research paper (psychology)

Final Paper Outline Psychology 1

Learning Objectives – By working on this paper, you should: ▪ Understand how to identify and think about actual psychological research ▪ Learn more about a topic you’re interested in ▪ Become familiar with how to write a research paper in APA format ▪ Practice developing a scientific, testable hypothesis

Requirements – The steps to writing this paper: 1. Develop a question that will be the focus of your paper. This question should be something

that you would genuinely be interested in finding the answer to. ◦ This could be almost anything that you have an interest in because, like I've said,

psychologists can study anything people are involved in. ◦ Your question should be a) non-obvious, and b) specific. An obvious question is one that

could be answered just by looking in your book or asking Google (e.g., “What is depression?”) A specific question goes beyond a general topic to a specific instance of that topic. For this class, that means fitting your question into the Framework for Thinking in Psychology: picking a level (neuroscience, cognitive science, or social science) and method (abnormal, individual differences, or developmental) for thinking about a topic. ▪ Non-specific question: “Why do we fall in love?” ▪ Specific question: “How does sexual attraction to a person change social interactions

with them?” 2. Find three scholarly, empirical articles about your topic.

◦ A scholarly article is written by an expert in a particular field, and has gone through a process of peer review, meaning other experts have already evaluated the article and given the author feedback on what needs to be changed before it can be published.

◦ In an empirical article, the authors themselves have conducted some research that they are now writing about. If the article talks about someone else doing research (i.e., a review article), try to track down the original article.

3. Read the articles It’s fine if you don’t understand an article completely, but if you can’t get through it at all, then it might be better to find a different article. You should be able to identify and understand the key concepts of the research: ◦ Motivation: Why they wanted to do the research; what are the questions and ideas behind

the research? ◦ Methods: What they did for their research; what did they measure (and manipulate, if

it was an experiment) and how? ◦ Findings: What they found; relating back to the motivation and methods, how did it

all turn out? 4. Write your paper Remember: the paper is starting with your question, and ending with your

hypothesis – a statement about how you think something works, which could be tested to see if it’s false. The hypothesis should be answering the question you started with, or branching off of it. And that brings us to the...

Sections of the Paper o Introduction (10 pts., 1-2 pages) – Introduce and explain your question. What is the

topic that you're interested in? What does the reader need to know about this topic before heading into the rest of the paper? Make it engaging and interesting for the reader, and clearly state and explain your question.

o Article Reviews (15 pts. each, 1-3 pages per article) – Describe the articles you found in detail. Again, answer the questions: why they wanted to do the research, what they did for their research, and what they found.

§ Your discussion for the motivation for the research should include the researchers' hypothesis. This should be a statement starting with “The researchers' hypothesis was...”

§ When you talk about what they found, state the main point of the research. This should be a single sentence that sums up the most important findings. Make sure you explain the important details, as well, but keep the big picture in mind.

o Analysis (10 pts., 1-2 pages) – What are your conclusions regarding the research you just described?

§ Relate the findings of the studies you just discussed to each other, especially considering the main points of each. How are they similar? How are they different? Do they support each other or contradict each other?

§ Describe the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence presented in each study. Pay special attention to how different variables were defined and measured in each of the studies. How does this affect how we can interpret the findings?

o Your hypothesis (10 pts., 1-2 pages) – Answer and expand on the question you started out with.

§ Science is an argument; use the findings you just discussed to support your position. Describe why you think what you do, and focus that into a short statement that could be tested – your hypothesis.

§ Your hypothesis should be original. This is not a conclusion that re- summarizes the research you discussed earlier, it is your own contribution to the topic.

§ Your hypothesis should be underlined. If it's not, you automatically lose one point (or, in other words, this is the easiest point in the paper).

§ Your hypothesis should be supported by specific evidence. Don't just say that a study supports your hypothesis—explain why.

o Your references (15pts., 1 page + citations) – List, on a separate page, all the articles that you used in your paper in alphabetical order by the first author's last name. These should all be in APA format. For journal articles, you can use this template:

Lastname, J., & Lastname, S. (year). Title of the article, capitalizing only the first letter: Or after a colon. Title of the Journal in Italics and Capitalized, volume #(issue #), page # - #.

So…

Castel, A. D. (2008). Metacognition and learning about primacy and recency effects in free recall: The utilization of intrinsic and extrinsic cues when making judgments of learning. Memory & Cognition, 36(2), 429-437.

Additional Notes # Standard formatting – Must be typed, 12 point font, double-spaced, 1.25” margins, page numbers

on the bottom, don’t forget to put your name on it. # Submit both an emailed and a hard copy. If one of these is not turned in by the due date, your

paper will be considered late. # A final note about plagiarism:

o Plagiarism is whenever you use another person's words or ideas without giving them credit. This is a serious issue in college, and could get you expelled. If you write some words or ideas that did not come directly from your own brain, you need to cite them.

o Simply changing a few words does not work. This is still plagiarism. o If I see any plagiarism in your paper, I will subtract points. If there is substantial

plagiarism, this means that you could end up with fewer points than you started with. o A good way to avoid any unintentional plagiarism is to read the article, and then put it

aside. Don't look at it until after you've finished writing. This way, you're guaranteed that all your writing came from your own brain.