“Transforming a Trait: Exploring the Power of Psychology in Personal Development”

Credit Weight: The term paper is worth 10% of the final grade for the course.
Instructions: You will consider a particular trait of your personality that you’d like to see transform. You could notice, for example, the way you react in certain situations or with certain people, your difficulty to deal with authority, your perfectionism, or your difficulty to get close to people. Once you have identified a specific trait, you will research literature that discusses that particular trait, and will use that literature to understand it better and see how it could transform. The literature you use will have to be chosen critically and will include at least two articles from scientific journals.
Format: The paper should be 3-4 double-spaced, word-processed pages using a standard 12-point font.
Your paper will include three major parts: an introduction, the body, and a conclusion. It will start with a title page and end with a reference list.
The title page of your paper, the headings, your citations and references, and your reference list should follow the APA style. You must acknowledge your sources in a scholarly manner throughout your paper.
Structuring the Paper
Title Page
Introduction- 10 Points: (10 to 12 lines).
The introduction to your paper addresses the following questions :
• The purpose of the paper, and how is it important and meaningful to you.
The significance to the field of psychology.
• How your paper is divided.
Body- 40 Points: (3 to 4 pages)
The body of your paper is where you develop the material you introduced. Pay attention to the clarity of interpretation and to the relevance of the theories, concepts, and research findings to your topic. Any quoted material and any ideas attributable to someone else must be acknowledged with proper in-text citations, and must be listed in correct APA reference format at the end of the paper. Your ideas should flow in a logical fashion, and your ideas and paragraphs should be connected well.
Conclusion- 30 Points: (10-12 lines)
This section gives a summary of your paper, and your personal comments/thoughts on the topic and information discovered about the topic.
Reference List
Language and APA Style: 20 Points
Marks will be deducted for grammar, usage, spelling, typing, and punctuation errors, and for not following APA style.
Marking Key for the Term Paper:
Title Page
Introduction /10
-Purpose
-Significance
-How is your paper divided
Body /40
-Reflection on a particular aspect of your development
-Choice of literature, including two peer-reviewed articles
-Analysis, identification of how they make you make sense of your experience
-Structure well defined, with sections identified by headings
-Ideas flow logically and there are transitions between each major section of the paper
Conclusion /30
-Summary
-Comments
Reference List
Language and APA Style /20
-Grammar
-APA format
-Scholarly writing