For one of the following anxiety disorders – Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Social Anxiety Disorder (Social Phobia), and Specific Phobia Disorder (choose one) – is therapy, medication, or the combination of both treatments more effective?

Description

Description of Assignment The Writing Assignment is an opportunity for you to gain competence in searching, reviewing, and critiquing scientific literature related to current questions and topics about different psychological disorders. Both parts of the Writing Assignment is set up in a way to mimic the type of in-depth review of literature that you may do in graduate school when Updated: March 02, 2021 4 writing a manuscript about a certain topic of interest. While completing this assignment, you will become familiar with looking up and reading appropriate scientific papers, using APA (7th Edition) formatting, writing a brief annotated bibliography, and using research literature to support and strengthen your arguments. Four topic questions will be posted on eClass on January 27th. These questions will ask you about your opinion on a contemporary topic related to different psychological disorders that will be covered in this course. Your assignment is to choose one of these questions and complete Part 1 (due March 5th) and Part 2 (due April 2nd) of the Writing Assignment. Your responses should reflect your opinion, which should in turn be informed by the empirical scientific literature. Submissions should be in Times New Roman, 12-point Font, double-spaced, and with a minimum of one inch margins. Part 1: Identifying a Topic, Stating Your Opinion, and Starting Your Literature Search (10%) You will submit: Summary of disorder, brief opinion response, brief annotated bibliography (5 articles), brief reference list Four questions will be posted to eClass on January 27th that pertain to current topics and questions about anxiety, mood, neurodevelopmental (pediatric-focused), and neurocognitive (aging-related) disorders. Once you have read the questions carefully, you will choose one of these topics and respond to the sections below: 1. Identify your disorder of interest (100-150 words). After selecting one of the topics, use the DSM-5 (available online at York University Libraries) or a peer-reviewed journal (can be from your list; see below) to summarize the disorder that is referenced in the topic question. Be sure to provide a brief summary of the disorder’s diagnostic features(e.g., symptoms, course, risk-factors, and functional consequences). Grading will be based on brevity and clarity of your writing, accuracy of content, and proper citation formatting. 2. State your opinion (250 words) (Based on the topic that you have chosen, provide your opinion on the answer to the question. For this portion, you do not need to have read any scientific literature. Rather, we would like you to respond to this question based on your own perspective and knowledge, past discussions with family and friends, as well as what you have previously heard from the media. Be sure to answer the question and briefly explain your response (again, based on your opinion alone). Grading will be based on quality and clarity of writing. 3. Searching the literature. Now that you have identified your topic/disorder of interest, and have stated your opinion about the topic question, the next step is to begin searching for scientific literature that support the claims that you are making. These studies should be scientific and empirical in nature (i.e., not simply someone else’s opinion but, rather, based on scientific data). A document will be uploaded to eClass to    Updated: March 02, 2021 5 explain how to use PSYCInfo to help find academic resources. Articles that you search for must follow these three criteria: 1)  Contains recent and/or well-established findings relevant to the field and study topic 2)  Include a variety of empirical, peer-reviewed evidence (i.e., research findings, review articles, meta-analyses). Opinions (e.g., Letters to the Editor), even if they sound academic, are not to be included. 3)  Provide equal representation in the literature and strive to find a combination of articles that support AND argue against your opinion. For Part 1 of your Writing Assignment, begin your search by finding 5 peer- reviewed journal articles that you will be using in Part 2 to support or contrast your opinion. Of these 5 articles, 1)  one must be a review or meta-analysis that was written between 2010-2020 (preferably in the last five years); and 2)  at least one of these articles should have a conclusion that contrasts or provides results that are not fully consistent with your opinion. For each empirical article, write 3-5 sentences to summarize the findings (i.e., purpose of the study, population that was studied, methods, and results, significance of findings in relation to your question/disorder). Given the comprehensiveness nature of reviews and/or meta-analyses, these summaries would be expected to be longer (reaching the maximum of 5 sentences) to summarize the findings. Grading will be based on quality of literature review (e.g., depth and breadth of your search), clarity of your summary Do not plagiarize! This means you should summarize the articles in your own words and not copy from the abstracts. 4. Reference list of the 5 papers. Include a reference list with APA (7th edition) formatting. Please include a proper reference list at the end of the assignment. Grading will be based on proper citation formatting. Feedback will be given approximately one week after the submission of Part 1 to ensure that you are on track with choosing references for Part 2. Part 2: Supporting Your Claims through Literature Search (20%) You will submit: Complete annotated bibliography (8-10 articles), Complete response with empirical support, complete reference list 1. Full annotated bibliography and Reference List. For Part 2 of your Writing Assignment (due March 31st), complete your literature review by finding the remaining peer-reviewed journal articles that you will reference in your empirically-supported     Updated: March 02, 2021 6 response and submitting an annotated bibliography that summarizes the new articles and any other articles that you have found to replace the ones submitted in Part 1 (this may be due to feedback provided by the TA). At the completion of your Writing Assignment (Parts 1 & 2), you will be referencing 8- 10 peer-reviewed journal articles to validate and contrast your initial opinion. Of these articles, 1) two must be a review or meta-analysis that was written between 2010- 2020 (preferably in the last five years); and 2) at least two of these articles should have a conclusion that contrasts or provides results that are not fully consistent with your opinion. Grading will be based on quality of literature review, clarity of your summary, and proper citation formatting. 2. Responding to research questions with empirical support (maximum 500-600 words) Now that you have completed a thorough literature review, please respond to the question that you have selected. Has your opinion changed since reviewing the literature? If it has, please respond with what has shifted and what influenced your change of thought. If it remains the same, please explain with research evidence to support your claim. Your response should reflect your (current or new) opinion, which should in turn be informed by the empirical literature that you have reviewed. In your response, cite all of the peer-reviewed journal articles that you have included in your annotated bibliography. In your response, briefly reference the articles and explain why it is relevant to your point or contradicts your thought. You are to provide proper in-text citations and a reference list at the bottom of your response using American Psychological Association formatting (7th edition). A good response will provide a clear position to begin and will be followed by elaboration, examples, and references to the appropriate literature. It may also acknowledge alternative positons in the literature. If a claim is being made, ensure that an appropriate citation is provided and that the claim is plausible. Be concise as you are limited to 500-600 words, not including the reference list. Grading will be based on quality and clarity of writing, with emphasis on analytical thinking, interpretation of literature, and effective communication of your rationale. 3. Complete reference list. Following American Psychological Association formatting (7th edition), which means references will be on separate page. Grading will be based on proper citation formatting. Important Notes: Please do not plagiarize! This Writing Assignment is largely based on your opinion, with the expectation that you will also provide empirical evidence to support your claims. Both parts of the assignment needs to be submitted to Turnitin on Moodle/eClass and submissions should include your Turnitin digital receipt as confirmation (see section on Information on Plagiarism Detection). Please use the American Psychological Association (APA), 7th edition formatting for all references and citations to scientific articles. The Purdue Online Writing Lab has great examples of how to format in-text citations and the reference list.     Updated: March 02, 2021 7 Additional Note: Choosing to answer a topic question for a disorder that is discussed later in the semester will not put you at a disadvantage when submitting Part 1 of the Writing Assignment. Instead, choose the topic you find the most interesting because this assignment is meant to be separate from the lecture content and is aimed to familiarize students to properly review scientific literature. However, feel free to read ahead to the corresponding textbook chapters if you want to gain some insight into the disorders before it is discussed during the lectures.