Each student will be responsible for the preparation of a four-page, minimum length research paper on a cognitive psychology topic which must be chosen from a list of topics located below.
Your paper should contain a cover page with your name and the title. Your name and the title should not appear on the first page of the paper.
The last page of the paper should be a correctly-formatted References list in APA style.
The cover page and references page are in addition to the four-page minimum length of the body of your paper.
Please put the cover page, the body of your paper, and the references list in the correct order in the document for submission in only one file, rather than as three individual submissions.
When typing your paper in your word processor, you may double-space the typing.
Please use only scholarly fonts such as Times New Roman, Arial, or Garamond, in black and avoid colors and the fussier or stylized types of fonts.
Font size should be a 10 or 12 only without bolding or italics.
– the paper is not about personal opinion or personal experience. Do not argue for your personal point-of-view.
– the paper is written in the third person (see green section, below), is objective, and is based upon material gathered from your sources.
the paper must be correctly cited in APA style and must utilize at least 3 credible scholarly sources, one of which must be the course textbook.
– one of your sources MAY come from a general Internet search, but the source must be a credible scholarly source and you may NOT use Wikipedia. Web sites such as YouTube may only be used as a source if the author is a credible, scholarly source.
– the remainder of your sources MUST come from scholarly publications, newspaper articles, etc. You should use the College Information & Policies folder > Library & Citation Resources link here in the online classroom to learn how to research your topic and to locate your sources through the Fisher College library online databases.
– with the exception of sources obtained from Fisher College library online databases, do not use password protected sources from the Internet. I must be able to access your online sources and if they are password protected, I cannot!
– you must cite the material within the body of your paper, using The American Psychological Association (APA) format (see below for APA style resources). All sources must also be listed in a References list at the end of the paper using correct APA style.
– while writing, the student should practice critical thinking and should self-assess his or her work by asking the following reflective questions: Am I thinking clearly enough? Am I being accurate in what I say? Do I need to be more precise? Am I sticking to the question at issue? Am I dealing with the complexities of the question? Do the sources I have used sufficiently support what I say? Do I need to consider another perspective or point of view? Are my assumptions accurate or are they faulty? Is my purpose fair-minded, or am I being biased/prejudiced? Am I only concerned about advancing my own desires … do I have a personal agenda? Do I really want to get at the truth? Does my argument seem logical, or is it disjointed, lacking cohesion?