run the study)
  • Create at least one original visual aid — you cannot reuse a figure from the article
  • Include in-text citations and a full APA reference list

Target articles

Week Topic Authors
16 Human-AI Interactions Pálfi, Arora & Kostopoulou (2022)
17 Meditation Research Condon, Desbordes, Miller & DeSteno (2013)
18 Individual Differences Bremner et al. (2013)
19 Neuropsychology Cocchini et al. (2010)
— Music Psychology McDermott et al. (2016)
— Expert Performance Li et al. (2020)
— Eyewitness Testimony Gabbert, Hope & Fisher (2009)
— Stalking Scott, Stathi & Burniak (2022)

Full references and DOIs are on the Assessment page.

Week 20 (tutorial week) has no target article - it is this!

What good looks like

Upper second and first class work clearly communicates all four of:

The content

  1. The research question
  2. The study method and procedure
  3. The findings
  4. The conclusions

The style

  • Written for a curious general reader
  • Not for other psychologists
  • Think: The Conversation, The Guardian science section
  • Visual aids that earn their place — not decoration

The target style

Read examples from The Conversation — written by academics, for general audiences.

“Goosebumps, tears and tenderness: what it means to be moved”

“Memory and sense of self may play more of a role in autism than we thought”

Science writing in The Times or The Guardian also gives a good sense of the required register.

See the full list of style examples on the Assessment page.

Component 2 — Reflection Piece (10%)

Reflect on your experience creating your blog using Bain’s 5Rs model.

R Focus
Reporting What did you do? What did you choose, and why?
Responding How did you feel? What changed over the assignment?
Relating How does this connect to previous experiences?
Reasoning What factors shaped your experience, and why?
Reconstructing What will you carry forward?

Respond to at least one prompt per R. Full prompt list on the Assessment page.

Submitting for marking

All submissions go via Moodle

Work not submitted to Moodle will not be marked — regardless of whether it is on the blog.

Submit here: Moodle submission page

  • Blog post: submit as a Word doc or PDF
  • Video: submit as a PowerPoint file (with recorded audio)
  • Reflection: same submission page, same deadline

Publishing on the blog (optional)

Publishing here is not required for the assessment. It is an opportunity to have your work read by a real audience.

If you want to publish:

  1. Upload a copy to the OneDrive folder
  2. Gordon will review and publish it

You still need to submit your work via Moodle separately.

Full instructions: How to Publish

The blog site

The blog is built with Quarto and published online.

Pages on the site:

Page Purpose
Posts Published student work
Assessment Full brief, target articles, marking guidance
How to Publish Step-by-step publishing guide
Example post A complete example of the required style
Formatting guide Quarto features with source code
About Module and site information

The example post

An example science communication post is available on the site.

It covers: “Eyebrows cue grandiose narcissism” (Giacomin & Rule, 2019, Journal of Personality)

The post demonstrates:

  • The required style and length
  • How to cite sources inline
  • How to use visual aids effectively
  • The complete post structure from title to reference list

Read the example post

Writing in Quarto — key features

The Formatting guide shows source code for every feature below.

Structure

  • YAML header (title, author, date)
  • Headings with ## and ###
  • TL;DR summary block
  • Author card

Features

  • Callout boxes (note, tip, warning, important)
  • Pull quotes
  • Tabset panels (Method / Findings / Implications)
  • Images with captions
  • Tables

Citations and references

Quarto handles citations automatically from a .bib file.

In your YAML:

bibliography: references.bib

In your text:

Condon and colleagues [-@condon2013] found that meditation...

...consistent with previous findings [@hofmann2011; @klimecki2014].

At the end of your post:

## References
::: {#refs}
:::

Quarto formats the reference list in APA style automatically.

Getting .bib entries from Zotero

Zotero is free reference management software at zotero.org.

  1. Add the paper to your Zotero library
  2. Right-click the item → Export Item → Format: BibTeX
  3. Copy the entry into your references.bib file
  4. Note the citation key (e.g. condon2013) — this is what you use in the text

Alternatively: Google Scholar → Cite → BibTeX → copy and paste.

Full instructions in the Formatting guide.

Callout boxes

Use callouts to define terms, flag limitations, or separate your view from the evidence.

::: {.callout-note}
## Key term
Define the concept here in plain language.
:::

::: {.callout-warning}
## Limitation
Flag a methodological caveat here.
:::

Four types: callout-note (blue), callout-tip (green), callout-warning (orange), callout-important (red).

Pull quotes and TL;DR

Pull quote — one quotable sentence displayed prominently:

::: {.pullquote}
"Your most important finding in one sentence."
:::

TL;DR block — three-bullet summary at the top of the post:

::: {.tldr}
- Key finding
- Why it matters
- What to take away
:::

Tabset panels

Organise dense content into tabs so readers can navigate:

::: {.panel-tabset}

## Method
Who took part, what they did, how it was measured.

## Findings
What the results showed — with specific numbers.

## Implications
What this means beyond the lab.

:::

Before you submit — checklist

Getting help

Resource Where
Full assessment brief assessment.qmd
Example post posts/example-post
Formatting guide posts/formatting-guide
Publishing guide contributing.qmd
Moodle submission learn.gold.ac.uk

For questions about the assessment, post on the Moodle forum so everyone benefits from the answer.

PS51009D Applications of Psychological Research

Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London

Dr Gordon Wright — g.wright@gold.ac.uk Dr Bence Palfi — b.palfi@gold.ac.uk

Submission deadline: Monday 11 May, 12 noon Submit via: Moodle