PSC142 Paper Prompts
the slide is just a hit for the rough draft.
You will be covering a topic related to the personality and/or
social development, but the topic itself is up to you and how you would like to address it, within the
scope of the below writing prompts. I might recommend leafing through the text book to see if any
subject strikes you as interesting, and using that a launch point to think about what you would like to
cover.
The paper for this course should conform to APA format. It is an 8-page paper, including title
page and reference section. The paper should have at least three scholarly/journal references. Below
are several ideas that can get you started in thinking about the type of paper you would like to write. For
your paper, you will select one prompt to explore through the lens of personality and/or social
development. For any selected writing prompt, you will be conducting some research into your topic of
interest.
Writing Prompt 1:
One of the interesting facets of studying personality and social development is thinking about
how it has applied to you. Do you remember a transition in social development (like learning to share, or
gaining empathy?), or does your family have a funny story about you that relates to your social or
personality development? Write about it! The experience can either be autobiographical if it is
something you recall, or biographical if it is something one of your caretakers have related to you. You
will want to match your experience to what has been written about it within the personality/social
developmental literature. Was your experience explained by what you have found? This prompt can also
be about a youth you know (child, niece/nephew, sibling, etc.)
Content
Below is a guideline relating to what sections should be included in the paper, as well as a rough idea
concerning length of each section.
Title page (1 page)
Introduction (1-2 pages)
Research/Coverage of material (2-3 pages)
Discussion/Conclusions (1-2 pages)
References (1 page)
This paper should NOT have an abstract, and should be size 12-font, Times New Roman
The paper must have at least three scholarly sources. The papers will be graded on logical coherence,
clarity of expression, creativity, and length.
Rough Draft:
The rough draft can be quite rough. As we cover more material in class, your ideas might change in
regards to what you are interested in writing about, so if you submit a rough draft and change ideas for
your paper, that is fine.
For the rough draft, I want to see that you have chosen a topic (one solid paragraph detailing your
chosen paper topic is sufficient). You should also think about the framing of your paper, and provide an
outline (i.e., what information have you gathered for your paper, and where will it go within your
paper?)
Feedback will be provided including comments on whatever you have submitted (i.e., if you have
completed a draft, you will get feedback on the draft. If it is just an outline, the feedback will of course
be more limited.)
Last Completed Projects
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