COURSE PROJECT GUIDELINES

PROJECT APPROVAL DEADLINE—————————————-MARCH 29, 2024

PROJECT REPORT DUE DATE———————————————MAY 15, 2024

GENERAL OBJECTIVES

To provide the student with the opportunity to sharpen his/her analytical skills;

To give the student the opportunity to enhance his/her knowledge about a

particular issue relating to the African American Experience in the U. S.; and

To provide the student with the opportunity to practice his/her writing skills.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR THE PAPER

Be certain to include a cover sheet for your report; the cover sheet should show a title

for the project/report, your name, the class, and the semester/date.

At a minimum, the report should be 5 pages in length [double-spaced typewritten], 

not including cover and reference pages, or pages associated with an appendix.

Published material cited in the text of the report should be accompanied by appropriate

reference information at the end of the report, i.e., a reference page.  Thus,

reference information should be provided for cited material taken from

books, magazines, journals, DVD’s/films or the internet.  When doing so,

please provide author, title, date [year and volume #], publisher, and/or internet  address [also see p. 3 below].

YOUR REPORT SHOULD INCLUDE AT LEAST 6 REFERENCES NOT INCLUDING REFERENCING

THE TEXTBOOK, AND AT LEAST HALF OF THESE REFERENCES SHOULD BE BOOK AND/OR

RESEARCH JOURNAL REFERENCES!

SPECIFIC PURPOSE OF THE EXERCISE

This exercise is designed to provide the student with the opportunity to gain in-depth knowledge about a particular topic or issue related to the psychological experiences of African Americans in the U. S. As such, students will use theory and established research data [i.e., research literature] to explore what we know about the chosen topic or issue.

PROCEDURE

1) Decide upon a topic/issue for the exercise based on the topics covered in the course. This 

topic can be about any academic issue covered in the textbook or any issue having psychological ramifications that is currently affecting African Americans. [An exemplary list of previous student titles are shown below and others can be found on Bb.]

2) Get some background information about the issue/topic.  You can use a wide variety of 

sources for such information—course materials, other published material, input from friends

and associates, and most importantly, your own thoughts and observations.

3) Develop an argument or point of view about the issue.

4) Gather information about the issue from published sources, i.e., provide a review of the issue.

5) Evaluate or critically analyze this evidence—does it provide support for your argument? Are

there shortcomings associated with this evidence? Does this evidence comport with or conform with your own observations? If not, why not?

i.e., provide a thorough discussion of the issue, support or lack of support for it based on published works; your assessment and evaluation of these works, and whether or not this information is consistent with your own experiences and observations. Also, provide some indication of what you see as future developments concerning this issue. 

6) Write the report. Be certain to provide an indication of the research question [i.e., what the

issue is and your point of view as regards the issue] at the outset of the report. In other words, give the purpose of the paper early on. And, after reviewing the evidence for your argument [body of the paper], give an indication of the appropriate conclusions to be drawn from your discussion of the issue. And, make certain to include a reference page at the end of your report that shows the sources you used for your citations and any quotes contained within the paper. The next item illustrates how these sources should be indicated on your Reference list.

7) Your Reference list should comport with the following information on acceptable reference

styles:

REFERENCES

Provide a page of references.  You can use any reference style [e.g., APA, Modern Language  Association(MLA), Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), Council of Biology Editors (CBE), and so on]

with which you are familiar.  Preferred however, would be APA style as shown below:

EXAMPLES

Book

Hine, D. C., Hine, W. C., & Harrold, S. (2008).  The African-American Odyssey.

4th ed.  Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Journal Article

Benozio, A., & Diesendruck, G. (2015).  From effort to value: Preschool children’s

alternative to effort justification.  Psychological Science, 25, 1423-1429.

Magazine Article

Coates, T. (2015, October).  The Black family in the age of mass incarceration.

The Atlantic, 316, 60-80, 82-84.

Internet Article

Glueckauf, R. L. et al. (1998, July).  Videocounseling for families of rural teens with

epilepsy-Project update.  Telehealth News, 2(2).  Retrieved June 6, 2000, from

http://www.telehealth.net/subscribe/newslettr_ 4a.html#1

FOR THE REPORT:

b) Make certain you include a title for your report;

c) Make certain you include a cover page with your report [see above Technical points];

d) Make certain to make use of at least 6 references for your report;

e) Make certain your report is 6 text pages in length, not including cover page, reference page and any appendix pages

Submit your report on or before MAY 15, 2024;

LATE REPORTS 

BE AWARE THAT REPORTS RECEIVED AFTER THE SUBMISSION DEADLINE 

MAY NOT BE ACCEPTED AND/OR WILL INCUR A SEVERE PENALTY!