The deliverable · built in four submissions, evaluated on growth
A complete APA-style manuscript for a study you design — everything but the data.
Your finished thesis conforms to APA 7 style throughout and contains, in order:
| Section | What it must do |
|---|---|
| Title page | APA student title page. Title of 10–12 words naming your key variables. |
| Abstract | A concise summary: problem, participants, method, expected findings, implication. Write it last. |
| Introduction / Literature review | Minimum 1,500 words engaging at least 15 peer-reviewed references from the last 20 years. Funnel structure: broad opening, synthesized review organized by theme, the gap, your question and hypothesis. The bulk of your paper. |
| Method | Participants, materials (your validated scales, with reliability evidence), design, and procedure — written so the study could be replicated, and experienced from the participant's point of view. Ethics addressed: consent, confidentiality, debriefing. |
| Expected Results | Your proposed statistical analysis and predicted results, including a graph of what the data should look like if your hypothesis is right. |
| Discussion | What it would mean if the predictions held: theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and the study that should come next. End broad and memorable. |
| References | Every source cited, APA 7, alphabetized, hanging indents. Perfection is the standard here. |
| Tables / Appendices | Your predicted-results graph, scales or sample items, and any other supporting material. |
The proposal is built in stages so that no single deadline can sink you — and so that revision, the real work of writing, is what gets recognized. Each draft comes back with thorough comments; each revision shows what you did with them.
| Submission | When | What I'm looking for |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · Literature Review, Draft 1 | Week 7 | Quality of the synthesis and writing; APA style; meeting the 1,500-word / 15-reference minimums. |
| 2 · Literature Review, Revision | Week 10 | How thoughtfully you assimilated the comments and continued developing the introduction. Revision is a skill; this is where you show it. |
| 3 · Method, Expected Results, Discussion, Draft 1 | Week 11 | Soundness of design and analysis plan; clarity; APA style. |
| Hard deadline · Complete first draft | Wed, Nov 25 | Every section assembled into one manuscript, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. No exceptions. |
| 4 · Full Revision → Final Thesis | Week 12 → finals week | The complete manuscript, revised front to back, conforming to APA style and the rubric. The final submission must pass a TurnItIn plagiarism check. |
How the proposal is evaluated — holistically, weighing: growth across drafts (how much the work improves as you revise); effort and persistence (meaningful goals, consistently pursued); clarity and craft (logical flow, conciseness, attention to detail); engagement with research (depth and originality of your synthesis of literature, hypotheses, and design); and methodological soundness and ethics (a thoughtfully justified study that protects participants — consent, prevention of harm, confidentiality, debriefing).
Model literature review: Neff, K. D. (2023). Self-compassion: Theory, method, research, and intervention. Annual Review of Psychology, 74, 193–218. Download the PDF. A comprehensive narrative review by the field's founder — and the subject of a guided dissection: Anatomy of a Master's Opening, which walks the first four pages move by move to show you how a professional sets up a literature review.
You may use AI tools in this course — openly. The deal is disclosure.
What's permitted with disclosure: using AI to explain concepts you're stuck on, brainstorm search terms, check your understanding of a statistical test, or flag APA formatting errors for you to fix.
What's never permitted: submitting AI-generated prose, summaries, analyses, or ideas as your own — in any draft, reflection, or assignment. The thinking and the writing in this capstone must be yours; that is the entire point of the course.
The log itself: keep a running document with one entry per AI interaction: the date, the tool, what you asked, and what you did with the output. Submit the log with every draft. An honest log entry is never penalized. An undisclosed use is treated as plagiarism under the University's academic integrity policy — and, well… the log makes that an easy problem to never have.