Assignment: Research In Psychology

Note: You will be required to submit this assignment to Turnitin before submitting it to your instructor for a grade. It is also recommended that you have your assignment reviewed by Smarthinking. Plan 24–48 hours to get results from these services, and time to make revisions before you submit the assignment to your instructor for a grade.

Reminder: Links to the template and optional worksheet for this assignment are given in the resources.

Research is at the core of psychology practice whether you conduct it yourself or apply evidence-based strategies and techniques in your professional practice. After developing your vision and creating meaningful goals in Units 1–3, you created a research question related to your goals and searched the literature for answers in Unit 4. In Unit 5, you practiced using critical thinking frameworks to evaluate the relevance and quality of research, and in Unit 6, you integrated the literature to prepare for a cohesive review.

This assignment provides an opportunity to receive feedback to help you further refine your research interests, reflect on the role of scholarship in your career vision, and practice evaluating and synthesizing evidence to apply in your profession.

Your writing in this assignment should not just be a collection of notes, lists, or questions and answers. Instead, it should be a well-organized discussion that flows logically from one idea to the next.

Complete the following in your assignment:

Introduction

State your research question and explain why it is important.

Evaluation of Sources

Use your notes from the Unit 5 assignment preparation study to write up a critical evaluation of at least three peer-reviewed scholarly articles:

• Relevance.
• Credibility and authority.
• Timeliness.
• Sources.
• Audience.
• Bias and point of view.

Synthesize Literature Into a Cohesive Review

In the Unit 6 assignment preparation study, you should have identified at least three key themes, or focuses of inquiry, that are relevant to your research question and present in each article. These themes may be based on:

• Related aspects of research questions.
• Related or differing conclusions.
• Other factors or ideas the studies have in common.
• Other points of contrast between the studies.

Use concise formulations of these themes as headings for the next sections of the paper. In these sections, compare and contrast your resources’ positions relative to each theme, then synthesize your own position relative to the theme. Support your conclusions by citing your references. However, if you find that more research would be needed to decide a question, briefly outline ideas of how that could be undertaken.

Granello’s 2001 article, “Promoting Cognitive Complexity in Graduate Written Work,” provides a framework and strategies to help you work through this part of your assignment.

Explain Application and Research Vision

Once you identify your themes and analyze the literature, you are ready to apply the techniques, strategies, best practices, and other findings to your professional practice. The final step in this assignment is to discuss how you would apply these findings to your future professional practice in psychology. Also, analyze how these findings could help you accomplish the functions, responsibilities, and ethics required of a psychology professional. What techniques, strategies, and best practices are indicated by your research? What enhanced outcomes can be expected when they are applied? You are encouraged to cite information from your interview with a psychology professional here. However, remember to critically evaluate the information you use.

Describe how your research fits into your future vision and goals for your career. Craft additional professional goals related to this research. Revise the vision statement you completed in Unit 3 to integrate research and scholarship in your specialized field of psychology.

Note: To maximize your scoring potential, be sure that you fully address all assignment requirements and the meet the criteria in the Your Research in Psychology Scoring Guide that will be used to assess your assignment.

Smarthinking

Before you turn in your assignment, it is strongly recommended that submit it to Smarthinking in advance, and revise it based on the feedback you receive. Be aware that the turnaround time for Smarthinking can be 24–48 hours from submission to receiving the feedback report. Plan accordingly.

Submit the Assignment to Turnitin

It is very important that you always submit your work as a draft, so you can make revisions before submitting it to the Turnitin assignment link. Review the Analyze Your Originality Report tutorial for guidance in accessing your feedback from Turnitin, interpreting your report, and improving your writing and citations for your assignment. Retain the originality report in case your instructor asks to review it. Note: Submitting the work to Turnitin does not submit it to the courseroom for evaluation. Be aware that the turnaround time for Turnitin can be 24–48 hours from submission to receiving the feedback report. Plan accordingly.

Submit your assignment along with the Turnitin originality report no later than Sunday, 11:59 p.m. CST. Make sure your submission is in a Word document. To submit an assignment, click on the Assignment link at the top of this assignment, then, attach your finalized assignment. Enter your name and the assignment number in the comment box.

Assignment Requirements

Your assignment should also meet the following requirements:

• Template: Use the Your Research in Psychology Template to format your assignment.
• Length: 5–7 typed and double-spaced content pages in Times New Roman, 12-point font. The title page, abstract, and reference list are not included in this length.
• References: Your references may include both scholarly literature and practitioner sources. Your paper is to include a minimum of three references. All references need to be cited in text, according to current APA standards. Remember that citations are to support your thoughts, not take the place of them.
• Written communication: Must be clear, with correct spelling, grammar, syntax, and good organization.
• Writing style: APA expectations for scholarly writing include the use of third-person narrative, unless it is awkward to do so. However, because you are talking about yourself in this paper, you may write in the first person.
• APA formatting: The assignment must be formatted according to current APA style and formatting and include a title page, abstract, and reference list. Note that these three elements are not counted toward the length of your assignment.

Use the Your Research in Psychology Scoring Guide to self-assess your completed assignment prior to turning it into your instructor for feedback to ensure you meet all evaluation criteria.

Note: Your instructor may also use the APA Writing Feedback Rubric to provide additional feedback on your academic writing. The writing feedback rubric does not affect your assignment grade, but its feedback may factor into the grading criteria, if professional communication and writing is a course competency. Evaluate your own work using this rubric. Refer to the Learner Guide for instructions on viewing instructor feedback.