Writing Assignment for Human Growth and Development Class

RESEARCH PAPER

Goal: Analyze the parts of science by finding two professional social scientific journal articles that are original research from Wor-Wic’s data bases and summarize.

The writing assignment for this class will be a research paper. PLEASE READ the guidelines below BEFORE writing your paper.

1. The paper must be in 12 point Times New Roman font, with one inch margins on the top, bottom, and sides. The paper should be three to five pages in length, NOT INCLUDING cover page or reference page.

2. The paper must be in American Psychological Association (APA) format. There are guidelines on the Library Services homepage (Current Students>Learning Resources>Library Services>Citing Sources>APA Style). Click on the APA Style handout and READ the document regarding in-text citations, reference pages, and cover page. DO NOT attempt to write this paper without reading this information FIRST, OR you may go to ANY media/computer center on campus and pick up a hard copy of the APA Style handout.

3. You must utilize Wor-Wic’s databases to do your research. Follow this link: Current Students>Learning Resources> Library Services>Research Databases. Click on the Social Sciences/Psychology/Sociology link. This will direct you to a page which lists all of the available databases Wor-Wic has for students. Popular databases for Psychology research include ProQuest Central, ProQuest Psychology Journals, and ProQuest Social Science Journals. You are looking for a PEER REVIEWED, SCHOLARLY JOURNAL which is ORIGINAL RESEARCH!! This does NOT include newspaper articles, book reviews, or magazines!! Your article will have “headers” in the content: Introduction, Subjects/Methodology, Data, Results, Discussion. The article will be about research written by those who performed the research/study (i.e., “original” or “primary” research). You need to find a minimum of TWO articles about the topic you are interested in- any topic under the discipline of Psychology is acceptable, as long as you have the correct type of articles.

4. Your paper should have an introduction section which answers the following questions:

What is your topic?

Why did you choose it?

What did you want to find out from your research?

The body of your paper should summarize the research articles you found. This includes the purpose of the study, how the subjects were chosen, what the researchers did- the method of their research, the results of the study, and the conclusions they made from their results. This section will have IN-TEXT CITATIONS.

· The conclusion of your paper should be your own opinion about the studies and what you discovered about the topic. Did you learn anything new or significant? You should also write about whether or not you believe the studies you researched contributed significantly to the science of psychology- were they objective, performed according to the scientific method, etc. (See your rubric for more information on what is expected for this).

You will also have a cover page (see APA style handout/online information) and a reference page.

5. A Grading Rubric is available for you to view on Course Content. This will show you exactly what I will be looking for when grading your paper.

6. Papers will be turned in through Black Board. Please turn in under Week 14 where you Research Paper.