4 STEPS FOR COMPLETING THIS ASSIGNMENT
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I. FIND AT LEAST THREE (3) PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLES RELATING TO YOUR CHOSEN TOPIC
(just to remind you, the topic of your paper should be the one you have picked for Activity 1).
DO NOT USE ARTICLES FROM POPULAR MAGAZINES!!!
They should be cited in the text and referenced in the APA style on a separate page (details below in the Reference section)
Here is a good tutorial regarding finding scholarly articles How to Find Scholarly Articles
You can also contact our Social Sciences Librarian Meredith Farkas. She is very knowledgeable and helpful in assisting students (and faculty) with scholarly searches https://guides.pcc.edu/psychology
II. GENERAL FORMATTING:
Please DO NOT send your paper in Pages from Mac, as I am not able to open them. If you do not have Microsoft Office, you can use Google Docs, and save your essay in Word or PDF format, before uploading it to Dropbox; you could also use any Library computer, and PCC has many computer labs in every location 🙂
NO ABSTRACT is required for this class
The paper should be no longer than 6 pages, DOUBLE SPACED THROUGHOUT, and have 1-inch margins around it. A variety of fonts are permitted in APA Style papers. Font options include the following: sans serif fonts such as 11-point Calibri, 11-point Arial, or 10-point Lucida Sans Unicode, or serif fonts such as 12-point Times New Roman, 11-point Georgia, or regular (10-point) Computer Modern (the default font for LaTeX)
Use the narrative (no points, no bullets, no partial sentences) to complete it
NO QUOTES! Quotes and sentences that are mostly or entirely not PARAPHRASED will not count as acceptable answers or content
The in-text citations ARE MANDATORY and it is customary to mention in your paper what are the sources of your information at least ONCE in a paragraph. For instance, “As stated in the …. article”, or “Researchers (Authors, Year) mentioned that”, etc.
Tips for paraphrasing – when paraphrasing, break long sentences into two or three shorter ones. Reorder wording and use a thesaurus to change words. Paraphrasing – it is often easy to tell if you don’t paraphrase
How long? Write at least ONE FULL paragraph for each section
“It’s” is a contraction of “IT IS”, while “ITS” is a possessive form of IT. It is also suggested in the APA to spell out all words, instead of using contractions. Thus, using “it is”, “do not”, and “they are”, instead of “it’s”, “don’t”, and “they’re”, is preferred!
Here is a sample student paper with annotations APA 7 Student Sample Paper with annotations.pdf. Keep in mind that your paper is much simpler, and it only requires 5 sections (listed below)
You can find elements of the student academic paper here APA Concise Guide to Formatting Student Paper in the APA Style
III. TYPE YOUR REPORT (here are the REQUIRED sections of the paper, in the correct order). To help you with this, I created a PSY 215 TEMPLATE FOR THE TERM PAPER in the APA style. When you click on the link, you will be asked to create a copy of the template (this prevents students from using my Master Copy as their own paper). I want you to use the Template to get full points for your Term Paper (10 points will be deducted for not following the proper APA format). Make sure that you remove my suggestions and guidelines before submission so that only your writing is included in the paper.
Title Page
Introduction (at least 1 paragraph)
Summary of the articles– paraphrasing, NO QUOTES!!! (at least 3 paragraphs)
Conclusion with a cultural component (at least 1 paragraph)
References
1). TITLE PAGE:
Is part of the paper (although a SEPARATE PAGE, NOT a SEPARATE DOCUMENT)
The title page should include: the page number in the upper right-hand corner, the title of the paper (boldface), your name, your academic affiliation, course number, and name, instructor’s name, and due date (REQUIRED)
Subsequent pages should have page numbers in the upper right-hand corner
2). INTRODUCTION:
Introduction Paragraph – repeat the (boldface) title of the paper from the first page, but DO NOT say Introduction. Write in paragraph form (no bullets). Include these items:
What topics does your report cover?
Why is this topic interesting, fascinating, and challenging?
What are the names of the authors and conclusions included in the papers? Do different authors agree or disagree on the topic?
