I. What kind of term paper am I being asked to write? There are two broad kinds of term papers.

The first kind of term paper is the primary or experimental research paper that describes an experiment performed that you have performed. Experiment" is used in the broadest sense, as in a scientific investigation. The investigation may employ a rigorously controlled lab experiment, a controlled field experiment, a theoretical/mathematical investigation, or simply some new scientific observations. The key is that the body of the paper is about a novel investigation conducted by you, the author. The second kind of term paper is the secondary or review research paper that summarizes the research that has been done in a particular area. Review term papers generally do not introduce much new information or new results, but rather synthesize a larger body of work, providing a new perspective on a field or question. In this class, you need to write a term paper that combines a review paper with an experimental research paper. Please refer to the term paper template that I have provided you for examples of the sections of the term paper that you must include in your term paper. Your term paper will present a review of a particular animal and its one (or more) evolutionary behaviors, and will present the results of naturalistic observation research. The review portion of your paper is going to look like an advanced 'book report' or an annotated list of experiments in a particular field, but beyond just reporting the results and conclusions of the article(s) you will select for the review section of the paper, you will integrate, interpret and expand the conclusions that were presented. To do this, you will first need to read over and over again to really understand the subtle relevance of the particular results or conclusions that were made in the article(s) that you have selected. The research portion of your term paper will be naturalistic observation research, which simply means that your research will be comprised of observing an animal and its behavior in a natural setting. For the purposes of this paper, natural setting implies a zoo, your backyard, your home, or a pet shop. Watching a movie, or referring to a website does not satisfy naturalistic observation. However, movies and websites can satisfy references for the review portion of your term paper. II. Overview of the Paper: Your term paper needs to conform to APA-style. If you are a psychology major, your term paper must be written in APA-style. Your paper must be written in 12-point font size of either Arial or Times New Roman, must be double-spaced, and is supposed to be 2000 words. Term papers that are 2000 words are approximately 8-10 pages in length, not including Title Page, Abstract Page, and References Page (i.e., the body of your paper needs be 8-10 pages in length).

Your paper should consist of the following nine general sections (the Tables and Figures section shown below is not required):

Title Abstract Introduction/Review Portion of Term Paper Naturalistic Observation Implications of the Naturalistic Observation Limitations of the Research Future Directions of the Research Conclusion References Tables and Figures (Not Required)

Please note that while research papers usually do contain a Methods section and a Results section, you are not going to be including these two sections in your term paper. Please refer to the file TermPaper-template.doc for an example of what your term paper should look like in terms of sections, formatting, and content. For the References section of your term paper, please refer to the following websites if you are writing your paper in APA-style (required for all psychology majors): APA citation style