Your research paper will be worth 100 points. Points will be deducted if the following guidelines are not met. Failure to turn in research paper will have a major impact on your final course grade.Minimum length is 1800 words of content (body of the paper – not including title and source pages). Again – the title page and reference pages are NOT included in the word count. Must be typed and double spaced. Text pages are to be numbered in a header or footer.
1 inch margins all around (top, bottom, and both sides).
Use 10-12 point font, Times New Roman or Arial.
You must have at least 5 scholarly reference sources. Minimal use of reference sites (i.e., .org, .gov or .edu etc.) may be used from the internet (multiple pages from within the same website will count as only one source even if listed separately). Each journal article retrieved from Clark State’s library counts as a source since they are scholarly in nature and are peer reviewed which is preferred in academic writing (i.e., so if you retrieve 3 journal articles, those count as 3 sources). The use of the web site Wikipedia is not allowed, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and youtube videos are NOT acceptable resources for college level work. Sources must be 5 years old or less.
You must use APA style (if you are not familiar with it, refer back to the proposal instructions for links to helpful information). This is an upper level Psychology course and APA (American Psychological Association) style is the only accepted format for your sources and in-text citations. The writing center is also a great source of information if you need assistance as well as the Library.
All papers will be evaluated including grammar and spelling. Special attention will be given to content, depth, organization, and flow of the paper.
Papers must have citations within the body of the paper. No in-text citations – no score.
Papers must be complete, have adequate depth, and should be readable.
Grammar, punctuation, and spelling will be marked so please use spell and grammar check, edit carefully, and have someone proof read your paper. Our own eyes do not see mistakes as easily as others might see them.
10. Papers should be written in third person (should not contain words such as I, we, me, you, etc.) This is a research paper, not your opinion. 11. Late penalties of 5 points per day will be deducted for any paper that is submitted after the deadline. ****** Students are are to choose the topic of their choice related to our course content. Your research paper topic should relate to human growth and development. Please be sure to have selected a topic that you are able to find enough research to provide a 1800 word paper. Your selected topic should be submitted to your Instructor in the Paper Proposal Dropbox. As a general rule, if the topic is discussed in the textbook, the topic is appropriate (however your instructor will guide you if a topic that you select is too narrow or too broad). Be careful not to select a topic that is too broad – you must provide further detail than what is already presented in the textbook. You should select a topic that is briefly mentioned or that only a few paragraphs are discussed. If you select a topic that several pages or an entire chapter are written about, then you will not be able to go into further detail than what is already presented, and your topic will not be approved. ***************