Reference no: EM133190840

History and Theory of Psychology PSY 4391

Research Paper

Assignment:

You will need to complete one major research paper.  The assignment will have you write a research paper that thoroughly reviews and discusses a topic of interest related to the history of psychology using at least seven academic journal articles as source material.  A successful paper is able to link the study of the history of psychology to modern issues and topics, or other new ground.

Your assignment is to write a 6- to 8-page paper presenting work from at least seven (7) academic journal articles as your source material.  This research must be related to your topic of interest and should go beyond what we have covered in class. 

Your assignment will be completed in TWO parts:

Part 1:

Early in the semester, you will also be required to turn in a draft research paper assignment consisting of: 1) a concise statement of your research paper topic and your main point (thesis statement), 2) a brief outline of your paper, and 3) an APA-formatted reference page including your seven academic sources.

Part 2:

Later in the semester, your final research paper will be a minimum of six complete pages and a maximum of eight pages (double-spaced, one-inch margins, Times New Roman 12 pt. font- in addition to a title page, and an APA-formatted References page).

Example Paper: If you are interested in the topic of "The Clockwork Universe", you should go beyond the course material either in your depth of coverage of the topic, or by making new connections to other relevant topics that we have not discussed.  You have room to be creative here and explore connections from this material to your passions in psychology.  Your included research would then be at least 7 studies that, fitting this example, researched the perspective of the universe as a clock-like mechanism and how that belief can be linked to interesting developments that can be traced to psychology's birth, or another important event.  You would present the relevant research and discuss/argue the contributions of these seven studies to what the field seems to know or believe about this topic. 

Summary of Requirements:

• Summarize, discuss, and use as evidence for your argument at least seven academic journal articles.
• You will also write in a formal tone, befitting a research paper and not informal, conversational language.
• Each research paper will be concise- a minimum of six complete pages and a maximum of eight pages.
• Papers must be double-spaced, one-inch margins, Times New Roman 12 pt. font.
• All papers must also include a separate References page (not counted toward page limits)-this reference page is where you will cite your seven journal articles in APA format.
• All papers must include in-text citations for background information and supporting evidence.
• Before discussing the contributions of each article, write an introductory paragraph identifying your topic of interest for the paper and clearly stating your position on the topic (thesis statement).
• After summarizing and integrating all seven (or more) scientific articles as evidence, you should discuss and compare the overall contributions of the journal articles to their topic of study and develop a conclusion (remember: articles must be related in topic!).