How sleep deprivation affects cognitive thinking

In a 10 to 12 page paper, you will examine how cognitive psychologists think about a specific aspect of how people think. Your goals are to (1) identify, for your topic, the major issue or issues that
cognitive psychologists are addressing, (2) discuss empirical studies of the topic, including methods and key findings, (3) explain cognitive psychologists? current state of thinking about the topic based on research to date, (4) outline their ideas for further research on the topic, and (5) discuss the relevance of this topic and body of research for our everyday lives.

1) Keep a tight focus on one, specific topic. See your main topic as the hub of a wheel. All you have to say about that topic, organized in headings and subheadings, should relate to that one topic. Students often make the mistake of going down all these side roads. So ask yourself, is there anything in my proposed paper that could be considered a separate piece of research? I gave this feedback to a number of you this week.

2) References. You should reference your text, plus a minimum of 4 additional academic sources. These you can find in the NU library. Websites ending in .com or .net are not considered academic. Those ending in .gov, .org, or .edu are acceptable. A very common mistake is in the citation of references. If you make a direct quote, name the author, date of publication, and page number. When paraphrasing, name the author and date. No page number. Please avoid block quotes. Review the standard for quoting one author more than once in the same paragraph. You should use timely references to give weight to what YOU are saying. A common mistake is a paper filled with far too many references. Give yourself a voice.

3) Length. Your paper should include a cover, abstract, and reference pages. The body of your work should be 8-10 pages. Please read in its entirety the PSY 433 Sample Paper.doc found in the Announcement titled, More Research Paper Help. Pay particular attention to how to format the cover and references pages.

4) Less is More! Don?t try to say too much. Stick to your main focus. Don?t bite off more than you can chew.

5) Headings and subheadings really aid the reader in following you, so you should get in the habit of writing as such. You should begin your paper with an Introduction that is an elaboration of the abstract. Your paper should end with a Conclusion or Discussion paragraph. In the discussion you should offer your opinions on further research needed in relation to the topic you examined.

6) Personalization. Please feel free to blend the academic with the personal by sharing examples or stories from your own life, or real world examples or case studies. Please avoid making your work a dry piece of research. Spice it up a bit through personalization.