Paper 2: Research Paper

For this assignment, you will write on a topic related to ONE developmental period. You may pick anything that interests you or that you have a strong connection with as long as it relates to lifespan development. For example, what role does sleep play in adolescent development? Do mental games help elderly adults keep their cognitive skills sharp? The options are endless! Scan the chapters that are related to your chosen developmental period and be sure to choose something specific. The goal is to dig deep into the literature, rather than picking something too broad. If you have a question about a potential paper topic, please message me.

To ensure an equal distribution of people choosing each topic, I created a group set on Canvas so everyone could sign up for a topic. To sign up, go to “People” and “Paper 2 – Topic SignUps.” Papers are due Sundays at 11:59 PM on the week you signed up for. In other words, your chosen topic week will determine the deadline. The sign-up sheet is live and is first come-first served. Once a week is full, you must select a different week. Please sign up by 11:59 PM on Friday, 9/23, or I will assign you to whatever developmental period is remaining. At that time, I will close sign-ups, and you will not be able to change topics. Lastly, I will not remind you when your paper is due – it is up to you to note your deadline! 

General Requirements

• Your paper must be written in APA style: 12-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced, with 1-inch margins. Include an APA-style title page, in-text citations, and a reference sheet.
• Do not include an abstract.
• Do not use informal language. First-person language should only be for your reflection paragraph if needed.
• Your writing should be comprehensible and clear – proofread for spelling errors and grammar. It should also present a clear progression of ideas and include the necessary elements of good writing. Egregious writing errors will result in a deduction of points from your overall grade for the assignment.
• Include a minimum of 5 peer-reviewed research articles. Do not select book chapters, metaanalyses, popular media, opinion pieces, news sources, or websites like Wikipedia and Dictionary.com. You are free to use reputable websites, books, and videos, but they do not count toward the minimum peer-reviewed article requirement. Your references should be relatively recent (within the last five years). If you need instructions on searching for peerreviewed articles, review the video in the paper module.
• No quotes. Paraphrase the content in your own words. Content in quotes will not count toward the page requirement or your paper grade.
• Citations and a reference sheet are required.
• Page requirement is 2.5 – 3 pages of content (not including the title page or reference sheet). Points will be deducted if not required length. Content will not be graded past 3 pages. It is important to write clearly and succinctly. In other words, choose your words deliberately and precisely, constructing your sentences carefully to eliminate “fillers.”
• ALL written assignments must be submitted to Canvas as Word documents (.doc or .docx). Documents submitted in any other format will not be graded. Currently, enrolled students are provided free access to Microsoft 365. Please save the document to your desktop and attach the saved file to your submission if you use this service. I do not accept google docs or any links.
• You only have one attempt to submit this assignment in its entirety. No additional submissions will be accepted. Be sure to attach the correct document.
• This assignment is due by 11:59 pm on the Sunday of the week you signed up for. It is your responsibility to submit it on time. Late papers, hard copies, emailed copies, copies left in my mailbox, or documents not uploaded as a doc. or docx. will not be accepted or graded. No exceptions.
• Keep a copy of your assignment on file until you receive your final grade.

Tips: Reading an Article

Read, re-read, and mentally digest it until you have a conversational understanding of the paper. You don’t know what you know until you can talk about it. And if you can’t talk about it, you won’t be able to write about it.

Read selectively. Don’t start by reading the articles from beginning to end. First, read just the abstract to get an overview of the study.

Scan the article to identify the answers to these “Why-What-What-What” questions:

1. Why did they do the study? Why does it matter?
2. What did they do?
3. What did they find?
4. What does it mean?

The previous four questions correspond to these parts of a research article:

1. Introduction: the research question and hypotheses
2. Methods
3. Results
4. Discussion

Create a summary sheet of each article’s key points. This will help you to integrate each article. Read for depth. After you understand an article’s main points, read each section in detail to gain the necessary in-depth understanding to compare the work of different researchers.