Abnormal Psychology Research Paper Writing Directions

(100 points)

Directions: Using the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 (DSM-5), you are to select a Psychological Disorder and prepare a 3 to 4 page (minus title page, abstract and reference page) APA formatted research paper. Your topic must be approved by the course instructor who will establish a date by which you must submit your requested research paper topic as well as a date by which the final draft of the paper is due. Please see the course outline for the specific due dates. You are not allowed to write your paper on Schizophrenia or Major Depression, unless you are able to justify to the course instructor how your review of these topics will add value to your learning as these topics are heavily covered in the course lectures. However, most other DSM-5 topics, within reason, could be considered for your paper. You may refer to guidance from the Purdue Owl for additional guidance on APA formatting. You may also consult the instructor for assistance with APA formatting and writing or request other resources to aid your understanding of this important requirement.

In addition, the research paper must meet the following requirements:

1. Include an APA formatted Title page. Your title page should include a running head as well your name, name of the school, and name of course for which the paper is fulfilling a requirement. The Title page is page 1 of your research paper. (5 points)

2.Prepare an Abstract page that provides reader with a summary of your paper and the main ideas addressed. Specifically, your Abstract should serve as an Introduction to the topic to be discussed carefully telling the reader what topics are being covered in your paper. The topics being addressed in your paper are covered in the next section of these directions. The abstract is page 2 of your research paper. (10 points)

3.Text of paper (Review of Literature) should be organized into the following headings:

a.Identification and description of psychological disorder and symptoms experienced by persons diagnosed with the disorder (10 points)

b.Gender related information (extent to which it affects men or women or both; and average age of onset of the disease) (10 points)

c.Etiology (causes) of the disorder (10 points)

d.Treatments/Interventions: (Both medical (list of name (s) of medicine used to treat the disorder) and identification and explanation of at least one Psychological (psychotherapy) treatment should be addressed in this section. (15 points)

e.Prognosis for recovery (extent to which people with the disorder recover from it) (5 points)

f.Future study (based on what you have learned, identification of at least one thing you as the writer would be interested in learning about the topic if you had more time for additional research) (10 points)

g.Summary statement that provides reader with a quick overview of the key information contained in this paper (3-7 sentences). Could re-use abstract and place in past tense as information already read (5 points)

4.Your paper must be stapled or securely bound but should not be placed in a report folder. Research papers that are submitted unbound may not be graded and a score of zero may be recorded for the assignment . Hard copy of paper only, no emails, please (5 points)

5.Your paper must use at least 2 peer reviewed sources. However, your text book MAY NOT be one of the two sources as one of the intentions of the assignment is to get you to read beyond the text book. Examples of acceptable peer reviewed sources or formal periodicals, research articles and books written by experts in the field of Psychology, Social Work, Nursing & Medicine that could be considered experts on the topics being discussed.

You may use the library on line resources that provide a variety of professional articles. However, you must be certain that these articles are formal ones written by experts.

A strongly recommended source for obtaining psychology related empirical articles is available through http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=ip,uiddprofile=ehostddefaultdb=pdh

DO NOT use general sources (such as Wikipedia) on the internet to obtain information about topics as many sites have misinformation and are not considered as peer reviewed articles or texts. Use of the internet outside of the Library site will significantly reduce the final grade or result in a failing grade for this paper. Please consult your course instructor if you are not sure of the viability/ credibility of a source that you would like to use for the paper.

Please be sure that you give credit to those whose work you are using. This credit should be given both in the text of your paper and on the reference page of your report. This helps to eliminate potential of representing others work as your own which can result in automatic failure of this assignment. Also, when citing statistics, always be sure to give credit to the source from which you obtained them as it is not likely that you would have known or have independently produced that data on your own

For the purposes of this paper, please do not use first person “I” in formal papers like these. Instead use third person (for instance, this paper will review….; this writer will address….; this author has learned….; this student has noticed…;). You may however use the first person “I” when talking about your plans for future research section of the research paper.

Use proper English and be mindful of a spelling, punctuation, subject –verb agreement, sentence structure, etc. which can reduce the quality of your work and result in a reduced grade for the paper. A pattern of poor grammar use may result in lowered points being awarded for each of the above required sections (parts) of the research paper (15 points)

Each research paper submitted must be properly bound (stapled) or it will NOT be graded and the submission will result in zero points (grade of F) for the paper. See course outline at the end of the syllabus for due date (s). No submissions will be accepted beyond the dates provided in the course outline.paranoid