psychology

Writing Assignment- Child Development

PSYC 3185

Essay Guidelines

You may choose to write about debunking a myth, doing a cross-cultural comparison, or a practical guide to a group regarding an aspect of child development. You may also combine two of these options in a way that suits your learning goals.

The purpose of this assignment is to allow you to practice the skills that you will learn throughout this course.  You will show that you know how to find and read empirical research articles in the field of child & youth development, to think critically and scientifically about research, and to synthesize information from various sources.  Finally, you will demonstrate that you are able to communicate your thoughts in a clear and effective manner.

The goals of your paper are to:

1. Identify and communicate a research question related to the field of child development

2. Thoroughly answer the question that you are proposing.

3. Cite literature that is up-to-date (unless you have a historical perspective) and of good quality.

4. Integrate information from a variety of sources to explain all sides of the argument.

5. Interpret the main conclusions that can be drawn from the studies you report.

6. Evaluate how these conclusions are relevant in the world.

7. Communicate ideas clearly and effectively using appropriate writing style and APA format.

Each student will write an essay based on a series of empirical, peer-reviewed journal articles.  You will choose a topic of interest to you. This topic must be related to child development (hint:  you can use the topics listed in the syllabus or in our textbook as a guide). Your topic can be any area of child & youth development, but make sure it’s not too broad, or you will have too much to cover. For example, you wouldn’t want to write a paper on “memory” or “children’s living environment”, but you might want to do “how children’s living environment impacts memory development” or “social support and coping with stress”.

A primary reference is one that includes experiments that were conducted by the author(s), and does not include textbooks, popular press articles, or Wikipedia!  Most articles you find via Google Scholar or CSU library are appropriate (because they are from peer-reviewed journals). You will describe the topic in a manner akin to that of a literature review in a primary journal article for an audience of non-experts.  DO NOT simply find several articles that had similar keywords and then write a summary of each.  Your job is to synthesize this information which means you will need to show how each of these studies relates not only to your research question, but to each other.   This means that you will probably have to read more articles than you will eventually cite in the paper.  Whenever possible, you should cite the original source. If you can’t cite the original source, you may cite a secondary source under certain conditions (see APA manual). When you cite you should have read the whole article, not just the abstract.

If you are having trouble coming up with a topic, or want to know if your topic is appropriate, come to office hours. You must turn your paper via the dropbox on CougarView in doc or docx format.

Answer these in your self-graded rubric, along with filling out the rubric HONESTLY:

Option Chosen: ____________________________________________

Thesis Statement (Copy and paste from your paper & identify what page it can be found on): _____________________________________________

Developmental Theme(s): ____________________________________________

APA Style

Criterion	Yes	No
Used Times New Roman 12 point font
Entire paper was double-spaced
Margins were 1-inch throughout
Sections were in correct order and format (e.g., abstract on own page)
Indents followed APA format guidelines
Running head followed APA standards
Headings and sub-headings followed APA standards
Citations were formatted correctly and in proper places
References were formatted correctly and complete
Citations and references matched up (reference for every citation and vice versa)
Maintains a research/scientific tone throughout the paper
Avoids improper use of causal language (e.g., prove, effect, cause…)
Use appropriate and consistent tense, active sentence structure, and personal pronoun
Title Page in correct format with Author Note included
Use correct terms in correct sections (e.g., relation in lit review; correlation in result section)
Abstract Page: introduce topic and its value; present thesis statement; present findings; provides a take home message
Abstract page & key words in APA format

Miscellaneous (*10% automatic grade penalty minimum if not done)

Criterion	Yes	No
Submitted paper to turnitin.com & contains no plagiarism*
Submitted full pdf of each paper cited in dropbox*
Minimum number of research articles cited (8-10 research articles suggested minimum)
Self-evaluated rubric turned in with paper*
Clearly on a topic in child or adolescent development
Accessible language written to an audience beyond your professor
Suggested length of 4-8 pages for the body of the paper

Introduction Section

	A “Wow, incredible!”	B “Nicely done”	C “Got the job done”	D “Needs a lot of work”	F “Unacceptable”
Opening Paragraph
Sets the stage for the rest of the paper by introducing and highlighting general information about the project’s topic.
Includes a clear thesis statement.
Literature Review
Comprehensively reviews previous research on the topic.
Content clearly and competently builds a case for the study’s hypotheses.
Goes beyond summarizing to point out weaknesses or gaps in previous research.
Paragraphs are organized around themes and/or subtopics.
Each paragraph has a clear topic sentence and transition sentence to the next paragraph.
Paragraphs are organized in a logical fashion with good flow.
Somewhere In The Paper
Provides a justification for performing further research on this topic.
Clearly articulates the purpose / goals of the paper (i.e., research question or thesis statement)
Provides conceptual definitions for variables that are discussed.
Clearly connects to at least 1 major theory or area of child development (theme) throughout

Discussion Section

	A “Wow, incredible!”	B “Nicely done”	C “Got the job done”	D “Needs a lot of work”	F “Unacceptable”
Discussion of Results in Context of Literature
Restates thesis statement/research question and whether it was supported
For research statement/thesis statement, provides a recap of previous research on the topic.
Accurately identifies at least 2 potential limitations with the research to date.
Future Directions & Implications (should be labeled separately)
Provides accurate and insightful suggestions for how to do the same project better, including why these changes are necessary.
Identifies at least one additional question on the research topic that deserves future attention.
Explains why answering this question would be beneficial for the field.
Discusses the usefulness of research and findings & how it relates to at least 2 domains (areas of application)
Conclusions
Provides a quick restatement of the results (grandma).
Provides a quick summary of how these results align with previous research.
Makes a compelling argument for how these results are relevant to the field and life in general.
Leaves readers with a clear, easy to understand take-home message.