A psychology term paper can focus on one of many general areas depending on the nature of the course. Psychology term papers may cover, for example, pathology, treatment, mental health drugs, neurology, therapy, or psychological theory. The course will probably narrow the topic possibilities somewhat; for example, if the course dealt mostly with the parts and functions of the brain, the student probably would not write a term paper on a type of therapy. The student should clearly identify the scope of the course; this identification will help in the selection of a relevant topic.
Once the student has defined the course’s subject matter, he or she should choose a topic that falls within that subject matter. The student should be careful to choose a topic that a psychology term paper can discuss adequately. In many cases, the student will have to discuss a certain type of mental health problem as well as its treatment; in such a term paper, the student will have to recognize clearly what the essential details are and what the superfluous information is, and unless the student is writing a very long term paper, he or she will have to write a survey of the problem and its treatment. The student can choose to weight the term paper heavily on one aspect of the issue and mention the others in passing; for example, he or she could write only briefly on the presenting symptoms and possible therapeutic drugs for bipolar disorder, focusing the rest of the paper on the therapist’s role in helping the client deal with his or her illness.
The key to writing good psychology term papers is to write clear, well-thought thesis statements. The student should briefly state the subject of study and all the basic ideas that the paper will cover. A good thesis statement will help the student adhere to his or her original intentions, include the essential material, and exclude the unnecessary information.
