1

GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT ASSESSMENT PAPER CLARIFICATION AND
EXAMPLES

I just wanted to give you some clarification and examples of what is expected with the paper.
Some students in the past have misinterpreted elements of the directions so I am going to give
you a list of important elements and common mistakes. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate
to ask them during our FAQ conference session, course questions forum, or contact me directly.
First, read the instructions and grading rubric documents in the syllabus.

Important Elements: Select a person you know well to be the subject of the paper. Gather as
much information about them as possible. The first section of paper should give an overview of
demographic information (see #1 of grading rubric). Make sure to identify and briefly describe
their current age period/stage (i.e. middle childhood, young adult etc.). You can integrate this
into the demographic section or make a separate paragraph (See #2 of rubric).

The main goal of this paper is to compare the “person-specific” information you gather to
the developmental norms related to many of the physical, cognitive and psychosocial theories,
concepts and study information we review throughout the course that relate to the person’s
current age period. Structurally, most people find it easiest to literally create sections of the
paper (with headings) that focus on the physical, cognitive, and psychosocial domains. For
example, if you have a young adult subject, for some of the cognitive domain discussion you
might (1) introduce and describe some of the relevant reasoning concepts (e.g. postformal
thought, reflective thinking etc.) (2) describe “where” the typical young adult “would fall” in
terms of their functioning related to these concepts, and then (3) relate person-specific
observations that suggests they are “on track” or not in these areas (see 3 & 4 of rubric).

You may have many observations in each of the 3 main domain areas, but be sure to tie at
least 3-4 topics into cited info for support – the process is just like we have done in our
scenario driven forums. For example, in the physical domain you might talk about many
observations around weight/weight, motor skills, sleep, eating, illness, health risk behaviors etc.
and then just be sure you tie in some supporting norm info on at least a 3-4 of the topics. If you
are writing about a child you could tie their physical skill observations to specific age period
norms around fine and gross motor skills from charts in the text – and define those basic motor
skill concepts too. Or you could cite their weight compared to age norms and pull in a cited
quote about trends in obesity in our society. Be creative. Naturally, the health domain will be
less theory centered and more pulling in specific pieces of norm info, while the cognitive
and psychosocial domains can pull in more theories and concepts. Almost all papers – with
rare exception – should pull in the specific stage info for the person’s age period for Erikson
and Piaget. Then there are nearly countless other theories and related skill/development
concepts you could discuss around topics like: identity development, cognitive skill concepts,
moral reasoning, social relationships and on and on. There are also almost countless pieces or
interesting age-specific norm from studies across domains you could pull in. One example: if
your subject has been divorced and you discuss this in the psychosocial section, you could bring
in study info around prevalence, avg age, avg time before remarriage, info about the impact of
divorce on men vs. women etc.

2

After you discuss several theorists/concepts/ pieces of norm info in each of the 3 major domains
most students have found it helpful to have at least one summary paragraph that describes the
area(s) in which the individual appears to be “on track” and the area(s) in which they may be
“lagging” developmentally. You might make a heading for this section called something like
“Met and Unmet Tasks” or something similar (see #5 of rubric).

Finally, most students have found it helpful to create a final paragraph that addresses something
the person or their parent(s) etc. might be able to do differently to help attempt
to improve progress in an “unmet” or “off track” area (see #6 of rubric). If the person has no
unmet areas then try to at least mention a few specific actions that would help maintain their
current progress in a few areas. Think about things like: specific social supports for
interpersonal functioning, educational/work activities for vocational progress or cognitive
development, eating and exercise changes for physical development and better stress
management ….the list could be endless if you think about possible supports and actions across
system levels (intrapersonal skill development, friend and family level, social/educational/work
level, broader societal level etc.).

Make sure to comply with the basic rules of APA style. There is an APA style link on the
Canvas site under resources and you can Google “APA Style” to find summaries of the key
areas to consider. Most common mistakes relate to formatting (ex. you need a cover page, no
single spacing, certain margins are required etc.), having a reference page that is formatted
correctly (and should at least include the text), utilizing appropriate “in sentence”
citing, proper citing of quotes, making sure you have page numbers etc. The quality of writing is
important. Please spell-check the paper before submitting it and edit to reduce “run- ons,”
incomplete sentences and other common grammatical/structural errors. Be careful about
informal/conversational tone, this is not appropriate for an academic paper. Also, for this type of
academic paper the use of first person voice (“I”) is not recommended.

Length Requirement and Common Mistakes and “Don’ts”: The minimum length of the paper
is 4 pages of actual text – not counting the cover page and reference page. Practically, it is not
possible to cover the topics noted above in enough depth to meet the rubric expectations fully in
less that 4 pages of text. I will not penalize people for submitting longer papers but there should be
no need to go past 5 pages.

If your paper only addresses one theorist, you have not adhered to the instructions. Your
paper should address a number of theorists and concepts across the physical, cognitive and
psychosocial domains that relate to the current age period of the individual. Do not discuss the
individual’s functioning across their life to date. In other words, you are not trying to
describe how they did or did not meet norms across domains for every age period of
development so far in their life. You are describing their functioning, in depth, related to
the current age period they are in – across the major domains (physical, cognitive,
psychosocial).

Primary structural elements:

3

• Cover Page

• Intro with basic demographic Information and identification of age period (i.e. early
childhood, adolescence etc.) with possible brief overview of major topics common to
that age period.

• Person-specific information vs. norms for the given age period across the 3 major

domains…anchor at least 3-4 topics in each domain with cited supporting information.
Should have a paragraph or two for each of the 3 main domains of development – Physical,
Cognitive, Psychosocial

• Summary of Priority “Unmet/Met” or ”On Track/Off Track” areas discussed earlier in the

paper

• Discussion of “measures to assist or maintain” the individual’s effort to accomplish some
specific age-appropriate tasks – at least one or two specific recommendations.

• Reference Page

I hope this helps clarify expectations related to the paper. Please don’t hesitate to contact me
with any questions.
Dr. Stodghill