book used A Topical Approach to Life-Span Development, 10th edition by John W. S

book used A Topical Approach to Life-Span Development, 10th edition by John W. Santrock, McGraw-Hill Education, ISBN-13: 9781264293315
Guidelines for the PSY 127 Course Paper
In this course the paper requirement is to write about one period of your life from a developmental perspective. You are to choose and write about one of the following developmental periods – infancy, early childhood, middle and late childhood, adolescence, or early adulthood. You will be writing about that period of your life and discussing it from a developmental perspective using the guidelines in this document. If you write about any other developmental period you will earn a zero (0) on the paper. You must clearly indicate which stage you are writing about; I suggest including it in the paper’s title. For example, if you are writing about adolescence, you might title your paper “My Adolescent Years.” Please plan to spend whatever time you need to on this paper so that you will complete and submit a quality paper, as there are no “do-overs.”
You must include theories, concepts, and behaviors that are described in the textbook. You may also use other sources. Where possible, you are to use examples from your life to illustrate your points but may use a hypothetical example if you cannot think of a personal example. Please follow the outline provided for the period you choose to write about. Your paper must be written in narrative form, do not just list answers for each item. Make sure that you thoroughly address each topic on the outline for the period you choose. Feel free to add to the outline as you tell your story. Those students who just follow the basic outline without adding anything to it, often only submit average work at best. You may need to research yourself by interviewing family, friends, and caregivers. Feel free to use additional resources but be sure to cite when necessary.
Your paper must be new and original work, written by you. Do not violate the college’s policy on plagiarism. If you are not familiar with this policy, you will find it here. You must save all computer documents, written notes, note cards, and references used in preparation of your paper. These must be submitted to the instructor upon request. If they are not provided, or the instructor feels that they fail to support the paper that the student submitted, the college’s policy on academic integrity will be followed.
Some comments about sources.
I assume that you have read the textbook at least once so unless you quote directly from the text or use facts or figures from it, I do not require an in-text citation. I will consider it general knowledge as we have all read the text. Even if you do not need to cite the textbook you must include it on the “References” page.
Any other sources you use must also be cited and listed on the “References” page. Outside sources may not be more than three (3) years old. If you use internet sources, select them carefully. Be sure your sources come from scholarly internet sites (scholarly = .edu or .gov sites, not scholarly = Wikipedia, blogs, .com, etc.). Please see a Reference Librarian if you would like help finding scholarly resources. Please refer to the sample APA paper (effective in Spring 2020 we began using the 7th edition of the APA style Manual), the library resource page, or a DTCC Writing Center if you need help formatting either the in-text citations or those on the reference page.
For those of you who interview family members, friends, caregivers, etc. you will need to use in-text citations for those personal communications. A citation for a personal interview does not go on the reference page. Here are two examples of how to cite these:
My mother told me I was a big baby (E. Robbins, personal communication, January 4, 2020).
P. Smith stated that I was the cutest baby she ever saw (personal communication, November 3, 2019).
Papers should have a minimum of two (2) but no more than four (4) pages of content. You must include an introductory paragraph as well as a concluding one. Papers that do not do an in-depth job of covering the required information and elaborating on the outline provided will obviously not earn full credit. You may use the first person (i.e., I, me, my), but must maintain a professional and scholarly tone. Make sure that you thoroughly address each item listed on the outline provided. Write this paper as if you are presenting the topics to someone who not familiar with the concepts and terms you are studying in this course. For example:
Do not just say “My growth was normal.” You need to explain what is considered “normal” for the stage you are discussing. Make sure that you not only understand the concept that you are discussing but that you clearly explain it in your paper.
If you are describing an example of “imaginary audience” in your life don’t just say, “When I was a teenager, I always thought people were staring at me.” You might say something like “I was fascinated when I read David Elkind’s theory about adolescent egocentrism. When he defined ‘imaginary audience’ he so clearly described and labeled what I felt so often when I was a teenager. For example, one time I remember having a really big pimple on my chin and was convinced that when I walked into algebra class that everyone was staring at me and my pimple. Now I know that this is a completely normal feeling for an adolescent and that probably no one even noticed my pimple.”
