Signature assignment: The Core Curriculum requires that the courses within it su

Signature assignment:
The Core Curriculum requires that the courses within it support students’ skill enhancement in the Core Objectives. Objectives assigned to this course include: Critical thinking; Communication; Empirical and Quantitative Skills; and Social Responsibility.
The signature assignment in this course is an assigned research paper designed to provide an opportunity for you to demonstrate each of these core objective skills in one project. You will demonstrate your skill level for introducing a topic important in psychology, find and review empirical research (experiments or studies) on your topic, apply what the research teaches about the topic, and explain your social responsibility as it relates to the topic.
Review the specific questions provided as a guide to completing this project. These are found in the page titled “SA topics and specific questions”.
You will demonstrate your ability to communicate effectively by writing a college-level paper (3-5 pages) including proper citations within the body of the work and at the end of the work. Citations should be in proper APA (American Psychological Association) style format.
The paper should have the following basic outline:
Introduction to the topic.
In this section of the paper, you will define and describe the topic. This is usually the first question or two. This section should contain reference citations as needed to authors whose theories or statements of the problem have informed your understanding. (For example, if your topic is substance abuse, you would explain how that is defined in psychology and narrow the topic down to one area for the remainder of your paper, such as addiction.)
Current Trends in the Data
In this section of the paper, you must gather a 2-3 current (no more than 10 years old) empirical sources of information that inform your understanding of the topic discussed above. You will use others’ experiments or formal studies to get your information and points. (For example, you might find one study on causes of addiction and one on treatment for addiction…or two on different treatments, etc.) Briefly summarize the research you found, in your own words.
Thinking Critically & Social Responsibility
In this section, reexamine your initial points (from the initial sources). How does the research (current data), change or support the original points? How does the research inform or change our social responsibility? (For example, if the research supports treatment instead of incarceration for drug related crimes, what does that say for our criminal system or those incarcerated for drug related crimes?) What about other cultures or societies?
Conclusions/Summary
Summarize what you’ve discovered through your research and writing.
Formatting and final points about your paper:
All conclusions and points should be based on research and not personal opinion.
Papers will go through a plagiarism checker and you should not score over 15%.
Papers should be typed in 12 point, Times New Roman font; one-inch margins on all side; double-spaced.
You should include your name, topic, class, and date on a cover page.
All sources should be cited in the text of your paper, as well as on a separate (References) page. See the page “Citations and resources for doing citations” for help.
Paper should be college level with limited grammatical and spelling errors.
Psychology of cults – why do people join and stay in cults; why do they leave
Describe and define “cults” in general. Review the psychological concepts related to cults and members of cults, such as persuasiveness, group dynamics, obedience, trauma after leaving, etc.
Find and discuss research findings from at least 2 studies. Why do researches believe people join and stay in cults, even when they experience abuse? What psychological effects do people experience after leaving a cult?
Summarize the data and findings in your own words.
Create your own graph to represent your findings.
Social responsibility: think of this issue as a social responsibility issue.
How can we address the problems related to this in our society? How have other cultures/societies handled it?
Summarize conclusions