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 — and the sanctioned uses of your required capstone notebook (NotebookLM): storing sources, locating which source said what, checking comprehension after reading, and fact-checking your claims against your sources.
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: your research journal has an AI LOG tab with a four-column table already on it — that is where the log lives, so there is nothing to create and nothing to remember to attach. One row per AI interaction: the date, the tool, what you asked, and what you did with the output. The last column is the widest because it is the one that matters: what you did with the answer is the part that shows the thinking stayed yours. It must be current whenever you submit a 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.