Persuasive 5 page essay, mla 8, 4 sources and citations.

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Requirements for the Term Paper

Psychology 209: Life Cycle Development

TOPIC: The topic of the paper must be related to one of the issues discussed in the area of human

life cycle development.

RESEARCH: (1) The student needs to propose a theme or an argument for this paper and explain how

the chosen topic reflects, or is related to, an important issue in the area of human life

cycle development. (2) Your paper must address one of these two Student Learning

Outcomes: (a) Identify the specific genetic and environmental influences (such as

socio-economic status, gender, race, ethnicity, English language learners, special

needs, culture, religion, schools, media, peers, and family) on physical, cognitive,

social, and emotional development. (b) Describe variables underlying socio-

economic status, racial, ethnic, and gender differences in lifespan development

The student is expected to do some original literature research, which means the student

cannot simply quote studies reported in a textbook or someone else’s paper (even though

they can serve as good leads for your own research). The student is expected to read and

summarize two original research psychology journal articles, published within the last

15 years, on a topic chosen by the student. The references should be listed in the

References section at the end of the paper (on a separate page), following the APA

format.

The best place to find peer-reviewed articles for your paper is through HACC’s eLibary:

You can go to: www.hacc.edu  Library  Find : Articles & Databases 

“PsycArticles” or “ProQuest” or “PsycINFO”, etc. (You will need to enter your HACC

id and PIN at this point.). In PsycArticles, you should “Limit Your Results” by selecting

“Full text”, and “Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals.

HACC’s eLibrary also has a psychology guide for psychology students:

http://libguides.hacc.edu/psychologyguide You will find the APA format information

under the “APA Citations” tab.

LENGTH

& FORMAT: The paper must be typed, double-spaced, and at least 6 pages in length (not counting the

cover page and References page, but no more than 8 pages). The print font used should

be either size 10 or size 12. The margins on all four sides should be one inch.

The general organization of the paper and the citations of references should follow the

APA format (copy of APA Manual is available in our library). In the APA format, the

paper should consist of sections such as synopsis, method, results, and discussion. These

sections (except synopsis) should be clearly labeled, and follow the right sequence.

Please see the sample outline on p.2. In the final Discussion section of the paper, the

student is expected to summarize the two studies cited, evaluate the findings, state your

own views/suggestions, and draw some conclusions, which should be relevant to the

theme of your paper.

DUE DATE: Specified in the course syllabus, to be submitted to Dropbox on D2L.

No late paper will be accepted.

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A Sample Outline of the Paper

(A Synopsis)

This section in usually not labeled. It is usually indented and centered. It

provides an overview of what this paper is going to talk about. You may

state the theme of your paper in a few sentences. It should not be longer

than a few lines.

Method

State you are going to quote two studies. Explain what the studies are about, and who

conducted the studies, and when, etc. Don’t forget to give in-text references for the two articles

you reviewed and you are going to summarize.

Study #1:

Method

(This is where you will need to explain who and how many people participated in the study.

You will also need to explain (if it was an experiment) what the manipulations were, what

tools/stimuli etc. were used., and what the researchers wanted to find out/their hypothesis.)

Results

(This is where you will need to summarize the results of the study – basically after the

observation or manipulations, what happened to the subjects involved in the study. Do not try to

interpret or discuss the results here. That’s what the next “Discussion” section is for.)

Discussion:

(This is where you provide a very brief summary of the discussion section of the paper.)

Study #2:

Method

Results

Discussion

Final Discussion

This is where you will need to synthesize the findings from the two studies cited. Discuss the

significance and/or the implications of the findings. The discussion should be related to the

theme you propose in this paper. That is, after citing what others have done, you are expected to

give your views/observations /suggestions/criticisms of your own. This is the most important

single part of your paper. You need to write about at least over two pages for this part.

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More information about the APA format:

• HACC’s eLibrary also has a psychology guide for psychology students: http://libguides.hacc.edu/psychologyguide You will find the APA format information under the

“APA Citations” tab

• Also: Purdue Online Writing Lab: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/10/

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Extra explanation about “a theme” or “an argument” you are to present in your paper

It is stated in the instructions given above, “(1) The student needs to propose a theme or an

argument for this paper and explain how the chosen topic reflects, or is related to, an important

issue in the area of human life cycle development.”

By proposing a "theme or an argument" for your paper, I mean your paper can't be just a

summary of two articles you read. You will need to convey a message or make an argument in

your paper, with support of research in the field (that's what the two peer-reviewed articles are

for).

Please also note, I have placed no restrictions on the possible topics students can choose. As

long as the topic you have chosen is related to life cycle development, it will be a valid topic.

The topics can be related to any of the four areas on human development: physical, cognitive,

personality, and social developments.

Examples of a hypothetical theme or an argument:

-- Physical development: Drinking milk everyday will make children grow taller and healthier.

Or: drinking milk is not important at all in terms of young children's physical growth.

-- Cognitive development: reading goodnight stories daily to babies will make babies smarter

and have a big, richer vocabulary.

Or: Reading to babies is a waste of time because they won't understand the stories anyway.

-- Social development: Homeschooling children will hinder their social development; they will

appear awkward in social settings.

Or: Homeschooling children will not hinder their social development, because there are

enough social activities they can attend for their social development.

-- Personality development: Birth orders (whether one was born as the first child or the second

child, or the last child, etc. in the family) affect the individual's personality development (shaping

them into certain types).

Or: Personality is largely shaped by genetics.

Hope this helps!