AP psychology research paper practice: Nature and nurture

Being able to write a coherent research paper in the format of the discipline is a key skill to
acquire in the first year of studying psychology. To this end, you will write two research papers
during this course. The nature vs. nurture assignment is your initial, and shorter, research
assignment and is connected to the developmental and bio-psychological units.
You are already aware that the nature vs. nurture debate has been one of the most important
theoretical and passionately argued topic when examining the origin and function of human
behaviour. You also already know that nature refers to our genetic, biological make-up as
humans and nurture refers to our social environment and how human behaviour is shaped by the
various social institutions of culture.
Controversy arises when discussing whether issues such as intelligence, criminality, sexuality,
gender, or addiction are simply byproducts of our nature and/or strictly learned, social
behaviours. The task you are given is to investigate both sides of the nature and nurture debate
(using secondary sources to support your claims) and analyze which is more influential: nature or
nurture.
Specifics
You are to write a short essay (roughly 750 1000 words) that conforms to APA formatting
guidelines. It must be a typed, double spaced research essay in font size 12 that analyzes the
research available on the impact of nature and nurture on a given topic.
Topics include: intelligence, criminality, aggression, sexuality, or
addiction
For APA formatting help visit the Purdue website:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
Links to helpful articles will be on the course website. We will
discuss good research strategies in class but be sure to also use the
databases accessible through the Gleneagle library to find good
secondary sources.

Explora: New interface to search EBSCO's databases in one friendly screen.

Ways to strengthen your essay

-Support your points through use of evidence from your secondary sources.
Explain how these sources support your ideas and draw out the connections

-Include acknowledgements of counter arguments (but beware of building a

strawman argument)
Help organizing your research
My topic:
My argument:

My sources:

My key points:

My conclusion: