This paper is essentially a review of scholarly literature on a topic of your choice that is related to family communication, although the topic must be approved by me. The paper should be 12 to 20 pages long and the literature review should be exhaustive, which means that you should find and cite as much scholarly research about your topic as possible. This scholarly research should consist mostly of empirical research articles that you will find by searching appropriate scholarly databases. In general, you should avoid sources like textbooks, newsletters, magazines, etc. The literature review should lead logically to a set of unique, original hypotheses and/or research questions. How well the paper does this will primarily determine its grade. In essence, this paper is very much like the opening section, up to and including the hypotheses and research questions, of the scholarly research articles you should be reading to put the paper together. The key difference is that you will NOT be following through with an actual original research study to test those hypotheses or answer those research questions (at least not in this class Smile).

Format:

Papers must be engagingly written, well organized, grammatically and mechanically correct, and follow appropriate elements of APA style. (I strongly urge each student to either purchase or gain access to a copy of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition. You will need it for this class and for most others you take in our program.) As mentioned above, the paper should be approximately 12 to 20 pages long. It should be double-spaced throughout, including the list of references at the end. It should also include a title page with content and structure suggested by the APA style handbook. The paper must be written in either Times New Roman or Garamond font, 12 pt. size. Use standard one-inch margins on all sides.