An academic research paper is a high form of learning

An academic research paper is a high form of learning. Your task is to go out and do research on your own of ONE of six possible topics relevant to psychology. (See below for more information on the possible topics) After you have taught yourself (self discovery) you then organize these facts in a professional (but short!) academic paper. Your writing then “teaches” the reader what you have learned.

The academic research paper is NOT an “Opinion Paper”. I am not asking for and do not want any personal opinions. That would be a Personal Reflection Paper or a Discussion Assignment. The only writing that belongs in your paper is objective facts from reliable sources. You also have to make sure your sources are reliable and not opinions themselves!

Six Possible Topics: (See below for a file with more information and possible ideas of what to write on)

1. Addiction and Recovery

2. Groundbreaking Experiments and Ethics of Research

3. Human Sexuality

4. Synesthesia

5. Understanding Eating Disorders

6. Mindfulness and Meditation

Importantly this paper needs to be 100% your own words! Any submission with an unreasonable plagiarism score will not be accepted.

Be sure to Cite your sources when you present a fact in your paper! Not sure whether you should cite or not? Just error on the side of caution and cite anyway! You are also to include a Works Cited section or Bibliography

Where might you find “reliable sources”? Well wikipedia is actually a pretty good place to start! So is google scholar. Also the Grossmont Library has an excellent search engine. Called “One Search”. Type in your research topic and start reading and writing. Here are three links to get you started!

1. www.wikipedia.com
2. www.google.com/scholar
3. Grossmont Library

A note on organization: One third of the grade is just on organization:

So before you submit – make sure you have included a:

1. Opening Paragraph
2. Body Paragraphs with Topic Sentences for each
3. Closing Paragraph

One trick for making sure your paper is well organized is by just reading all your topic sentences together one after another and ignoring the rest of the paper. After reading do the topic sentences still generally “make sense”? If so then you probably have a well organized paper!

Required Format (5 Points):

• TWO FULL PAGES (No Wasted Space at beginning or end)
• Dbl Spaced; Size 12 Font; Times Font, Normal Margins
• Works Cited Page using APA Style (doesn’t count toward min length)

Required Organization (5 Points):

• Opening Paragraph
• Body Paragraph(s) with leading Topic Sentences
• Conclusion Paragraph
• Clear writing and grammar