Assignment: Project Overview
Write a brief 100-word summary of the topic you selected for your Final Project Assignment, including a sentence about why you selected it. Your Instructor will provide final approval of your topic selection.
For your Project in this course, you will complete a brief literature review on a specific topic within language or cognitive development. A literature review is a synthesis of the research within a field. It can be used to identify themes, evaluate the application of theories, or even create a basis for future independent research later in your program or career. Because language and cognitive development are broad areas within developmental psychology, you should select a topic for your literature review that is sufficiently specific that you are not overwhelmed by the amount of research on your topic. Nor, however, should your topic be so narrow as to yield insufficient research articles. For instance, you might consider development of American Sign Language (ASL) as a first language, language socialization in a particular culture, causes of dementia, or theories of multiple intelligences. You do not have to select a topic that is explicitly covered during the course.
Although no submission is due this week, you are encouraged to begin work on your paper early. You will submit your paper topic for approval and create an outline of the paper.
To Prepare:
• Review the resources at the Walden Writing Center that are linked in Learning Resources for more information about completing literature reviews.
• Select a topic from the literature on language or cognitive development.
• Choose two theories of language or cognitive development to apply to your selected topic, one from each of the following categories:
o Nature (biological perspective)
o Nurture (environmental perspective).
The response should include a reference list. Double-space, using Times New Roman 12 pnt font, one-inch margins, and APA style of writing and citations.