intimate relationships

Integration Paper. Finally, you will write a 10-12 page (at least 3500 words) research paper on a topic in intimate relationships that they want to explore in more detail. This is your opportunity to read and think in depth about theory, phenomenon, or observation you find intriguing, thus, the topic of the paper is entirely up to you. Your goal is to integrate theories, research, and discussion to answer a new and novel question. Any topic discussed during the semester or that the readings cover or that is otherwise related to the scientific study of relationships is okay. I can help you narrow down the topic and would like to approve the topic before you start doing research.
Once you pick a topic, you will have to read additional journal articles (at least five; popular sources like the New York Times or Psychology Today do not count) on that topic. Reading an article means carefully analyzing their theory, methods, results, and conclusion. Reading the abstract does not count as reading the article. The textbook does not count as a reference, although it might point you toward some articles. The Internet might also help you find sources, but there is no quality control on the web (called peer review in scientific journals) and thus it does not count as an article. As you read the articles, try to understand what the authors did, why they did it, and how the results enhance our understanding of the topic. Be sure to include a reference list at the end of your paper (preferably in APA format). At least two of the five references must be from the past 5 years and least two must come from a journal with Social in the title.
I am most interested in your ability to answer your new and novel question by integrating the research you read. Your summary of the articles should be minimal (and you should have no quotes longer than two lines of the research). You should try to integrate the findings, discuss where they agree, where they disagree, whenever you think the findings are valid (don’t be afraid to criticize the research), gaps in our knowledge, ideas for future studies, and anything else you think will enable a reader to understand that topic in detail. This will require some careful thinking, but I think it will be an excellent opportunity to practice writing, have a better understanding of a topic within the psychological literature, gain experience writing research reports, and learn how to analyze and synthesize results.