When formatting your paper, you are to follow the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), 7th edition guidelines. APA format is what is taught in the English courses at this college. The sample APA paper written by members of the English department for use in their courses is posted online in D2L in the module for this paper.
The following is a list of items that should be included or followed when using the 7th edition of the APA Style Manual:
Formatting and Style
APA now differentiates between student and professional papers
Fonts can be Calibri 11, Arial 11, Lucida Sans Unicode 10, Times New Roman 12, and Georgia 11
One space after a period
Title Page
Student papers no longer have a running head.
Only the page number should appear in the top right (Insert>Page Number>Top of Page>Plain Number 3)
Title of essay should be in bold.
Title page should contain course name, instructor name, and due date of assignment.
No abstract is required for student essays.
References Page
The word “References” should be in bold and centered on page
While this is not a traditional research paper, at a minimum you must list our textbook on the references page, even if you do not need to cite it in your paper.
Publisher location is no longer needed.
Retrieved from is not stated before URLs.
Surnames and initials for up to 20 authors (instead of 7) should be provided in the references list.
In-text citations
Sources with 3-5 authors can use ‘et al.’ on the first in-text and all subsequent citations (Smith et al., 2019)
This is only a summary, please be sure to follow the sample APA paper posted in the “Course paper” module in D2L and/or visit a DTCC Writing Center (Virtual or F2F) for assistance.
Do not save your paper as separate files, i.e., title page, abstract, body of paper, reference page. If you do, you may have difficulty putting them into one document complete with page numbers and headers prior to submitting it electronically. Your paper must be submitted as one file and not several individual files. Part of this task is to be able to use technology as well as to apply what you have learned about human development. If you have difficulty with this, you can go to a DTCC writing center or contact me.
Your paper will be graded according to the grading rubric at the end of this document. I strongly suggest that you review the rubric prior to writing your paper, while writing and revising your paper, as well as prior to submitting your finished paper. Papers not meeting minimum standards (college English, APA format, and content) will earn a zero.
Please remember, this is a college course, therefore it is expected that you will use college English when writing your paper. This means that spelling and grammar count! Please use spell check and/or a dictionary.
You might also want to visit a DTCC writing center on one of our campuses. There are English instructors there who will be able to assist you with your paper. They will not write it for you but will help you. Please be prepared to show them a copy of these guidelines.
You are to select one of the following periods to write about. If you write about any other developmental period you will earn a zero (0) on this assignment:
Infancy (birth to 18-24 months)
What was your general health like? Did you visit the doctor regularly? Receive vaccinations?
Describe your growth during this stage. Was it advanced, average, or late? Be sure to elaborate. For example, if it was average, describe what average is for this stage.
Were you fed breast milk or formula? Were you bottle fed? What were your mother’s reasons for choosing one over the other? Do you think there have been (might be) any long-term impact(s) from how you were fed as a baby?
Who took care of you? Did you stay at home? Did you attend childcare?
How were you described as a newborn? Sleep patterns? Family’s adjustment to you?
Describe your motor development. Was it advanced, average, late?
Discuss your language development. What factors might have contributed to your language development?
Using Mary Ainsworth’s four attachment patterns, discuss your development of attachment and how you might have been classified.
Using one of the classification systems described in our text describe your temperament as an infant. How might someone have categorized you and why?
Discuss the life-span stage(s) of Erikson’s developmental theory that apply to this stage as it (they) relate(s) to your life.
What stage would Piaget have said you were in at this age? Provide examples from your own life to illustrate your points. If you cannot think of examples from your own life, you can provide hypothetical ones.
Early Childhood (3-5 years)
What was your general health like? Did you visit the doctor regularly? Receive vaccinations?
Describe your growth during this stage. Was it advanced, average, or late? Be sure to elaborate. For example, if it was average, describe what average is for this stage.
