The first paragraph of your paper should be a description of why it’s important to study whatever topic or behavior is being studied- this is the topic you will be writing about >(Whether or not a brand/label affects one’s choice in picking a product). The first paragraph (or two) of a journal article usually begins describing the importance of studying the topic of the study, with reference to real-world issues and descriptive data. The paragraph should clearly state what behavior or mental process is being studied, and present your research question. The best way to support the real-world importance of studying your chosen topic is to focus on real-world behaviors and their consequences. So, for the behavior that you’re studying, look for data (i.e., exact numbers) about the prevalence and consequences of the behavior. The second paragraph should describe a psychology theory that can be applied to your topic. Find and read the article that is the very first publication about the theory, plus whatever other articles you need to in order to understand the theory. The paragraph(s) in your paper should define and summarize the major constructs in the theory, plus how the theory says the constructs relate to or influence each other in order to predict human behavior. The paragraphs from your Theory Paper should be in the beginning, and then, as new material: There should be at one, and only one, paragraph that summarizes at least two peer-reviewed psychology journal articles that present correlational (non-experimental) research that has been conducted on your topic. The summary should focus most on the common results found across many correlational (non-experimental) research studies. (“In correlational studies a researcher looks for associations among naturally occurring variables, whereas in experimental studies the researcher introduces a change and then monitors its effects”). However, it would also be good to include a summary (with perhaps 1 or 2 specific examples) of common methods through which non-experimental studies are conducted on the topic, including how the relevant variables are measured There should be one, and only one, new paragraph that summarizes at least two peer-reviewed psychology journal articles that present experiments relevant to your topic. There should not be one paragraph about each article/experiment–it’s one paragraph total that summarizes any common conclusion reached by all two (or more) articles. The key here is to SUMMARIZE what you read. The summary should focus most on the common results found across many experimental research studies. However, it would also be good to include a summary (with perhaps 1 or 2 specific examples) of common methods through which experiments are conducted on the topic, including how the independent variable is manipulated There should be one paragraph that describes how your experiment is new and different from previous research on the topic. This paragraph should identify some “gap” or problem with the existing research, and describe how your new experiment will address that gap/problem. As part of how your experiment will address the gap/problem in prior research, you should integrate your theory. If there’s an research question that needs to be answered, you should use the theory to help you propose your hypothesis (i.e., the predicted answer to the research question) “Whether or not a brand/label affects one’s choice in picking a product”. Use your theory to make it clear to the reader why you’re hypothesizing what you are.
