HDFS1300 - Development of Contemporary Families

University of Houston Development of Contemporary Families Research Paper

PAPER 1 WRITING GUIDE

HDFS 1300 DEVELOPMENT OF CONTEMPORARY FAMILIES

Internal and External Influences on Families

Task:  This paper is designed to prompt you to:

1. explain how family members may influence one another and the family as a unit,
2. explain how the environment can influence the family unit,
3. develop your professional writing skills, especially with regard to using common elements of APA Style,
4. give credit to ideas that are not your own, and
5. obtain experience applying scientific evidence to real-world issues.

Late Work:  Begin your paper early! Late FINAL papers will be penalized 10% for each day late, including weekend days. Late rough drafts will NOT be accepted.

Essay Style:  A major goal of this Writing in the Disciplines course is to teach you the basics of the APA (American Psychological Association) Style, 6th Edition. Please note that this writing style is very different from MLA Style or other writing styles that you may have used in the past. You will need to pay close attention to the instructions provided to you during class, online assignments, and in these directions if you want to do well on the APA Style components of this paper. Please be advised that using automatic APA reference generators often result in incorrect reference formats.

Assistance:  A TA or the instructor will be happy to talk to you and provide suggestions prior to the essay due date.However, if you contact one of us within only a few days of the due date, it is possible that we will not be able to respond to you in time.

• LAUNCH:  If you struggle with grammar, you are highly encouraged to seek out resources such as LAUNCH on campus:  http://www.uh.edu/ussc/launch/ You might also consider using an online program such as Grammarly or having several detail-oriented friends proofread your paper.
• The Writing Center:  If you would like assistance organizing your ideas for your paper, you are encouraged to seek out resources such as The Writing Center on campus:  http://writingcenter.uh.edu/
• Peer Assistance:  We will have a peer review session prior to the final submission of each paper required for this course, per requirements for the Writing in the Disciplines designation for this course. This is an excellent time to benefit from peer assistance. However, be advised that students who write very similar papers (i.e., have very similar language, have very similar transition statements, include very similar facts, have papers with high similarity) put themselves at risk for being reported for academic misconduct, receiving a 0 on the assignment, and/or receiving more serious consequences (such as suspension or expulsion). While collaboration is encouraged when locating sources, brainstorming ideas, and proofreading, be sure you are writing your own, independent paper and not simply a variation of someone else’s paper.

Paraphrasing:  This is the second most important aspect of this paper (right after the content that you write about). It is important that you learn to paraphrasewithout using direct quotes. Do not use any direct quotes in this paper. Do not try to select single sentences or statistics from a source and then simply toss them in without any context for what the entire source is saying.You will not earn a good grade by doing that. Be sure that you read the source and then summarize the main point of the entire source—not simply a random fact that you picked out from the introduction section or literature review section of the source. Be sure that you review the method, results, and conclusion sections of the empirical, peer-reviewed journal articles that you should be including as sources and summarize what the author(s) of the paper conclude. This is how you accurately represent what the author is saying.

Organization:  You will be graded on your overall writing style and use of three basic elements of APA Style:  the title page (excluding the running head), in-text citations for your textbook and research articles, a reference page.  You are also expected to use proper grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, and overall organization.  As is typical in scientific writing (notice that most journal articles in our field have the same basic structure), the basic organization of this paper will be provided for you. Please follow it.

Length and Formatting:  The modified APA Style presented to you by the instructor should be used.  You are also encouraged to use the Purdue OWL APA resource website.

• Your paper should be prepared in 12-point font (Times New Roman, Cambria, or Calibri), double-spaced, with 1-inch margins on all four sides (top, bottom, left, and right).
• Your paper should be a total of 5-6 pages, including the title page and reference page.  This means you should have 3-4 content pages consisting of the body of your paper (introduction to conclusion). 
• Do not use subheadings for different sections of your paper.  Given the relatively short length of your paper, subheadings are unnecessary and points will be deducted if you use them.
• Do not include extra spacing between paragraphs. The paper should be double-spaced throughout (not single-spaced, triple-spaced, or quadruple-spaced).
• Using et al.  If you have an article with 6 or more authors, you may list the first author in your in-text citation followed simply by et al. (ex:  Johnson et al., 2018).  If you have 3-5 authors, you must spell out all of the names the first time you use an in-text citation (ex:  Jacobs, Jones, & Jordan, 2018).  However, on subsequent in-text citations, you can simply use the et al. (ex:  Jacobs et al., 2018). If you have 1-2 authors, you must always spell out the names in in-text citations (ex:  Schoger&Conston, 2018). NOTE:  For your reference page, include all of the authors’ names and initials, and do not use et al. in references.

Professional Tone:  Use proper paragraph organization, and use a professional tone in your writing.  Avoid slang (cool, my bad, down to earth, for the birds, wanna, ain’t, gonna, etc.), contractions (don’t, shouldn’t, won’t, can’t, ain’t, etc.), and other more casual features.

