Learning and Memory Experiment Proposal
For this assignment, you will pick a specific topic in the field of Learning and Memory and
write an APA-style paper proposing an experiment on that topic. Your proposed
experiment can involve either human participants or animal subjects.
Your written experiment proposal should include the following components:
1. APA-Style Title Page
2. APA-Style Abstract
Body of Paper:
3. Introduction. Using at least 5 peer-reviewed scholarly sources you found using library
resources or Google Scholar, discuss previous research that has been done on this topic. At the
end of your introduction, based on the previous research, present a hypothesis (a testable
prediction) and briefly summarize (1-2 sentences) how you will test it. Popular press (e.g. Time
Magazine) and internet sources (e.g. Wikipedia; Psychology Today) are not acceptable
sources for this section of the paper.
4. Proposed Methods. In this section, describe the experiment you will perform to test
your hypothesis. You must propose an experiment with at least one independent variable and one
dependent variable. We won’t use subsections, but make sure in your description that you
include a description of who the participants/subjects will be, what materials or equipment you
will need to perform the experiment, and the experimental procedure (i.e. what you and the
participants/subjects will do to carry out the experiment).
6. APA-Style Reference Page.
Proposal should be double-spaced with Times New Roman, 12-pt font and one-inch
margins throughout.
This entire proposal should be a minimum of 4 full double-spaced pages, but no more than 10
pages, not including title page, abstract, and reference page.
A template has been posted with this assignment on Blackboard which you should use to help
format the proposal properly in APA Style. Simply open the template, save it on your computer
as another file name (e.g. Phillips_proposal), and plug in your information in the appropriate
places.
You will submit a rough draft of this proposal by the end of Week 5 of the course (Sunday, June
12). I will provide feedback on that draft which you can use for the final paper which will be due
on the last day of the course (Tuesday, June 28). The rough draft is worth 5% of the final grade
and the final paper is worth 15% of the final grade.
A sample “A” proposal has also been posted with this assignment. A grading rubric for the final
proposal will be posted closer to the due date. Rough drafts will be graded based on adherence to
assignment requirements (i.e. full points awarded for rough drafts that are at least four pages
long, contain five peer-reviewed sources, and have all components