cognitive psychology paper
cognitive psychology paper
Psychology 334 Paper Requirements Winter, 2018
The paper will be a review of research in a specific area of cognitive psychology. The main purpose of the paper is for
you to learn about a topic in more depth than is possible in class. In the paper you should:
1. Define and introduce the research area. You can do this in (almost) any way that you would like. You should not
discuss anecdotes or personal experiences. Do not preview or briefly summarize articles in this section. Some issues that
you might address include:
– What is the research about?
– What is the history of the research area?
– Are there certain terms that the researchers use? If so, explain them.
– Are there issues that researchers disagree about?
– All information in this section must come from published sources???
2. Discuss and summarize some of the specific research: discuss what the researchers did and found. This research
review will make up the majority of the paper. You must include enough detail about the experiments so that they are
understandable. For example,
– What were the different conditions/ groups?
– Define terms (e.g., don’t mention the Abstract Paired Associate Group without explaining what it is).
– What did participants in the different groups do?
– How was behavior measured?/ What kind of test did participants take?
– What were the results/ findings? Include numbers (e.g., participants recalled 75% of the words in the different context
condition and 42% of the words in the same context condition). However, do not include statistical information such as
the type of statistical test performed or statistical values such as F or t .
– Use past tense when discussing research that was done.
– Do not include article titles when you discuss research.
3. Integrate, evaluate, tie things together.
– You should do more than simply summarize the research findings. If you include a summary it should be brief.
– What conclusions can you make? Provide a critical evaluation of the research if you can (these ideas don’t necessarily
have to be your own).
– What are the implications of the research?
– Are there issues that future research should address?
– The conclusion should be at least three pages
– The conclusion belongs at the end of the paper.
– Remember that when you refer to research in the conclusion, you must include references.
ALL information that comes from other sources must be referenced. This means everything except for your own opinions
or ideas must be referenced. See the reference handout for instructions.
Below is a list of possible paper topics. Some of the topic areas must be narrowed down further. You are not limited to
the topics on the list. If another topic interests you, let me know. All paper topics must be approved by me (even if the
topic appears on the list). By Jan. 18 you must notify me of your topic by e-mail: Describe your topic very briefly and as
specifically as possible