DESCRIPTION OF TERM PAPER ASSIGNMENT
All students are required to complete a term paper. The purpose of this paper is to give
you an opportunity to explore and learn more about an aspect of adult development and aging.
The paper will be a critical review of a popular press article about some aspect of adult
development and aging, e.g. physical exercise helps prevent Alzheimer’s disease. The article
must have been published within the last year (January 2016 – April 2017). You may use
newspaper articles, magazine articles or online articles (no blogs). It is recommended that you
clear your article with the course director or T.A. via email or in person before you begin your
literature search.
Your critical review of the article must be based on current research from peer-reviewed
literature. The paper should integrate and evaluate scholarly sources (journal articles) that may
be obtained through library research. You must provide support for your position from at least
5 peer-reviewed journal articles (you may use more). You may also provide additional
information from scholarly books if you so wish. The majority of sources should be as current as
possible, i.e. published within the last 5 years.
The paper should include:
(a) a title page
(b) an abstract
(c) the body of paper
a basic introduction and description of the topic and press article•
a brief description of your scholarly sources (purpose, methodology, findings)•
and how the findings relate to your topic
a reflection of unanswered questions and directions for future research•
a conclusion to your exploration of the topic•
(d) the reference section
(e) a copy of the press article
The paper must be in APA (American Psychological Association) format. This format is
found in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th Edition (2009).
The manual is available at Scott Library, Scott Reference, Steacie Science and Engineering
Library, Leslie Frost Library and the Osgoode Hall Law School Library. It is best to use the
sample paper at the end of the manual as a guide, especially for the title page, abstract and
how references appear both in the body of the paper and in the reference section. Further
information on presenting references appears in specific chapters of the APA manual. APA
formatting information can also be found online at http://www.apastyle.org/ or
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/. As you are not conducting an empirical
study, your paper will not include the “Method”, “Results” or “Discussion” sections. The paper
should be 6-8 pages (excluding title page, abstract and reference section). It should be doublespaced
and typed. Secondary references should not be used – you should read the original
articles and cite the original articles. Do not use direct quotes from sources unless absolutely
necessary. Instead, paraphrase information taken from sources. All material from sources must
be properly referenced according to APA guidelines.
Your paper will be marked on the following components: introduction of topic and
article, use of at least 5 peer-reviewed journal articles, description of these journal articles,
arguments supporting or refuting the press article based on research evidence, reflection of
5
unanswered questions and possible directions for future research, conclusion, APA format,
grammar, spelling and general form of writing.
There are links from the main university library webpage to resources, guides and
tutorials to help you with your research and how to formulate a thesis. The main search engine
that we use in Psychology is “Psycinfo”, but you are free to use articles from any of the search
engines.
The term paper (hard copy) is due at the last lecture on April 3, 2017. In addition, you
must submit your paper to Turnitin on Moodle (instructions will be posted on Moodle a week
before the due date). Papers will not be marked unless we receive both the hard copy and
electronic copy. The paper is worth 30 marks.