Book: “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath
Identify and read a book that portrays an individual’s growth and development. You can choose any book that meets this requirement but confirm with me before you begin. Pay special attention to the character’s beliefs, intentions, and decisions. Evaluate the character’s behaviors based on one of the following topics: moral development, cognitive development, gender development, identity formation (or a class-relevant topic of your choosing, just run it by me first).
At the top of the first page, provide the following summary information (5 pts). Use phrases only, not paragraph format:
name and author of book
genre of book
year it was published
target audience (age and sex of reader likely to read this book)
Include a brief (1 paragraph) summary of the plot (5 pts).
For all papers:
Select an appropriate title for your paper (5 pts).
Begin the paper with an introductory paragraph that sets up your topic and arguments (10 pts).
In the body of the paper, conduct your evaluations based on concepts, methods, theories, issues, or research findings from the literature on child development. You will need a minimum of 7 citations to support your arguments.
Support your opinion with theory and data from developmental research. You must use empirical results only—professional psychological publications that you find in your textbook, in lecture, or on your own—not pop psychology, not parenting websites, etc. (55 pts).
End your paper with a concluding paragraph that summarizes your arguments or points toward new directions for research or thinking (10 pts).
Use APA format to cite the authors of the conceptual or empirical work (5 pts) and include an APA format reference list (5 pts).
All words must be your own. You will lose points for copying and pasting other authors’ work.
There is no page minimum, but typically these types of papers need to be around 5 pages to cover all of the material. Your paper should be no more than 9 pages.
Note, you can write any of these papers using only material from lectures and/or text. You may also use outside materials, but you do not have to.
