A 15-page (not including references or title page) summary and critical review paper of a research topic of great interest to you, and relevant to the course`s cognitive and/or affective topics. It will provide a survey and critical analysis of one or several theories presented in this course. A list of potential theories and theoretical constructs will be distributed in class. The manuscript should succinctly describe the theory and research supporting the theory (a concise literature review). Then an analysis should be done of the evidence that does and does not support the theory. Finally, you should argue your position in support of or against the theory and delineate your reasons for or against. Your reasoning should be supported by your analysis of the methodology of the research, the rigorousness and replicability of the research findings and/or the soundness of the tenets of the theory. The process will be to conduct searches on the last five years of literature in the area of your interest, then provide a critical review of that literature as you would do in preparing a review paper for publication. The paper will follow the latest APA format. You should get the topic approved by Dr. Peterzell in advance. If you do a lit search by going on Google and entering PUBMED and PsychInfo or going to FAST at the Fielding library site on Moodle and then setting limits (e.g. title/ abstract for your specific terms and last ten years for publication), you will then determine if you need to narrow your focus, i.e. if more than 50 relevant abstracts appear, you will need to narrow your focus. Web sites are generally NOT acceptable sources for this paper. Cite sources in the text of the paper and include a reference section and a title page and abstract. Textbooks and textbook chapters are generally NOT acceptable sources for this paper. Only two quotations are allowed and students should be careful to write in their own words (i.e., do not paraphrase too closely nor copy directly from any source!). The paper should be double-spaced with 1-inch margins. The paper must be checked through Turnitin.com prior to submission for the course. Specifically, your write-up should include 15 pages of text with additional pages for the title page, references and any figures. The text will include an abstract using the format of a typical conference abstract (120-150 words) plus the main text (remaining 14 pages).
