Submission Deadline: Monday, May 20, 2013

AP Psychology“Final Exam” Project Guidelines

100 Points

PROJECT GUIDELINESYOUR TASK:

1. Choose two or more psychological concepts of interest that can be empirically tested.

2.Design a simple study or experiment around these concepts.

3. You may work with a partner or by yourself. Assistance can come from other students in the completion of your project, but no more than two individual students will receive credit for a particular project.

PROJECT GUIDELINESPrepare a written report (100 Points) that includes the following components:

Title Page 5 pts.

Abstract 10 pts.

Introduction 15 pts.

Method 20 pts.

Results 10 pts.

Discussion 20 pts.

References 10 pts.

Tables and Figures 10 pts.

See next slide for specific requirements for each of the above components.

Lab Report Structure:Your lab report should follow the format below:

Title Page:The title page should be the first page of your lab report. It should include important information such as the name of your paper, your name and your academic affiliation. You can find more specific information about how to structure the first page of your lab report in this overview of how to write a title page and check out an example of a title page.

Abstract:The abstract should be the second page of your lab report. An abstract is a brief synopsis of your report, usually no longer than a paragraph. According to the American Psychological Association (APA) style guide, your abstract should between 150 and 250 words, although specific requirements may vary depending upon your instructor or the academic journal.

Introduction:Your paper should begin with an introduction that outlines previous research on the topic, explains the goals of your current research, and provides your hypothesis. This section is usually several pages long and requires significant research in order to provide a sufficient overview of previous research on the topic. Remember to give proper citation to all sources.

Method:The next section of your lab report will be the method section. In this portion of your report, you will describe the procedures used in your experiment. Information you should provide includes number of participants, background of participants, your independent and dependent variables, and the type of experimental design you used.

Results:Following your method section is your results section. In this part of the paper, describe statistical data gathered from your experiment. This section is usually quite short and does not include any interpretation of your results. Use tables and figures to display statistical data and results.

Discussion:Next, your lab report should include a discussion section in which you interpret the results of your experiment. Did the results of your experiment support or refute your hypothesis? You should also suggest possible explanations for the results of your experiment and what these results might mean in terms of future research on the topic.

References:After your discussion section, your lab report should also include a list of references used in your experiment and lab report. Remember, all references cited in-text must be listed in the references section and vice versa. All references should be in APA format.

Tables and Figures:Any tables or figures used to display your results should be included in this final section of your lab report. You can see what a table should look like in this example of a table in APA format. For more detailed descriptions and examples of tables and figures, consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th edition).

Writer and educator Kendra Cherry specializes in making psychology more understandable for students. She is the author of the Everything Psychology Book (2nd Edition) and she has written about diverse topics in psychology including personality, social behavior, child therapy, research methods and much more.

How to Write a Psychology Lab Reportby Kendra Cherry

A psychology lab report describes an experiment and takes the same format used in professional journal articles. If you are unsure of how a journal article is organized, look at some examples in psychology journals to get an idea of how your lab report will look.