In your essay, you should:
• Paraphrase the research question, why it is interesting, what we already know about this issue, and the main point of the paper.
• Describe the study that was run and what the findings were. What hypothesis is being tested? How does the author build evidence to support their main point? Give specific details about the methodology and the kind of data that were collected. When describing the assessment of the data, it is ok to focus on the descriptions of the findings rather than the details of the statistical analysis.
• Consider the implications of this study for our understanding of the influence of environmental and/or biological factors on language acquisition. What do we learn from it?
• Consider what additional questions the study raises. Do you find it convincing? Why or why not? What additional information or follow-up studies would you like to see? Why?
