Your essay must be between 1000 and 1200 words long. All parts of the essay must be consistent with APA format. Information on the
APA format appears later in this document.
The precise manner in which the parts of the research essay are to be arranged is illustrated in the example included later in this
document.
Whichever topic you choose, your research essay should be arranged into roughly three parts. These parts do not need to be labelled
and each part may consist of one paragraph or more paragraphs. In Part 1 (between 100 to 250 words long), your task is to identify
and describe what you consider the most critical or interesting issue or issues (or problems, or questions, or concepts) which are raised
by the topic, and which are most directly relevant to psychology. The goal of Part 1 is to provide a context or background for the
remainder of your essay, and for you to inform the reader about the specific focus of your essay. In Part 2 (350 to 700 words long), you
are expected to use insights and information you have gained from the peer reviewed research articles in order to illuminate (or
increase understanding of) one or more of the critical issues or questions that are raised by the topic, or to increase your understanding
of these issues or questions. In Part 3 (between 100 and 300 words long), your task is to draw conclusions, make connections between
Parts 1 and 2, acknowledge limitations that are relevant to Part 2 or that were raised in the research articles you referenced, and
perhaps propose research that would need to be carried out to address new questions which occurred to you.
You research essay must be based on published peer reviewed research, and must make appropriate use of and refer to at least 3,
with a maximum of 5, peer reviewed psychology journal articles.
Writing a research essay requires you to make a series of choices: selecting one of the four approved topics, focusing on one or more
of the issues or problems that are raised by the selected topic, and finding published empirical reports (i.e., peer reviewed psychology
journal articles) that serve to increase understanding of those same issues or problems. The most important task is for you to
demonstrate that you are able to analyze in a critical way an everyday problem, that you are able to make appropriate connections
between this problem and psychological concepts, phenomena, theories, terminology and methods, and that you are able to express
your understanding and insights effectively in written form. Higher grades will be awarded for essays that show a thorough, deep
understanding of one or a few issues or problems, rather than a superficial grasp of a large number of concepts, facts or theories.
The 1000-1200 word limit for the research essay is an important part of this assignment. If you submit a longer essay, the graders (your
peers) have the option to stop reading after the limit set for the report. Writing a short essay is challenging; it requires you to be concise
and to focus on the most important facts or concepts. Developing this type of writing takes practice, lots of it, and typically, a high
quality final version requires several drafts.
If you have difficulty writing well in English, please consult the Writing Centre staff for assistance (you will find them through the UBC
Learning Commons: http://learningcommons.ubc.ca/).
Submission Formatting Criteria: In order to earn full marks for your work, your research essay must adhere precisely to the following
formatting criteria, and to the specific example which is included elsewhere in this document. The criteria are designed to ensure that
every essay looks the same, thus enabling the graders to focus on the content rather than the appearance of the essay. Your
submitted work must:
Be proof-read carefully and thoroughly, free of errors in spelling, in word choice, in grammar, in punctuation, in the·
logical/meaningful flow of ideas from one sentence to the next, etc.
Have 1.5 line spacing; all parts must have 1.5 line spacing.·
Make use of 12-point Arial Narrow font; all parts must use this font.·
The essay must adhere to the 1000-1200 word limit.·
The essay must include — in printed form — a precise word count on the first page of the essay, exactly as shown in the·
example included elsewhere in this document. Note: when you do the word count, make sure to include the references.
The essay must include a title on the first page.·
Your student number must appear immediately below the title on the first page of the essay, on a separate line.·
Your name must NOT appear anywhere in your essay.·
Your essay does NOT require an abstract or a summary.·
Your essay must be submitted in pdf format by the specified due date/time.·
The reference section must include the DOI for each article.·
The reference section follows the text; do not start it on a new page.·
Use the above as a checklist, and check your work before you submit your final version. Your work will be graded for
consistency/adherence with the above criteria.
Research Essay Don’ts:
Do not rely on sources that are not peer reviewed. Do not use Wikipedia or similar sources which may never have been·
checked by anyone. Do not refer to any research which was not published in a peer reviewed journal article. (Note: all journal
articles available via PsycINFO have been peer reviewed. Use this link to find articles: http://resources.library.ubc.ca/1007
Do not make use of more than 5 peer reviewed journal articles.·
Do not quote any materials of your essay. The purpose of the research essay is to highlight your insight and understanding of·
a topic, and for you to express everything in your own words. A deduction of 25% or more will be made — depending on the
amount of quoted materials — if your essay includes any quoted materials.
Do not include references that point to other references, for example, by writing something like Miller (1956, as cited by Burns·
& Jacob, 2007). The use of such embedded references tells the reader that the author could not be bothered with checking
the original report. Science requires a more critical attitude, and for this reason, scientists accept only direct references to
original sources.
Research Essay Topics: Carefully read the specific requirements for each of the four topics which follow, make sure you understand
what you are required to do for each topic, consult other students, the TA or instructor if necessary, discuss the topics on the course
web forum, and then select the topic that most appeals to you.
Topic 1: Distraction affects learning and/or remembering. For this topic, your task is to use published peer reviewed research
related to memory, to learning, to perception and/or to attention to explore whether or not, or how, some sort of distraction
(e.g., external distraction like watching TV while studying for a mid-term, or internal distraction like worrying about
performance while taking a written test) could affect cognitive learning (e.g., learning a list of words or ideas, or a series of
events) or memory for words, concept or events.
Topic 2: Distributed practice is better than cramming. Distributed practice is a method where to-be-learned material is learned
across many different study sessions. For this topic, your task is to use published peer reviewed research related to
memory, to learning, to perception and/or to attention to explore whether the claim that distributed practice is better than
cramming is true. You may want to investigate the specific circumstances in which distributed practice leads to higher
performance than does cramming.
Topic 3: Affect influences attention and remembering. The word ‘affect’ has many meanings. For this topic, the focus is on the
emotions and physiological arousal that are produced when we perceive (eg. see or hear) something that is either very
positive (e.g., a cute puppy, a delicious bowl of cherries) or very negative (e.g. a hissing snake, the burned body of a child).
Your task is to use published peer reviewed research related to learning and remembering and/or to attention in order to
show how an event or experience that affects us strongly tends to influence attention (i.e. how does affect it influence
attention?) and/or remembering (i.e. how does affect influence remembering?).
Topic 4: Testing is the best facilitator of learning. For this topic, your task is to use published peer reviewed research related to
memory, to learning, to perception and/or to attention to explore whether or not the claim that testing facilitates learning and
remembering is valid, whether this claim is valid for all forms of testing, and for all forms of learning and remembering (e.g.,
verbal/cognitive learning as well as motor/skill learning).
