The overall goal of this assignment is to help students to understand children and adolescents
growth and development in four major domains (physical, cognitive, emotional, social) and the
inter-relationships among these domains.
1. The overall goal is to present information about some aspect of adolescent development
(e.g., autonomy, romantic love, date rape, academic achievement, delinquency, employment,
moral reasoning, teenage pregnancy, etc.), the exact topic is up to you. You will need to
demonstrate how your particular topic (e.g., delinquency) is affected by and/or affects the other
three domains of development. For example, delinquency can be considered an aspect of social
development. In your paper, you will want to show how delinquency impacts or is impacted by
physical development (e.g., gender or puberty), cognitive development (e.g., academic
achievement), and emotional development (e.g., anger and hostility). You want the reader to
finish the paper with a greater understanding of your particular topic. The paper is to be at least
8 pages in length, but not more than 12 pages – this does not include a title page, abstract (not
required) or reference page.
2. You will want to start off by identifying the exact topic (specific and narrow is usually
easier to deal with), You may want to focus on an age-range (early, middle, late) as well.
3. After identifying your specific topic and stage of adolescent development, you will need to find background information (e.g., using delinquency as the example, information about the percent of teens who are delinquent, what age is most likely to see delinquent behavior, break delinquency down by percents for race/ethnicity, gender, and SES) and theoretical perspectives. This is where the textbook and credible website are used.
Next, you will find 8 peer-reviewed research articles (i.e., the articles have goals/hypotheses, measures/methods, human subjects, and empirical results) – two articles for each domain. These 8 peer-reviewed (empirical) research articles must be published in the last 10 years and found through SJSU King Library (not Google).
4. To find peer-reviewed journal articles use a data-base called Psych-Info.
You will be searching by subject so you will want to type in key terms such as Delinquency
Adolescent Identity, Adolescent Self-Concept – – the reference librarian can help you with search
terms if you give her/him your general paper topic). Hopefully this search will yield a series of
articles with author, title, and date. Scan through the titles for ones that look particularly
interesting or relevant and use the option to view the abstract, this will let you know if it is an
article that you might want to use as a reference for the paper. Once you have gotten your
articles (always a good idea to get more than needed in case some don’t work out), exit Psych-
Info and access the SJSU library catalogue. Go to periodicals and type in the title of the journal
where the article is located (e.g., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology). This will then
tell you where the journal is located or if you will need to use inter-library loan.
5. You will use American Psychological Association (APA) style for both in-text references
and the reference page at the end of the paper. (See the end of this handout for how to do APA
style referencing in-text as well as the full references at the end). Each idea that is not your own,
original thought must be cited and referenced, even if it is not a direct quote. For every in-text
reference, there must be a complete reference at the end (and if you have a complete reference,
you should refer to that source in-text).
6. The paper format:
A You will start with an introduction that: (a) presents your topic, (b) indicates
why this is an important topic, and (c) briefly highlights for the reader what
the paper will focus on and discuss.
B You may need a paragraph to define important terms you will use in your paper.
This will ensure that you and the reader are at the same level of understanding.
Similarly, this would be a good place to present key components of any theory that
is relevant to your topic (Note this section may not be necessary for all papers – it
depends on your topic and goals for the paper.)
C The main body of your paper will focus on presenting the research findings
You want to focus on the main points of the article you read,
not the author’s review of previous literature but what that author actually found
(results) or the major conclusions that author has arrived at in the article.
Omit details about hypotheses, subjects, and methods – – sometimes a
brief summary of one or more these factors will help the reader (e.g., “Smith
and Jones (2001) were attempting to assess early adolescent’s views about body
weight ideals in a sample of Jamaican and British 12- to 14 year-olds by looking at
girls’ and boys’ responses to photos of teenagers of different ethnic backgrounds
and body types. Their results indicated that ……”).
For each article, present the hypotheses (or goals) and subjects of the study, and the most important or relevant results of the study (do not repeat the literature review (presented at the start of the article – read it, but do not begin citing until you reach the description of the hypotheses/goals and the subjects). The following is an example of how to do this:
“Hogan, Smith, and Mathur, (2004) were interested in the role of a fantasy disposition and openness to experience in emerging adults’ engagement in creative hobbies. Their sample consisted of ethnically and economically diverse college undergraduates. Results supported the concept, noted earlier, that fantasy and creativity are strongly associated (reference). Specifically, their results indicated that …..”.
Do not present a list of articles (First, X found this. Next, Y found that. Third, and last, Z found this). Instead integrate the articles – group by common or similar findings about the domain. Thus, you may find yourself citing an article in several different places in that domain section.
D Avoid direct quotes – summarize everything in your own words. If you must quote,
you need a reference plus page number in text (e.g., Smith and Jones, 2000, pg.
298) as well as a full reference at the end.
