You will be writing a 4 page paper (not including References page) on a psychology topic of your choosing reviewing the current research. You will incorporate 3 peer reviewed journal articles and a bibliography in APA style. You will also give a brief presentation on your research to the class (5 mins).
You can include non-scholarly sources, such as magazine, newspaper and web sources IN ADDITION to the three scholarly sources. You still need to use 3 scholarly journal articles in your paper.
The paper should include in-text citations and a bibliography according to APA format.
See the Finding Articles page for information about what a professional journal article is.
You can get help with your research project from a librarian either by going to the library in person or emailing the librarian who taught your research session (see under Help tab).
For additional information on your assignment and due dates ask Professor Palmieri.
The resources below can help you get ideas for a paper topic. You can browse around or search to get ideas. These items are dictionaries and encyclopedias and are not professional sources. If you are off-campus you will need to log in with your MyWCC user ID and password.
THESE SOURCES DO NOT PROVIDE SCHOLARLY ARTICLES
It is easier to write a paper if you choose a topic that is not too broad or too narrow. You may start with a general age group (e.g. childhood), but will need to narrow down your topic to a manageable size. Think of ways to break down your topic into smaller pieces, for example by adding a specific developmental issue at that age (e.g. language, congnitive, health, personality) and focus one of those to write about.
You may want to focus on a specific population (e.g. children; college students; visually impaired; hoarders; etc). Try to pose a question that you will answer in your paper. The important thing is to find a topic that interests YOU.
Broad topic: Nature vs Nurture
+ Subtopic: Personality
= Paper Topic:
How does both Nature and Nurture effect Personality? (still a bit broad)
+ Subtopic: Twins
= Paper Topic:
Nature and Nurture on Personality Development of Separated Twins (better topic)
Broad topic: Attachment Theory
+ Subtopic: Family Separation
= Paper Topic:
The Effects of Family Separation on Child Attachment (still broad)
+ Subtopic: Migration
= Paper Topic:
Attachment Issues due to Family Separation of Immigrant Children (better topic)