Introduction example: “The topic of this paper is… It has fascinated/challenged many people, due to the… There are many articles on the topics of , but the ones used in this paper summarize research that was published by (Author, Year), (Authors, Year), and (Authors, Year). All authors agree/disagree that…”
TIP 1 – write this paragraph LAST
TIP 2 – DO NOT use personal (“I”, “we”, “our”, etc.), judgmental, or emotive language in your narrative. This is not a personal journal or a reflection paper and therefore requires a so-called, objective form of expression
3). ARTICLES SUMMARY:
Article 1 – You can use the Title of Article as the title of this paragraph (Title only, CENTERED and bolded, on a separate line ABOVE the paragraph. Do not write “Article 1”). Write in paragraph form (no bullets). Include these items:
What is the purpose of the study and the APA citation? In your own words, write what you think the article was about. You might find it in the abstract.
Example: “The purpose of the article by was to …….
Describe the participants in the study.
All three articles should include the following items. However, not all articles report all of them. So, you can use whatever is included without losing any points:
NUMBER. Instead of a total number, the article may report numbers in each group (e.g., 32 Women & 37 Men). If no numbers are reported, say “No specific numbers were reported.”
AGE. Use specific numbers or percentages (e.g., “… their ages ranged from 28 to 35 years old.”). If no ages are reported, say “No specific ages were reported.” NOTE: Use the word “to” between numbers (not 28-35) and always specify years, months, or days old.
GENDER. It may be a percentage. If all one gender, then say “All participants were . If no genders are reported, say “No specific genders were reported.”
ONE OTHER factor that DESCRIBES the participants. NOTE: If specific age or gender breakdowns are not reported, then write that in your report.
Examples of other factors are race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, physical or mental health diagnosis, level of education, birth weight, and so on.
Experimental groups (e.g., types of therapy or training) are NOT descriiptive factors.
Animals: If your article uses mice, rats, or other animals, report as much information as possible, including number, gender, and age when available. Other information might be breed or genetic makeup.
What is the main conclusion of the study? In your own words (but not using “I” statements), write what you think the conclusion was. Add an explanation or more detail about the conclusion. Answer the MAIN QUESTION from the Activity 1 handout – not in one sentence, but in a full paragraph, using some of the material you have introduced in the body of the paper, then summarize, and conclude the main discoveries…
Examples of conclusions with a detailed explanation:
“Yoga was observed to reduce post-partum depression symptoms.” Add more detail: What type of yoga, how much, what were the depression symptoms, how much did the symptoms change, etc.
“Regular recess was correlated with student’s grades.” Add more detail: Was the correlation positive or negative (more recess=better or lower grades?), what is being defined as regular recess activities, was it all grades or only specific subjects, etc.
Articles 2 & 3 (and more if used) – FOLLOW THE ARTICLE 1 DIRECTIONS. Each article requires a separate FULL PARAGRAPH or more!
4). CONCLUSION:
Include the name of the countries (or cultures) in which the studies were conducted (if possible).
Reflect on how you think the conclusions from the articles can be explained, at least in part, by your own culture. Culture can be defined as the symbols, language, beliefs, values, and artifacts that are part of any society. Is it different than what the authors suggest? Try to see the bigger picture…
What are the lessons that could be learned from this research?
TIP 1 – You could use your conclusions from the articles in this paragraph., for instance: “As stated above…”
TIP 2 – DO NOT use personal (“I”, “we”, “our”, etc.), judgmental, or emotive language in your narrative. Even though you are reflecting on the topic, the language should be kept objective. Here is a good summary of the concept, with some examples of objective language https://www.adelaide.edu.au/writingcentre/ua/media/21/learningguide-objectivelanguage.pdf
5). REFERENCES:
Use the word “References” as the title, on a separate line, and a NEW PAGE
You are required to use References in the APA style (examples and rules provided in the APA Style Module)
Alphabetical order is one of the requirements
Other things to look out for are capitalization, italics, and author’s names
Here is the APA style guide for creating APA Style References
TIP 1 – If you use the PCC library site, select your article and click the CITE option (right side of the page). Copy/Paste the APA citation into your report, but check it carefully because sometimes the references have minor mistakes.
TIP 2 – The best online APA guide is APA Style Citation Style Guidelines and Samples: Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) at https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
VERY IMPORTANT: If you copy-paste from citation format software, make sure to remove the automatic formatting.
This is the instructions given how to write and I have uploaded the topic and subtopic to research paper