First-person:  In APA Style, you can use some first-person voice in your writing. (You will often notice first-person in the journal articles you are reading.) However, be sure that you drop words like “I” when they are unnecessary. For instance, instead of writing, “I believe that individuals interact with their environments,” boldly state, “Individuals interact with their environments.” Instead of writing, “I think that professionals should consider potential environmental influences when working with children in schools,” boldly state, “Professionals should consider potential environmental influences when working with children in schools.”  This will make your writing stronger and more concise.

Plagiarism:  As stated in the syllabus, plagiarism and self-plagiarism will not be tolerated.  Your paper must have a similarity rating of 10% or less in Turnitin. Be certain that you do not plagiarize materials presented in class, in any text, or online.  View the videos posted on your Blackboard website to be sure you understand how to paraphrase.  Do not simply use a thesaurus to change a few words – that still constitutes plagiarism.  If you are confused about writing a definition in your own words, perhaps first describing the theory/concept to another person will help you.  Also, be sure to cite the textbook or class notes as appropriate.If you are unsure if you have plagiarized work, see a TA or Dr. Jordan before the assignment is due, and we will clarify any questions you have.However, questions submitted less than 48 hours before the due time may not be answered in time for you to submit your paper.  Instances of plagiarism after a paper has been submitted will be reported to UH administration.

Paper 1Instructions

Think about a specific family. Do not write about your immediate family, but feel free to write about a family in your extended family group, a friend’s family, a family represented in the media or popular culture, etc. Describe the family (the members of the family, their ages, where they live, etc.). If it is a family in popular culture or the media, feel free to use their names as they are public figures. If it is anyone else, do NOT use their real names. Simply describe their roles in the family or create fictional names for them.

Then, describe aspecific family process(some aspect of how the family members interact) that you have observed in the family. Provide examples of how the family process is illustrated in this particular family. Incorporate research related to the family process that you select. Be sure to explain the main point of the entire research study and discuss whether or not it fits with what you have observed in the family’s interactions. If the research study concludes something opposite than what you have seen in this particular family, it is fine to state that and explain why you think the research study had different conclusions.

Next, describe a specific external factor that somehow influences this family. It can be a positive external influence, a neutral external influence, or a negative external influence. Explain how the family is impacted by the specific factor that you selected. Incorporate research related to the specific factor. If the research study concludes something contrary to how the family you are writing about is impacted, it is fine to say that. Explain why you think the study had different conclusions.

Your paper should include the following sections, but do NOT include titles/subtitles between these sections:

1. Introduction that concludes with a goal statement or thesis statement for your paper
2. Description of the family
3. Discussion of a family process within this particular family
4. Discussion of an external factor that impacts this particular family
5. Conclusion (where you summarize the paper, state your opinion, and reflect on anything you learned/considered)
    

Finding Articles:  Locate a few recent (published within the last 5 years) scholarly, peer-reviewed research articlesto incorporate into your paper.The articles must have a method and a results section. Please note that you will not get very good results by simply searching for “family processes” or “external influence on families.” Instead, search forspecific family processes (such as affection, yelling, communication, recreation in families, aggression, sibling rivalry, codependence, autonomy, discipline, yelling, etc.) and specific external factors that can impact families (such as neighborhood, the economy, laws, social services, sexism, racism, violence, availability of resources, social support, etc.). Remember that family processes are related to how family members interact with one another.External factors are outside forces that impact families.

Do not pay for articles! Get them from our UH Libraries databases for free. You can access the UH Libraries databases by logging into AccessUH and clicking on Libraries OR you can search Google Scholar while on campus and connected to campus WiFi or hardline.Please note that newspaper, magazine, blog, and general website articles are not peer-reviewed, scholarly sources.

Do not stress yourself out by trying to find an article that says exactly what you want to say in your paper. If you believe that aggression affected the family you are writing about in a different way than the authors of the paper concluded, that is fine. You will simply include the conclusions from the paper as well as your own opinion—even if your own opinion is different—and explain why you do not agree. Write in a way that makes it obvious what information is from the scholarly source and what information is from your own perspective. It is fine to include both in this paper. If you do find an article that says just want you want to say, that is fine, too!You will simply include the conclusions from the paper and state why you also agree.

Truly read your articles. Then, summarize the overall take-home message in your own words. This is one of the main ways you can avoid plagiarism (or using someone else’s thoughts as your own). If you do not read your articles then you wait until the last minute to flip through them and find random sentences to revise and include in your paper, you are setting yourself up for a high similarity rate on Turnitin and plagiarism. Also, you are not really learning very much from the articles. 1) Read an article. 2) Think about it. 3) Jot down a paragraph summary in your own words without looking at the article. 4) Jot down the reference information for the article so that you remember to give the author credit. It is hard to plagiarize if you follow this method.

Incorporating Other Sources:  You can incorporate additional sources, as long as you have left enough room to adequately discuss your two required peer-reviewed journal articles that have a method and a results section. When incorporating sources that are not the textbook or research articles, please note that there is a specific APA format that you need to follow.  Consult the Purdue OWL APA website for help citing personal communication, lectures, websites, movies, etc. in APA Style if you want to include those types of sources.Here are some examples that might be helpful.