Psych 39937 Self and Identity Instructions for final paper
The goal of this assignment is for you to engage in an
independent investigation of a topic that will allow you to explore it in more
detail.
You should pick a topic that is relevant to the course. This
could be a topic we’ve already covered, or a new topic. It is a good idea to do
a preliminary literature search to make sure there is material that is relevant
to your proposed topic.
You will review at least 4 articles from professional
psychology journals.
The paper should be 4-6 pages not counting the
references.
In the paper, your goal will be to:
I.
Describe the topic and relate it to the
psychology of self and identity. You will probably want to link it to some
topics and terms we have discussed in class.
II.
Review the literature that you have read. This
includes describing the substance of the papers, including a summary of their
methods and results if they are empirical papers; providing a critical
analysis; and integrating the different papers to make some overall conclusions
about what we know about this topic.
III.
Go beyond merely summarizing the papers in some
way. This could mean describing the implications for theory (e.g., what does
this tell us about the social identity theory perspective); describing
implications for practice (what does this suggest for appropriate social
practices or policy); and/or discussing directions for future research. (For
juniors: this could be a good opportunity to explore an I.S. topic!)
Papers will be graded on the extent to which they:
a.
Show clear understanding of the literature (7
points)
b.
Show insight about self and identity (7 points)
c.
Are well written (using correct grammar and good
organization) and formatted (using APA style). (3 points)
For the outline implement this feedback – This is very rich. My concern is that you might be trying to cover too much material. Make sure to try to integrate your discussion by 1. avoiding redundancy (if you make a point in Topic 1, you don’t need to go into detail about the same point in Topic 2); 2. making connections where appropriate (e.g., while discussing Topic 3 you could say something like “As described in the discussion of community identity, the role of identity for victims of abuse is….”); and 3. including a concluding paragraph or two where you pull the major themes together.
