Essay Project Paper (20 Points)
Research Paper Instructions
Part I of This assignment will ask you to pick a psychological disorder or an issue related to abnormal psychology that you would like to learn more about. You are free to select any topic you like as long as they have some connection to abnormal psychology and our course. After you have picked your topic, please follow the directions listed under Part I and Part II below.
Part I:
Locate three academic journal articles related to the abnormal psychology topic you selected. All of the articles you select for this assignment need to come from academic journals and your full text article should be at least 3 pages in length (if you have a shorter article that you would like to use, please consult with me). At least one of your journal articles needs to come from the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, which is one of the premier journals in the field of clinical psychology. This journal is part of the PsycARTICLES database which can be accessed through EBSCO. If you wish, all three of your articles may come from this prestigious source.
To find you’re your articles, please use the on-line databases such as Ebsco and/or Proquest (available at http://ncwc.edu/library/). You may access the databases from on campus or (if you have a ncwc email address) at home. Please check the appropriate box in each database to ensure that you find the right kind of article (In Proquest, check the “Scholarly journals, including peer-reviewed” box. In Ebsco, the box you check depends on the particular Ebsco database you are using. See me or a librarian if you have questions). Articles from newspapers (e.g., New York Times), popular magazines (e.g., Psychology Today, Newsweek, Time), book reviews from academic journals, or websites not affiliated with academic journals are NOT acceptable for this assignment and students will lose points if these kinds of articles are selected. If you have any questions about the appropriateness of your articles or are having trouble finding what you want, please ask me or one of the librarians for help.
Part II:
For 1 of your articles, please read it and then do the following (NOTE: you are only required to read 1 of your articles for this assignment; you can read and write about the additional 2 articles if you so choose but it is not required):
a. Summarize the methods and results of the study. This should take approximately 2-4 paragraphs, depending on your article. For tips on summarizing a research article, see the “summarizing a research article” pdf at the following link: http://web2.uconn.edu/ahking/How_to_Summarize_a_Research_Article.pdf.
b. Share your personal reaction to the study. Did you agree with the authors’ conclusions? Did you learn anything new? Were the findings consistent with anything that was presented in the text or lecture? What are some of the implications of this research? Could you relate the results to your life in any way?
c. Please cite the 3 academic articles you found in APA format at the end of your paper. Title this section “References.” The easiest way to do this is when viewing your article, click on the “Cite” link (it’s on the right hand side of the page in EBSCO and near the top of the reference in Proquest). In the new window that appears, find the APA reference for your article, highlight the text of your reference with your mouse cursor, copy the text, and then paste it at the end of your paper. You’ll do this 3 times.
d. Make sure that your total paper should be 2-3 pages in length, formatted using APA Style. Please format your paper as a MS Word document or pdf.