Two topic areas that will be focused on. e.g., adolescents’ depression is an important area to study…).

In this first paragraph you want to state the significance of the issue or problem you will be studying (e.g., adolescents’ depression is an important area to study…). Usually reporting a vital statistic from a reputable site or a statement from an empirical article or other source provides a good first sentence detailing your topic (be sure you include the proper APA citation next to your statement). You continue with a brief one or two sentence statement about what can be done to address this important issue and how you will examine this issue in your study. That is, what are the two topic areas that you will focus on? ​Introduce your reader to what is known about the topic here. This second paragraph provides background information on one of your articles you are studying (e.g., adolescent depression and academic attainment). In this paragraph, you will summarize information from the empirical article(s) you located previously – be sure you clearly state what the article has to do with the first topic area. Remember that supporting paragraphs are where you demonstrate what you know about the topic by stating what research has already been conducted. Do not copy/paste that information and do not include the authors first names or the study titles (that information is in the References section—points will be deducted) but you will use proper in-text APA citations when referencing the study authors (e.g., Riley et al., 2023) (see APA information on Canvas). ​The next paragraph will provide information on the second empirical article on your two topics. For example, if I am studying adolescent depression and their academic attainment, this paragraph will provide more information on that association by talking about the importance of depression on academic attainment for adolescents. Do not copy/paste information from the article; summarize in your own words. Be sure to provide relevant information from that article as it relates to your study topic. ​The next paragraph summarizes what is known about the two topics together with regard to prior research (be sure to cite and state clearly what was found in the study) and, importantly, state what is still unknown about the topic. For example, adolescent depression has been shown to have negative associations with their academic performance (cite). The authors found that (summarize key findings). It is less clear whether ……… Introduce what you will be doing in your study and why your study is important. Also state your research questions and then your hypotheses after your question. (e.g., The study’s research question is whether males’ and females’ depression are differentially related to their academic performance. It is hypothesized that higher levels of depression for females will be associated with poorer academic outcomes than similar levels for men). Do not use italics…I am using it here to highlight my example and do not use my example as you will not be able to study differences between males and females on your topic area. Points will be deducted for using my examples. Be sure you include relevant empirical evidence (with proper citations) throughout the introduction. You need at least two recent articles (2014-2024) for your introduction to receive full credit. Do not use exact quotes or copy & paste – this will result in a zero. Be sure to summarize in your own words the key parts of the studies that are relevant to your study. Do not use terms you are unfamiliar with – find the definition to be sure you understand what they mean. Method Participants The present study included 110 participants. The participants included 38% males (n = 43) and 62% females (n = 67) between 15 and 21 years old (M = 14.34, SD = 1.13). Measures Feelings. Adolescents were asked about their feelings of loneliness and sadness. Adolescents rated their agreement for each statement on a 4-point scale (0 = Never or rarely, 1 = Sometimes, 2 = A lot of the time, 3 = Most of the time or all of the time) to indicate their current emotional state. The study included two items: “You felt lonely (code# HS123) ” and “You felt sad. (code# HS132)” Academic Attainment. Adolescents were asked about their academic attainment using two items: “I plan to pursue a four-year college degree (code# WP131) and “I value an education (code# WP321). Adolescents indicated their agreement on a 5-point scale (0 = Strongly agree; 4 = Strongly disagree). Design A correlational research design was used. Procedure Participants completed an anonymous survey that included questions about their feelings, behaviors and attitudes. Plan of Analyses ​A series of independent t-tests and bivariate correlations will be used to address the study’s research questions and hypothesis. Results Prior to addressing the main question of the study, I conducted an analysis of demographic variables. A descriptive summary and the means and standard deviations for the major study variables are shown in Table 1. Paste Your Descriptive Table 1 Here Using independent t-tests, I examined sex differences in relation to the study’s outcome measure(s) [you will provide that information here: e.g., self-esteem]. There were (or were not) significant differences on the variable outcome(s). Females (M = X.XX, SD = X.XX)) reported [fill in your variable information here] than males (M = X.XX, SD = X.XX), t(X) = X.XX, p [= .03 or n.s.). EXAMPLE: Males (M = 4.92) reported higher levels of self-esteem than females (M = 4.61), t(182) = 2.60, p = .03. You will report two t-tests (one for each item on your outcome variable). Next, correlations were conducted to address the study research question: [Provide your research question here]. I hypothesized that [write out your study’s hypothesis]. Then report whether your hypothesis was supported or not, reporting the correlation. EXAMPLE 1: There was a significant positive correlation between eating oranges and I.Q., r = .38, p = .02, such that individuals who reported eating more oranges had higher I.Q.’s. EXAMPLE 2: The correlation between exercising regularly and I.Q. was not significant, r = .03, p = .15. (note: that you will provide all four correlations here). Discussion ​A discussion starts with summarizing your main findings. For example, my hypothesis that adolescents’ depression would be associated with academic attainment was partially supported. You will discuss previous work (noted in your Introduction). For example, similar to studies by Chang et al. (2020) and Farrugia et al. (2017), which found that ……The current findings illustrate how…provide analysis and critical evaluation of the empirical articles discussed in your introduction. Be sure to connect your results to the two articles you discussed in your introduction with detail on each as they relate to your results. These findings point to the importance of…. (now provide some interpretation of your findings). Discuss your new research article here as well. For example, Garcia and Roberts (2015) found that students who…(note why that research was important to your findings). For example, this illustrates the importance of examining the role of perceived benefits rather than relying solely on objective measures. Be sure you connect your findings to a new article on the same topic (with correct APA citation). ​Describe the strengths/limitations of your study. Identify 2 strengths and 2 limitations. These are specific to your study design—refer to the textbook and lectures on this topic. Also, can your findings be generalized to others outside the population you studied? Be sure you draw from your textbook and lectures on what the strengths are when conducting survey research; and the same with limitations of your study: e.g., with cross-sectional research we can never imply causation so that is a limitation of your study. Conclude with some statement of the importance of your research. References Lachner, A., Backfisch, I., Hoogerheide, V., van Gog, T., & Renkl, A. (2020). Timing matters! Explaining between study phases enhances students’ learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 112(4), 841–853. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000396 Follow APA Format for all references (see example above)