This paper serves several purposes, the first of which is helping you gain insight into research papers in psychology. As this may be your first time reading and writing papers in psychology, one goal of Paper I is to give you insight into what goes into such papers. This study one-literature review paper will help you a). better understand the psychology topic chosen for the semester (Fear of Missing Out, or FoMO), b). learn about the various sections of an empirical research report by reading five peer-reviewed articles (that is, articles that have a Title Page, Abstract, Literature Review, Methods Section, Results Section, and References Page), and c). use information gathered from research articles in psychology to help support your hypotheses for your first study this semester (FoMO). Of course, you will be doing a second literature review later in the semester (for study two), so think about Paper I as the first segment of your semester long paper. I highly recommend looking at the example Paper V to see what your final paper will look like. It will give you a very good idea about how this current Paper I (as well as Papers II, III and IV) all fit together to form your final paper (Paper V) of the semester. In this current paper (Paper I), you will read five research articles, often summarizing what the authors did and found, and using that information to help support your FoMO study hypotheses. IMPORTANT: Yes, you need five references, but note that you can spend a lot of time (a page or two!) summarizing one reference but only a sentence or two summarizing others. Thus spend more time on the more relevant articles! For Paper I, start the paper broadly and then narrow your focus (think about the hourglass example provided in the lecture). My suggestion is to give a brief overview of your paper topic in your opening paragraph, hinting at the research variables that you plan to look at for study one. Your next paragraphs will review prior research (that is, the five references required for this paper). Make sure that you draw connections between these references rather than just listing them. Use smooth transitions between paragraphs and build a case that supports your study predictions. Your final paragraphs will use the research you just summarized to support your research hypothesis. And yes, that means you MUST include your study one predictions in Paper I (which we provided in the researcher instructions, the debriefing statement, and at the end of these instructions. Use those predictions! They go at the end of your Paper I). A good hint is to look at the literature reviews on the articles that you are using as references as you write your own paper! See what those authors did in their literature reviews and mimic their literature review style. Keep in mind that Paper I you will end with your hypothesis (and your references) rather than moving directly into your study methods. However, in Paper II, you will pick the topic up again and discuss your study methods, results, and discussion. Paper I thus merely leads up to your study one.
