What should i put in an Autobiographical essay?

Your first writing assignment is a descriptive essay about yourself. This will be an opportunity for you to begin to explore the major question of psychology; why do I behave the way I do and think the things I think? This essay is also an opportunity for you to become familiar with the American Psychological Association (APA) style of writing. APA style is the formatting style used for scientific writing. In this descriptive essay I want you to tell me about yourself and I want you to use APA style. Traditionally, essay type reports are done using a literature search in the library and are not based on empirical data that you collect experimentally. In order to stay true to this form, you are required to use the library to research the origin of your own first name. I have put on reserve, in the library, a variety of books of name origins (Asante, 1991; Cresswell, 1992; Hanks & Hodges, 1992; Payton, 1991; Smith, 1973; & Stewart, 1979) that you may use to accomplish this task. Of course, you should also include family anecdotal information about how you were named, as well as other details that tell me something about your life. If you cannot find any information about your name in the library, you may say so, but cite at least one source you searched that did not contain information you were seeking. You may not use the internet for this assignment if it is your only source. You must use library sources. The essay should be formatted in APA style. It must be typed and double spaced in a 12 point font. You must use a title page, an abstract, at least one citation in text and a reference page. A header including the first 2 or 3 words of your title and the page number is also required. APA style for references is a formatting style that makes it easier for scientists to find up-to-date sources and verify the results of their own research. Your references should reflect the form exactly. Notice that, in the APA reference format, (example below) the author’s names are followed by the date of publication. In science, dates are very important because scientific research builds on the work of others, therefore, newer research is often considered to be more important. In other literary styles, like the Modern Languages Association (MLA) style, the dates are not as important and are found at the end of the reference. This essay will be graded based on how well you follow APA style and the instructions above. You will not be graded on the personal content of your essay, however, I will be most interested in learning more about you.