Paper Topics

Due  in writing 10/27

You are to hand in a written summary of the topic you would like to pursue for your final paper.  Remember that your paper will be a 12-16 page paper on a topic of your choice (to be approved in this exercise).  Topics should be of the sort addressed by papers in The American Journal of Community Psychology and should bring a multiage perspective to the topic.

Your papers must have a  developmental focus.  Simply thinking about a topic we have mentioned in discussion (e.g., school achievement) will not be enough.  You need to add a developmental perspective--what are the influences operative in one "stage" that are not the same as another, and how do they operate?

You also want to keep your discussion at a community level, rather than a clinical one.  The distinction can be hard to capture, but if you think about the kinds of issues that have implications for prevention, then you are on the right track.

• Write as much as you can.  That way I can get you better feedback.

• Put your topic in the form of a question

• Indicate how you will include at least three age periods in your paper.

• Include any references you may have found.  They will tell me what kind of track you are on.  Remember that this is a graduate level paper and your primary references should be peer reviewed journal articles and chapters in scholarly books. Expert opinions and popular press articles are not the kinds of material on which you want to base your paper.

• There is lots of room for change even after you get these approved topics back.  Don't worry about getting trapped with a topic you are not sure of.  Do be sure to hand in something on the 27th.

Remember that your paper must be written according to APA style guidelines.  You  may find helpful information on citing sources, including electronic sources, in the style section of the APA website  (use the top tabs--FAQs especially--and sidebar menus to learn about APA style and get information).