Writing Assignment Instructions

 

Writing Assignment Instructions 

Psychology of Social Behavior course is an introduction to the social psychology perspective which involves the scientific study of the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of individuals as they influence and are influenced by other people, groups, and the social environment. In this writing intensive course, students will study social psychology topics utilizing the American Psychological Association (APA), 7th edition writing style.  

Each writing assignment paper is expected to address one major concept of study within the subfield of social psychology as chosen by you, the student.  You may write about any topic that involves self, others, or self and others.  Consider types of behavior, interactions, persuasion, bias, love, prejudice, stereotyping, conformity and so forth for potential topics.  

A top-quality paper will demonstrate breadth and depth of knowledge and critical thinking appropriate to college-level students. The paper must follow APA Publication Manual (7th ed., first printing) guidelines and be free of typographical, spelling, and grammatical errors. 

The length of this paper is determined by your thoroughness to detail, analysis of information presented in the peer-reviewed journal articles used to compose this paper, and critical thinking skills demonstrated through thoughtful application to the assigned topic.  Please do not exceed 4 pages of body (this number excludes Title and References pages).  *If your Body of Text section is less than two (2) full pages, it is too short! 

APA Publication Manual – Style & Format (7th edition) Resources 

APA Publication Manual – Style and Format (7th edition) Paper Set-Up here Paper Format (Links to an external site.). 

General In-Text Citation information here In-Text Citations (Links to an external site.). 

How to create Full-Text Reference Citations for the References Page here References (Links to an external site.). 

Levels of Heading resources here Headings (Links to an external site.) and Professional Paper Heading Levels, APA Style 7th Edition (Links to an external site.). 

Want to look at a Sample APA (Professional version) Paper?  Check these two sites out here Sample Papers (Links to an external site.) and https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/professional-paper x (Links to an external site.). 

Some TIPS to help you get started:  

• Review the specific topic options for this paper. 
• Begin researching SFC Library Databases AZ Databases (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.) for your articles — finding the right articles is usually what takes the most time in this assignment process. 
• USE ACADEMIC SEARCH COMPLETE AS YOUR LAUNCHING DATABASE.  Once you have clicked on Academic Search Complete, click on Show Databases at top Left.  Click ALL or at least APA PsycArticles.  Click OK.
• DO NOT USE DATABASES WITHIN SFC LIBRARY THAT ARE BOOKS, MAGAZINES, OR REFERENCE MATERIALS SUCH AS DICTIONARIES, REFERENCE BOOKS, ENCYCLOPEDIAS, ETC.  THESES ARE NOT CONSIDERED PRIMARY SOURCES AND MAY NOT BE USED IN THIS ASSIGNMENT.
• Save PDF articles to your computer AND print each for easy note taking. 
• For each article you save, remember to copy and paste the “Cite” APA full-text reference into your writing assignment document.  You may have to tweak the full-text reference so that it fully complies with APA formatting.
• Ask for help and clarification EARLY. 
• Check out Writing Research here Getting Started with Research – Student Services (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.). 

Minimum Writing Assignment Requirements: 

• APA Publication Manual – Style & Format, 7th edition using the Professional version format minus affiliations and author’s note 
• Times New Roman, 12-point font 
• Black ink 
• Double-spaced (0 before and 0 after spacing) 
• ALL INFORMATION EXPRESSED IN THIS ASSIGNMENT REQUIRES PARAPHRASING and IN-TEXT CITATIONS; NO quotations allowed.  This means EACH sentence expressing information gained, learned, or reviewed must have an in-text citation (singular or multi depending on where the information was derived).  

Structure of Paper 

• Title Page (professional version minus affiliations) 
• Body of Text Section composed from: 
• Five (5) scholarly/ peer-reviewed journal articles (minimum)  
• solely from SFC Library Database system *SEE ABOVE NOTE (https://sfcollege.libguides.com/az.php (Links to an external site.))  
• within January 2015 – Present month 2020 
• have full pdf document 
• Levels of Heading (minimally Level 1 and Level2) 
• Conclusion (Level 1 Heading) wrapping up paper 
• References Page with Hanging Indent full-text references in full APA format 

Content 

This paper must provide an overview of a main concept relevant to the field of social psychology, identify the population targeted toward this topic, features of this topic, and how this concept is seen/ used in society today (implications and consequences).   

You may present this material through an information perspective, cultural perspective, compare/contrast, timeline review, and/or using current events (as an example) supported by peer-reviewed journal articles.  APA writing is not personal, it is factual and scientifically supported information presented in written form, i.e. this assignment.

Consequence of Plagiarism: Zero for the assignment AND Administration notified. 

• Plagiarism – *Research 101 (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.) 
• Preventing Plagiarism in School: Student & Teacher Resources (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)