PSY327 Abnormal Psychology – Project Guidelines
Project (Paper and Presentation): For this course, you will
be required to complete a term project. This project consists
of two parts: (1)
a paper and (2) a presentation of that paper.
Review the list of topics below and submit your selection to
the instructor via email by the End of module 2. Submission
of an APA formatted
paper to the Dropbox and to turnitin.com on your selected
topic by the end of
the module 7 is required. Also, you will complete and post a
presentation of
your paper to the discussion board by Thursday, 11:59 PM
EDT/EST of module 8. Finally, you will post thoughtful
commentary about two presentations other than your own by
Sunday, 11:59 PM
EDT/EST of module 8.
Suggested Topics:
Historical trends in
society’s view of mental illness
Historical trends in
treatment of mental illness
Physiological versus
therapeutic treatment of (any disorder inserted here)
Challenges in
identifying and treating personality disorders
Causes of Autism
Society’s view of
ADHD/ADD
Electroconvulsive
therapy as a treatment option for mental illness
Other (must be
approved by the instructor)
Project (Paper Portion):
Brief Description: An 8-10 page “position paper”
exploring a topic relevant to a content area covered in the
course within the
study of ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR that manifests itself in “the real
world” and has
competing views. APA format is required.
Conduct a search (online library) to find recent peer-reviewed
and scholarly published research studies
to critique and provide evidence supporting or refuting
competing real world
views (e.g., “Does empirical evidence for Dissociative
Identify Disorder
exist?”). This evidence shall come from “primary source”
journal
articles in which the details of the experimental procedures
are spelled out,
so that you can critically evaluate the conclusions reached
by the authors. You
shall not rely heavily on “secondary source” review-type
articles,
and you should not put major emphasis on “personal
information”
already discussed in class or in your text. In other words,
you’ll need to find
several recent articles relevant to your topic on your own.
Then summarize,
critically evaluate, and synthesize them into your paper,
discussing how they
support or refute the “view” in question. Your paper shall
discuss at
least 6 primary source articles in support for your position
for or against the
“view”. These source articles should appear as references in
the
Bibliography.
After your critical evaluation of the issue, the last
portion of your paper should be a discussion of a proposal
for a new research
study (a new experimental design) that will help to provide
additional evidence
for or against the theory in question and answer any
unanswered questions about
the prevailing “view” of the Abnormal Behaviour you chose to
research.
It should give the details of the procedures, and you should
make clear the purpose
of the study and why you think the results of this study will
help resolve the
issues you found in the definition, diagnosis, and treatment
of the disorder
you chose.
Tips: It is strongly advised that you to begin working on
the paper early in the term. Use
“PsycInfo” or similarly offered online database on
the SLU library web site for finding references. Also,
consider using the
Writing Centre as an aid in helping organize and write
Your paper.
Other samples, services and questions:
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