E Some writing tips: (1) Present relevant research which addresses the
issues and questions you raised in your introduction, (2) Do not be afraid to
mention important articles which present contradictory evidence. You can
deal with the contradictions in your conclusion, (3) Keep your descriptions
concise and to the point. (4) Avoid “jargon” – and if you do have to use it,
define it for your reader, and (5) if you use acronyms, write out the words first
then use the acronym thereafter (e.g., Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
(ADHD)… from then on you can just use ADHD in the paper)
F In your conclusion, briefly summarize the your research findings.
Draw your own careful and well considered conclusions about your finding based on
the evidence presented in the research articles you have cited in the body of
the paper. (Do not simply state “more research needs to be done”. If this is
the case, state what kinds of research on what kinds of samples should be
conducted to increase our understanding of this topic.)
G Provide a separate page with references for each article and web-site cited in the text.
Be sure to provide the full reference for Steinberg (textbook) as well.
7 Papers will be evaluated in five different areas:
A Accuracy of information
B Thoroughness/completeness (addresses the paper requirements and adequately
covers the topic).
C Accurate APA style references/in-text citation
D Clarity in written expression /Grammar, spelling, punctuation
1. The A paper is well organized and developed. It demonstrates a clear
understanding and fulfillment of the assignment requirements. It shows the
student’s ability to use written language effectively and construct sentences
clearly. It is essentially free of grammatical, mechanical, and usage errors.
2. The B paper will demonstrate the same competence in the same categories
as the A paper, but will show some weaknesses in one or more of the
sub-categories
3. The C paper will complete all assigned criteria, but will show weaknesses in
fundamental, usually organization or development. In a C paper there is barely
enough specific information to illustrate and support the paper thesis.
4. The D paper will neglect one or more of the assigned tasks and be noticeably
superficial – typically too simplistic or too short. The paper may have problems
in development and will contain grammatical, mechanical, and/or usage errors
that are serious and/or frequent.
5. The F paper will demonstrate striking underdevelopment of ideas and weak
organization. It will fail to meet major content criteria for the assignment (e.g.,
APA references, case study interview). It will contain serious and numerous
grammatical, mechanical, and usage errors. F papers also may result from
plagiarism, turned in after the deadline, or failure to turn in the paper at all.
Paper Reference Formats: APA style
Journal articles: List authors in order, last name first, then first name initial. Year of article in
parentheses, followed by the title. Next the name of the journal underlined, the volume number
(underlined) and the issue number in parentheses. Page numbers are last. Again, make sure to ONLY USE EMPIRICAL ARTICLES
Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R., & Nyman, M. (2004). The relations of emotionality and
regulation to children’s anger related-reactions. Child Development, 65 (1), 109-128.
You place all references in alphabetical order on a separate page at the end of the paper.
This does not count as one of your 6 (minimum) pages for the paper.
To cite someone’s work in your text you place the last names of the author and the date of the
work in parentheses after you have cited the study.
Example: Preschool aged children’s anger reactions are associated with the general intensity of
their emotional reactions and with their general expression of negative emotions (Eisenberg,
Fabes, & Nymen, 2004).
Example: Eisenberg, Fabes, and Nymen (2004) demonstrated that preschool children’s anger …
Once you have cited the research once you may abbreviate the author list:
Example: Eisenberg and colleagues (1994) demonstrated that anger reactions are predictive …
Example: Preschool aged children’s anger reactions also are predictive of their peer social
competence (Eisenberg, et al., 2004).
this proposal shown below does not have 8 EMPIRICAL ARTICLES
Teen Pregnancy
Research indicates that teenagers in the United States are at a high risk of to conceive and give birth during their teen years compared to any other developed country. Evidence from research suggests that American teenagers are two and a halt times more likely to become pregnant in comparison to their counterparts in the neighboring country of Canada (Kearney & Levine, 2012). In addition, the probability that American teenager will get pregnant is four times higher than teenagers in Germany and Norway, and ten times higher than teens in Switzerland (Hamilton & Ventura, 2012).
Statistics indicate that during 2013, there were 26.6 births per 1000 female adolescents aged between 15-19 years. It is estimated that more than 89% of these births belonged to teenagers who were not married (US Department Of Health & Human Services, 2014; Kearney & Levine, 2012). However, statistics obtained in 2013 indicate that the average rate teen birth rate has been reducing gradually. In fact, the teen birth rate has decreased in the last two decades. During the year 2012 the teen birth rate was about 61.8 births per 1000 female teenagers, compared to 26.6 births per 1000 teenagers in 2013. However, the US teen birth rate is still considerably higher than any other developed country (Fletcher, 2011; US Department Of Health & Human Services, 2014).
According to the current statistics teenage pregnancies in America differ in terms of racial and ethnic group, region of the country, and age. According to the current statistics, most teenagers give birth at the age of 18 years of above (WebMD, 2014). Additionally, in 2012, 72% of teenage pregnancies were reported in young girls between the ages of 18 to 19 years. However, the teenage birth rate is significantly higher among African Americans and Hispanic communities compared to the white teenagers (US Department Of Health & Human Services, 2014).
Use the order calculator below and get started! Contact our live support team for any assistance or inquiry.
[order_calculator]