Please select a behavioral or mental phenomenon such as language or schizophrenia and then
select a biological strategy for investigating it, such as hormonal or genetic mechanisms,
neurotransmitters, drug treatments, or localization of brain processes by imaging.
Written paper. As an example, the theme of your report might be imaging approaches to the study of
schizophrenia. Your paper should summarize fundamental issues, questions, and controversies and
provide a general overview of the topic using the biological line of investigation you chose. It should
also elaborate on your understanding of the brain processes that are revealed through imaging
research in schizophrenia. To accomplish this, you will have to use recent research articles
(published within the last five years) to illustrate relevant points. You may use any of a number of
electronic databases to find research articles that deal with your topic, including the library and the
Internet. The one requirement for the research articles that you select is that two of them must have
appeared in a peerreviewed scientific journal. You may wish to consult with the library staff or your
faculty member to confirm whether a particular journal is peerreviewed.
Your paper should be 1,600 words, or about 6 to 8 pages, in length (use the word count as a guide
to length). It must be typed, doublespaced, with oneinch margins, and fully referenced in APA
format (seehttp://www.apa.org). Please check the course schedule in this syllabus for the due date.
The penalty for a late project is ten percent of the score on the project.
The text of your paper should be preceded by an abstract (about 100 words) that summarizes the
key points in the paper (i.e., statement of problem, major findings, conclusions). Please post your
abstract in the Weekly Bulletin Board conference for other class members to read, and respond to
their abstracts for a stimulating discussion.