The project for this course is a written paper that reviews, in depth, a topic in cognition and memory. You may choose your own topic but you are welcome to discuss your choice with me in the Q&A discussion. An example of an acceptable topic is the contribution of Dr. Brenda Milner's study of patient H.M. to an understanding of memory.

Your paper should summarize fundamental issues, questions, and controversies and provide a general overview of the topic. To accomplish this, you will have to use recent research articles (published within the past five years) to illustrate relevant points. You may use any of a number of electronic databases to find research articles that deal with your topic, including the library and the Internet. The one requirement for your selected research articles is that they must have appeared in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. (You may wish to consult the library staff or your instructor to determine whether a particular journal is peer-reviewed.) You may not use the course text or newspaper or magazine articles as your major reference, but they are sometimes useful when they lead you to an appropriate research article. Avoid simply repeating the articles in summary form; use them within the text of your paper to illustrate important points.

Your paper is to be seven to 10 pages, or about 1,800 words, in length. It must be typed, double spaced, with one-inch margins, and fully referenced in the format specified in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Check the Course Schedule in this syllabus for the due date. Your instructor will determine the penalty for late submission of papers.

The text of your paper should be preceded by an abstract (about 100 words) that summarizes the key points in the paper (i.e., a statement of the problem, major findings, and conclusions).