Psychology Question

Overview

OBSERVATION ASSIGNMENT - Phase 4

FINAL PAPER

Introduction- 5 points

The introduction will summarize the topic, provide the purpose, rationale and significance of your investigation. This section should conclude with a statement of research questions and hypotheses that will be addressed in paper. A reworking of your topic proposal will probably help you write a good and succinct introduction to the review. Approximately 1 page.

Body: The Literature Review- 15 points

A literature review summarizes, interprets, and evaluates existing “literature” (or published material) in order to establish current knowledge of a subject. It provides a foundation for a research project by identifying what other researchers have previously concluded about a topic. A reader of your review should learn not only what has been said about the topic/issue but what you think about what has been said. In other words, you will summarize, but you will also interpret, evaluate, and synthesize. First, decide how you want to organize your discussion (e.g., group research studies according to common denominators such as conclusions of authors, specific purpose or objective, chronology, etc.). Second, you will want to summarize and critique the article. In other words, this section should address the following: (a) The purpose, findings, and conclusions reached by the authors; (b) Discussion of strengths and weaknesses of the study. Approximately 2-3 pages.

Methods-10 points

Discuss your subjects, setting, procedure for observation. Be sure to detail how your variables were operationalized & your coding scheme, as applicable. . Results -5 points Present data. Describe what you found.

Discussion-10 points

Did your observation data support or refute your hypothesis? Summarize the answers to your research questions based upon your observations. Were your observations consistent with other studies? If not, why not? Consider potential explanations including sample and methodology. What patterns do you see in the investigators’ findings? Discuss which study you believe was the strongest and which you believe to be the weakest. What were the strengths and weaknesses of your observation? Were there any unexpected findings? Approximately 1-2 pages.

Conclusion-5 points

Overall, did the studies and your observation support or refute the theory? What questions remain unanswered? What future directions for research on this topic would you recommend?

References

(Begin on a separate page.)

General Guidelines • Proofread – consider going to the SMC Writing Center

Write clearly and concisely. Avoid ambiguity. Make sure your reader will understand you.

Explain your reasoning. Do not expect the reader to know everything about your topic.

Arrange your text in a straightforward and orderly manner.

Make sure you are not plagiarizing. Refer to the original source whenever you use someone else’s words, ideas, data, theory, etc. • Take advantage of the journal articles that you read as models of how to write. Think of these as models as you organize your own paper.

Use APA style. For example, double-spaced, with Times 12pt font and margins of 1”.

Citations and the reference page must be in standard APA format