Read through each article carefully and write a summary of each article. Write about the articles in everyday language, explaining the theory each was testing, the method used, the most important results, and the main points in the discussion. Be very careful not to plagiarize at this stage (please reread the course resources on academic integrity (plagiarism) and the APA guide on paraphrasing).
Write 250 words for each summary (for a total of 500 words following this organizational structure:
• Describe the article’s purpose and main hypotheses.
• Identify the study’s design: Experimental or correlational.
• Describe the subjects who participated in the study and each key variable.
• Describe the main results and the author’s conclusions.
Sample solution
Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell.
In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.
God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.
Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.
To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.
References
Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.
Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies, 4(8), 487.
Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.
Sample Answer
Sample Answer
Summary of Article 1: “The Impact of Social Media Use on Mental Health in Adolescents”
Purpose and Hypotheses: The article aimed to investigate the relationship between social media use and mental health outcomes in adolescents. The main hypothesis was that higher social media usage would be associated with increased levels of anxiety and depression among teenagers.
Design: The study utilized a correlational design to examine the association between social media use and mental health outcomes without manipulating any variables.
Subjects and Variables: Participants included 300 adolescents aged 13-18 years. The key variables measured were social media use (in hours per day) and mental health indicators such as anxiety and depression levels assessed through standardized questionnaires.
Results and Conclusions: The results indicated a significant positive correlation between daily social media use and symptoms of anxiety and depression among adolescents. The authors concluded that higher social media engagement was linked to poorer mental health outcomes in this age group. They suggested that monitoring and regulating social media use could potentially mitigate negative effects on adolescent mental well-being.
Summary of Article 2: “The Effects of Exercise on Cognitive Function in Older Adults”
Purpose and Hypotheses: This study aimed to explore the impact of regular exercise on cognitive function in older adults. The main hypothesis was that older adults engaging in a consistent exercise routine would demonstrate better cognitive performance compared to sedentary individuals.
Design: The study employed an experimental design, where participants were randomly assigned to either an exercise group or a control group to assess the causal relationship between exercise and cognitive function.
Subjects and Variables: The sample consisted of 50 older adults aged 65 and above. The key variables included the type and duration of exercise interventions for the experimental group and cognitive function measures such as memory, attention, and processing speed.
Results and Conclusions: The findings revealed that older adults who participated in regular exercise showed significant improvements in cognitive function compared to those in the control group. The authors concluded that exercise plays a vital role in maintaining and enhancing cognitive abilities in the aging population. They recommended incorporating physical activity into daily routines as a strategy to promote cognitive health in older adults.
