Final paper due monday but will take it tuesday. (kim woods only)

Fact or Fiction?

The final assignment for this course is a paper.  The purpose of the Final Paper is for you to explore a topical area and apply critical insight to discern fact from fiction.  You will review the available evidence for a commonly held belief and provide a conclusion regarding the merit of this claim by describing concepts in core psychological domains and examining variations in psychological functioning.

You have already selected your topic from the list below in Week Three of the course to complete an annotated bibliography. These sources should inform your thinking and assist you in making a conclusion regarding the “truth” (i.e., scientific validity) of a commonly held belief. You must continue with your selected topic unless you have received permission from your instructor otherwise.  Click here for the various topic options that are available.

• Review the sources you gathered for the Week 3 Annotated Bibliography.  Visit the Ashford Library (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. to obtain additional scholarly articles as necessary to fully inform your thinking and address gaps in your knowledge of the topic.
• Write a paper in which you summarize (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. psychological theory and research that is pertinent to this topic.  Click here for additional information on how to successfully summarize information from an article. The paper should appraise the evidence contained within your articles, supporting and/or contradicting the statement you have chosen to examine.  Your task is to distinguish whether or not this commonly held belief accurately represents psychological knowledge of the topic and discuss your conclusions.
  • If theory and research in psychology suggest that the statement is false (i.e., it is instead bubba or pop psychology), infer an alternative truth based on the literature.
  • If the theory and research in psychology suggest that the statement is true, point out how the research supports the statement.

Note: Using headings within your writing can assist you in organizing your thoughts more successfully. For more information about using heading, please click here (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..

Writing specialists are here 24/7, every day of the year, ready to support you!

Writing the Final Paper
The paper

Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.