Description
Disorder Paper Assignment
You will write one “term” paper on the topic of any psychological disorder you choose. The paper will be a minimum of 6 pages and will be worth a total of 150 points, due on Saturday, September 28th.
The disorder research paper is intended to provide you with the opportunity to more fully explore your class discussion topic, as well as examine it from a more empirical perspective. The paper should be a minimum of 6 pages in length (not including a cover page or references). It should consist of at least 3 empirical research articles from reputable sources. **You CAN use the same articles from your extra credit assignments if you have chosen to complete the analysis. Inclusion of materials from popular magazines or the web can be used in the paper, but do not count toward the article requirement. You should strive to find articles from the past decade. The paper will be written in APA style. The final paper is due Saturday, September 28th. (See late policy in syllabus.)
Things to do list:
- Try to find review articles and other basic information to use for background (outside of what is provided in textbook)
- Find 3 empirical articles (papers have method/results sections)
- Write the paper a. Background information to topic; research question/hypotheses b. Describe/summarize empirical articles c. Critically analyze topic; synthesize findings from articles d. Propose future directions/research (be as specific as you’d like)
Requirements:
- You may use as many extra review articles or other empirical articles as you would like, but there must be at least 3 separate studies that you use for reference.
- Consider including in your papers:
The category of the disorder you chose and the descriptions of that category.
Diagnostic criteria
Diagnostic Features
Associated Features that might support the diagnosis
Prevalence
Development and Course
Risk and Prognostic Features
Any culture- or gender-related diagnostic features
Any differential diagnoses you may consider as an alternative to the chosen disorder
Possibility that the chosen disorder is “comorbid” with another disorde