Guidelines for the final research paper:

Use a 12-point font, double spaced

The length of the paper should be 10-12 pages

There should be a minimum of 7-8 references

References need to include journal articles used to support your research and should be contemporary (i.e., published within the past 10 years).

Format for the paper:

APA Title page-(1 page)-2 points

APA abstract of your project-(1 paragraph-2 double spaced page)-15 points: Briefly describes the research, and how this topic is important.

Literature Review-(6 paragraphs- 2 double spaced/2 pages)-25 points: Include a synthesized discussion of some of the literature that has reported empirical results relevant to this topic.

Methods (4-6 paragraphs-2-3 double spaced pages)-20 points:  Describe the specific methods (including procedure, sampling, participant recruitment, setting, data collection, and data analysis methods) used to investigate and support your research. Provide the rationale for selecting these particular methods and describe why they are particularly well-suited to the research questions. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each of the methods used. What were the methods used for this study? (e.g survey) What concepts or theories were used to investigate the topic? (Needs to be worded in the third person).

Hypothesis: Describe how the literature reviewed supports your proposed hypothesis.

Provide a brief description of the analyses used to determine whether your hypothesis(es) is(are) supported (e.g., correlation, t-test, 2x3x2 ANOVA)

Discuss the response rate- To calculate the response rate you take the proportion of people who respond:  divide the number of returned surveys by the total number of surveys distributed.

Example: If you distribute 50  questionnaires and you get 25  questionnaires back, your response rate is 50%.

There is no standard response rate. The  higher, the better. Anything under 60% is a warning.

Why is high return important? Its the only way to know if results are representative.

Results (1-2 pages)-10 points: Include figures/ graphs/tables.

Conclusion: (2 paragraphs- double-spaced/ 1-page)-20 points: Bring back the rationale from the introduction, discuss findings; address limitations, application, and future directions. Discuss the importance of this research with implications and contributions to the field of psychology.

References (Cite appropriate sources, figures & tables, etc..-8 points: (as appropriate for your design)