This project requires you to propose original research in any area related to psychology.   You will submit a topic proposal, write a complete draft of the research paper, write a peer review of another student paper, revise your paper based on feedback, and submit your final paper.  During the last week of class you will give a Powerpoint presentation on your research proposal.

Most psychological research is conducted by teams or groups of people rather than individually.  Therefore, you will work with a partner of your choice on this project (Dr. Lantinga has the final say regarding your particular choice).  You are responsible for deciding how to share the work; both partners will receive the same grade on the paper.

Psychological research involves developing questions about human behavior, finding out what others have learned about those questions, and putting your ideas to the test.  If you have an original idea, you won't find a study on your exact topic - that's what makes your  idea original, but also makes your project more challenging at first. The topic proposal is a mini-introduction section -- you'll use this as the basis for your introduction section and your references section. See Chapter 5 in your text. Generally, you'll need to do these steps for your topic proposal:

• Choose a general topic area in psychology that interests you.
• Read a general reference or secondary source (e.g., a textbook) for some background, then read some primary sources (journal articles) that are referenced in your secondary source.
• Narrow your topic to a specific research question.

For example: if you are interested in aggression in kids, you could read a social or developmental psychology textbook chapter on aggression. There you find a subsection on frustration that interests you. Use PsycInfo to look up the references that are noted in that section and read their abstracts. You notice that many of the studies focus on the frustration-aggression link while kids are working on individual tasks. You wonder what happens when kids experience frustration while working in groups. Your research question is therefore "What is the effect on aggressive behavior when kids are frustrated alone compared to when they are frustrated in groups?"

Submit 2 copies of your topic proposal, which consists of the "body" of the paper (about 4 paragraphs long) and an APA-style references page.  The "body" should include your research question, a summary of related research on the topic, and the kind of research design you would use to test your research question.  At this point, you should have at least 1 secondary reference and at least 2 primary/scholarly references.

Papers should be 4-5 pages long (not counting the title, abstract, and reference pages), must follow APA-style, and must be well-written. See chapters 5 & 6 in your text.

• Your Introduction is an expanded version of your topic proposal.  In it, summarize the hypothesis, method, and results of at least 3 primary/scholarly psychology articles and at least 1 secondary reference on your specific topic.
  • Note that for every factual statement you make in your paper, you must include an in-text reference (which is also included in the reference list at the end of the paper)
  • Your reference list may only include sources that are actually cited in the paper
  • Direct quotes are frowned on in APA style - put others' ideas in your own words
• Based on your question and the research you've described,
• state your own specific hypothesis (e.g., people are more afraid of spiders than ladybugs)
• describe why you think your study will find support for your prediction (e.g., the reason why people are more afraid of  spiders than of ladybugs, based on the cited literature)
• note the kind of research design you would use to test your hypothesis
• Write a Method section in which you carefully describe how you would test your hypothesis, including subsections on Participants, Materials, and Procedures.
• Write a brief Discussion section (skip the Results section) in which you do two things:
• based on the literature you've reviewed, explain the results you would expect to get from your particular study and why those results might be important for real-life people
• explain why you might NOT get the results you predicted
• Include an APA-style References page
• Submit 3 copies of your entire paper (for use by reviewers); the evaluation criteria for the Final paper (below) will also be used to grade your draft (worth 20 pts).

  Peer Review - due April 18

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You will peer-review another paper (worth 20 points) and your own paper will also be peer-reviewed. In this way you will learn the professional skills and process of peer reviewing and you will receive constructive comments on your own paper.   Your 1-2 page (single-spaced, typed) peer review will be evaluated based on your ability to identify both conceptual and structural problems in the paper and to make appropriate suggestions for improvement.  More information on writing peer reviews will be given in class. Submit 3 copies of your review.  The review(s) of your own paper will be available by April 23.

In a folder, submit 2 copies of your APA-style research proposal, your topic proposal, full draft, and peer reviews when you give your Powerpoint presentation.

• Although unlikely, it is possible that your final paper may earn the same or even a worse grade than your draft (e.g., if you make revisions that seriously weaken the paper, if you fail to take into account feedback from your draft, if plagiarism is detected).
• Your paper will not be accepted if there are more than an average of 2 departures from standard written English per page (spelling, typos, punctuation, verb forms, verb tense, verb-subject agreement, etc.).  This is a formal, polished paper for which you should have no silly mistakes.
• Your paper will be given an F if any amount of plagiarism (intended or not) is detected and the incident will be reported in writing to the Student Life Committee.  If you have a particularly low grade in the course already, a grade of F on your paper may result in failure of the course. 

  The key to avoiding plagiarism is in making SURE you have either put someone's idea entirely into your own words (and still reference the author and year of the source) OR you use a direct quote and include all 4 required elements (quotation marks, author, year, and page number).  Remember that APA style frowns on direct quotes (though occasional use is ok).

Evaluation criteria:

• Format (APA style, writing style, attachments included)
• Writing style (organization, grammar, no 2nd person, professional tone)
• Content (appropriate literature used to support clearly-stated hypothesis, methodology is ethical and appropriately tests hypothesis, discussion considers expected and unexpected results, references are mostly primary/scholary)

page revised January 2003