FINAL PROJECT GUIDELINES
FPSY 6115: Understanding Forensic Psychology Research
The purpose of the Final Project is to demonstrate your ability to conduct an abbreviated literature review on a forensic psychology topic of your choosing and report your findings from the literature review.
Your Final Project should include 12–15 research articles on your chosen topic and should be empirically based. The articles also should represent contemporary findings on your topic and come from peer-reviewed journals. Your Final Project should end with a summary of the major findings from your literature review and your recommendation of possible future directions that research on your chosen topic may cover.
A superior Final Project demonstrates breadth and depth of knowledge, and critical thinking appropriate for graduate-level scholarship. The paper must follow APA Publication Manual guidelines and be free of typographical, spelling, and grammatical errors. The paper should be 10–12 pages, not counting the title page, abstract, or references. Please note that quantity does not always correspond to quality, and a well-written Final Project that includes all of the necessary information can be accomplished in fewer than the maximum number of pages. The Final Project for this course will be evaluated according to all four indicators in the Application Assignment and Final Project Writing Rubric located in the Course Information area.
References
Please note that you must use primary sources. Peer-reviewed journal articles should make up the bulk of your references (80% or more). In other words, you may use non-peer reviewed and non-empirically based material in addition to your 12–15 peer-reviewed, empirically based journal articles. If referring to a book as one of your non-peer reviewed, non-empirically-based sources, be sure to include all information in APA style, including specific page numbers. Note that an article referred to in a book is a secondary source and does not count as one of your peer-reviewed, empirically-based articles. You must go directly to the original source for your 12–15 peer-reviewed, empirically based articles. Additional information about secondary sources is available in the APA Publication Manual and in the Walden Writing Center at http://inside.waldenu.edu/c/student_faculty/studentfaculty_562.htm).
Also see “Policies on Academic Honesty” in the Syllabus-II, Walden University Policies and Information.
Although the Final Project is not due until Day 7 of Week 11, you should become familiar with the paper requirements and have them in mind as you proceed through the course.
