Topic Development Worksheet
(Replace highlighted text and/or follow instructions as indicated.
Please keep your responses highlighted).
Instruction Example
Step
One
Begin with a general topic. Social Psychology
Step
Two
Narrow your general topic by
selecting a topic from one chapter
in our textbook.
Attraction and Intimacy
Step
Three
Skim the chapter to identify one
topic within the chapter that
interests you. Read that section
and write down questions that
come to mind.
How important is the need to belong? (Page 80)
Step
Four
Identify one question that
interests you most. This will
become your research question.
What are the benefits of community?
Step
Five
Begin your search to determine
what has been discovered on your
topic. This will be a preliminary
look at the topic. Feel free to flag
articles that look like they may be
helpful but don’t be in a hurry to
create a final list.
Research Tips:
1. Make a list of keywords from the section of our textbook pertaining to
your topic to use as search terms. , belonging, ostracism, acceptance,
isolation, ostracized people,
2. Search for one of the articles cited in our textbook in the JF Library. Your
search will produce a list of related articles.
3. Type your research question in the Google Scholar search box to locate
related articles. Within Google Scholar you can then look at the “Cited By”
articles as well as the “Related Articles.” (Community) acceptance
belonging
4. Remember to narrow your search to include only articles from the last
five years.
5. In the JFL search engine you can specify the date range, the type of
article, etc.
5years
Step Six Based on what you find in the
literature, formulate a preliminary
purpose/thesis statement.
Your thesis statement should:
1. Be a response to your
research question that
identifies your topic,
2. State your position, and
3. Provide evidence to support
your position.
This purpose statement may need
to be adjusted/refined as you
conduct your research.
Close personal relationships are associated with better outcomes related to
physical, mental, and spiritual health based on correlational studies
conducted by Smith (2017), Jones (2019), Marshall (2020), Bigsby (2018)
and Knabb (2021).
Based on the research found, loneliness and social isolation are major risk,
especially among young people.
Step
Seven
Finalize your research process by
choosing at least 5 articles from
the JF Library. All 5 must be
from peer-reviewed journals
published within the past 5 years.
All five must describe original
research and each article must
support your research question
and purpose statement.
How to identify “original
research”
Gore, J., Patfield, S., Fray, L., & Harris, J. (2022).
Community matters : the complex links between
community and young peoples. Routledge.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003019534
Holt-Lunstad, J., Smith, T. B., Baker, M., Harris, T., &
Stephenson, D. (2015). Loneliness and Social Isolation
as Risk Factors for Mortality: A Meta-Analytic Review.
Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(2), 227–237.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/44290063
Robinson, S., Hill, M., Fisher, K. R., & Graham, A.
(2020). Belonging and exclusion in the lives of young
Original research articles will
include the following sections:
• Abstract
• Introduction (will not always
identified with a label)
• Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• References
The abstract for original
research will likely include
words such as these:
• Study
• Sample
The abstract for original
research will NOT include
these words:
• Review
• Meta-Analysis
• Editorial
• Commentary
people with intellectual disability in small town
communities. Journal of Intellectual Disabilities., 24(1),
50–68. https://doi.org/10.1177/1744629518765830
Manuela Barreto, C. V. (2021). Loneliness around the
world: Age, gender, and cultural differences in
loneliness,. Personality and Individual
Differences.
Vincenzo Paolo Senese, G. C. (2023). The association
between social isolation, loneliness and
psychological problems in young adults: A study
during the acute phase of COVID-19 in Italy.
International Journal of Psychology, 184-191.
Step Download a PDF copy of each
article selected.
Download a PDF copy of each article. These copies will be submitted with
your assignment (you will upload a total of six documents: This worksheet
Eight and 5 separate articles). The PDFs should be named using the first author's
last name as the document identifier. For example: Smith.PDF
Step
Nine
Final Steps ●Create an APA-formatted title page to use as a cover sheet for this
document.
●Self-check using the assignment instructions and grading rubric.
●Begin reading and taking notes on your articles as they will be
used for the upcoming Research Project: Literature Review
Assignment.
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
