Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory

General Psychology Paper:

Psychological Science in Everyday Life Overview: One of psychology’s claims to fame is that psychological information can be applied to better understand and help people’s everyday lives. For this paper, you will have the opportunity to explore a topic in psychology that has such implications, research it in more detail, and consider how this information can be applied.

Instructions:

(1) Please choose one topic from the list below. Each topic is based on material discussed in the respective modules.

(2) Research your topic. Start by reading the module content and note any references in the module. Then, find websites, articles, and/or books on your topic. Your research must include at least two journal articles or books. That is, websites can be very helpful and informative, but your final paper must include full articles (whether from the Internet or elsewhere) or books on the topic. Sources should be reputable and consistent with what you learned in the module as well as other sources. GoogleScholar and PDF articles from the Internet can be helpful resources. This paper requirement means that you need to include at least two primary sources in your paper; articles from the Internet can be included, but they would be in addition to the two minimum primary sources. Primary sources are firsthand accounts; thus, they involve the author writing about his or her own work. Primary sources include books or published journal articles.

Grading information:

Each paper is worth 100 points. The paper may be completed any time before the Final Exam. The grading turnaround for papers is one week (that is, you should expect to have a submitted paper graded by one week from the date of submission).

The point distribution for the papers is as follows:

20 points: Writing. Criteria: appropriate grammar, appropriately edited for syntax and phrasing, complete sentences, structured in paragraph and essay form, meets page length requirements.

20 points: Follows the prompt: all portions of the paper are complete. Answers fully address the questions in the prompt and address them in a sufficiently detailed way.

20 points: Evidence. In each paper, you are required to support evidence for your written points, whether the evidence is specific detail from the modules, the Internet, or your observations (and, in all cases, the evidence needs to be stated in your own words and not plagiarized). These sources should be appropriately cited. For example: (Scott, 2010) or (www.sciencedaily.com, “What is Keeping Your Kids Up At Night,” para. 2). Sufficient referencing and integration (without plagiarism) of other sources is necessary to achieve full points in this area. A reference page is also needed. At least the minimum number of primary sources (see above) is also needed.

20 points: Evaluation. In each paper, you are to include your own thoughts and evaluations. Each paper option involves you thinking further on a topic in psychology and making some evaluations and decisions about the topic. Your thoughts need to be described in sufficient detail and identified as your thoughts, compared to information that you may obtain elsewhere. Sufficient explanation is necessary to achieve full points in this area.

20: Content. Accuracy of your written positions and appropriateness of content given the question prompts are necessary to achieve full points in this area. This is the heart of the papers—answering the questions correctly, accurately, and appropriately. In the cases of providing your opinions, these should still be grounded correctly in the theory or module topic that you are addressing.

Instructions:

(1) Please choose one topic from the list below. Each topic is based on material discussed in the respective modules.

(2) Research your topic. Start by reading the module content and note any references in the module. Then, find websites, articles, and/or books on your topic. Your research must include at least two articles or books. That is, websites can be very helpful and informative, but your final paper must include full articles (whether from the Internet or elsewhere) or books on the topic. Sources should be reputable and consistent with what you learned in the module as well as other sources. GoogleScholar and PDF articles from the Internet can be helpful resources.

Tips for finding sources:

(a) A Google search can be a helpful way to start. You can then see the scope and type of information available. After you’ve read up on the topic, you can then search more academic sources such as through GoogleScholar or academic websites (such as hospitals and research institutions) that might have articles and reports available.

(b) Each topic on the list does have information that you can find online as well as in print. If, for whatever reason, you have trouble locating this information, you may want to switch topics.

(c) Make sure you use good search terms when trying to find articles. You may want to start broad (for example, “bystander effect”) and then narrow to your particular area.

(3) Each topic has an application component. Some suggestions for application can be researched, but you will also need to come up with your own ideas. You may want to jot down notes as you research your topic so that you can come to your own conclusions.

(4) Write the paper. Be sure to include all components from the questions above for your topic. The paper should be written in essay format (not an outline), in 12-point font, and double-spaced. Be sure to edit carefully before submitting the paper.

Here is the format for writing the paper:

Format:

I. Introduction. Introduce your topic and explain why this topic was of interest to you.

II. Body of paper. Fully address your topic and all the components of it. Support your points with your cited research. The topic should be explained in full. This section should be at least three pages long.

III. Application. Discuss your topic’s application component. Be sure to mention what applications are recommended by others and what you recommend. You must include your own views about what the application should be, and clearly state them and why. This section should be at least one to two pages

IV. Conclusion. Conclude your topic with a wrap-up paragraph. Some suggestions for a good conclusion:

a) end by summarizing what was learned about this topic;

b) end by emphasizing a particular application of the information;

c) end by suggesting where future research and discussion should go on this topic. Total paper length: Approximately five pages PAPER TOPIC Alzheimer’s disease and memory – Which types of memory—such as episodic, procedural, etc.—are most affected by this disease? What is the progression? What are current recommendations for how to maintain functioning prior to and after diagnosis?