3-5 pages, typed and double-spaced, including an APA style reference list and
APA in-text citations
Paper = 200 points total: writing style, grammar, spelling and organization = 40
points, thoughtful and thorough answers to the questions = 140 points, APA style
referencing = 20 points
You can choose any of the ideas below to investigate, or one of your own, but it
must be approved.
You must use 3 references, including at least two peer-reviewed journal articles.
At least one must be a primary source report of a research study. Each topic has
an example article, you can/should use this as one of your articles if you wish. Be
careful, this is just an example article, not necessarily definitive on the idea.
You should use the Psychinfo or Psycharticles search engines to find references.
In your discussion of the idea, be sure to:
Identify and explain the idea in detail, how did it originate, why is it believed? (15
points) Use close reading here, you are addressing the idea exactly as written.
Introduce and briefly defend both sides of the myth/idea, why do some believe
and some do not? (15 points)
Review the evidence about the myth from empirical sources (peer-reviewed
journal articles), describe the research done and include statistical results if
possible (60 points)
Discuss why you chose this idea to investigate, were you surprised by what you
discovered? Why or why not? (10 points)
Compare the evidence from empirical sources to a popular press article or internet
site on the topic, how do they differ? You must name the article or site and
include it in your reference list (20 points)
What is your final decision? Which side of the idea does the evidence support?
Defend your decision by related it back to the evidence discussed previously. (20 points)