Describe your motor development. Was it advanced, average, or late? Be sure to elaborate. For example, if it was average, describe what average is for this stage.
Using Piaget’s theory as a framework, describe your thinking and playing. Provide examples from your own life to illustrate your point. If you cannot think of examples from your own life, you can provide hypothetical ones.
Use Vygotsky’s social-cultural theory to describe your language and how his theory might relate to how you learned things in school or outside of school during this stage.
Describe the formation of your gender identity. What factors might have influenced your knowledge of whether you were a girl/boy? When did you realize you were a boy/girl?
Discuss your caregivers’ parenting styles (Baumrind and others). How would you categorize them? Did all your caregivers use the same style, did the style change? Provide examples from your own life to illustrate your points. If you cannot think of examples from your own life, you can provide hypothetical ones.
Discuss your emotional development. How did you learn about emotions? How did you learn about emotional regulation? Do you think anything, or anyone impacted it?
What types of play can you relate to this stage of your life? Provide examples from your own life to illustrate your points. If you cannot think of examples from your own life, you can provide hypothetical ones. Who did you play with? What were you like to play with?
Did you suck your thumb/a pacifier/binky or have a favorite “blankie?” What do many children use these behaviors for? When did you give these things up, or have you? Was it traumatic for you?
Discuss the life-span stage(s) of Erikson’s developmental theory that apply to this stage as it (they) relate(s) to your life.
What stage would Piaget have said you were in at this age? Provide examples from your own life to illustrate your points. If you cannot think of examples from your own life, you can provide hypothetical ones.
Middle and Late Childhood (6 – 10/11 years)
What was your general health like? Did you visit the doctor regularly?
Describe your growth during this stage. Was it advanced, average, or late? Be sure to elaborate. For example, if it was average, describe what average is for this stage.
Describe your motor development during this stage. Was it advanced, average, or late? Be sure to elaborate. For example, if it was average, describe what average is for this stage.
What types of play can you relate to this stage of your life? Provide examples from your own life to illustrate your points. If you cannot think of examples from your own life, you can provide hypothetical ones. Who did you play with? What were you like to play with?
What kind of student were you? Was school a positive experience during this time?
Describe how you used information processing at school.
Discuss the life-span stage(s) of Erikson’s developmental theory that apply to this stage as it (they) relate(s) to your life.
Describe your friendships and your category of peer acceptance.
Describe family influences on your development (parent(s), siblings and/or other relevant family members).
What do you remember most about this time?
What stage would Piaget have said you were in at this age? Provide examples from your own life to illustrate your points. If you cannot think of examples from your own life, you can provide hypothetical ones.
Adolescence (10-12 to 18-21 years)
Describe your experiences of puberty and the effects that it has on your life.
Discuss the life-span stage(s) of Erikson’s developmental theory that apply to this stage as it (they) relate(s) to your life.
Describe your adolescent identity status according to James Marcia’s theory.
Refer to the “imaginary audience” during your adolescence. Describe an example from your life to illustrate this concept? If you cannot, provide one from your life use a hypothetical one.
Refer to the “personal fable” during your adolescence. Describe an example from your life to illustrate this concept? If you cannot, provide one from your life use a hypothetical one.
Describe and comment on the influence of your peer group.
Did you experiment with drinking/smoking/other drugs? How has your use of these substances changed?
Early Adulthood (20s and 30s)
In what ways has your body changed since you were younger? Provide examples from your life.
In what ways has your thinking changed since you were younger? Provide examples from your life.
How do you expect your body to change as you get older? Provide specific examples.
What might you do (are you doing) to prevent or minimize changes to your body?
How do you expect your thinking to change as you get older?
What might you do (are you doing) to prevent or minimize these changes to your thinking?
Discuss the appropriate stage(s) of Erikson’s theory that apply to this stage as it (they) relate(s) to your life.
How has attending college affected your life, and what difference(s) do you think it will make in your future?
Any other thoughts you wish to add.