Introduction to Psychology

Assignments

The General Idea

Over the course of the term, you need to write three different kinds of papers and revise one of them.

Each of these will be about 6 pages long (about 1800 words). The revision will be a bit longer.

On the server, there is a folder associated with each lecture and/or chapter. In the folder you will find pdfs of an article or two (sometimes a URL pointing to an article). The contents of the folder will be described on the handout for that lecture/chapter. The handouts are also on the web. Your work for each of the papers begins with one (or more) of these articles. What you do with the article(s) will depend on the kind of paper you are writing. (See below).

General Requirements: Sources

1. Each of the first three papers must use at least one of the articles posted on the server.
2. Each of the first three papers must use at least two sources beyond what is on the website.
3. Those two sources must be published in the scholarly literature or in book form (College level textbooks are fine for one of the two sources. No…you can’t use Gleitman.)
4. If you are in doubt about the scholarly nature of a source, ask your TA or ask the librarians (good reason to go to a library workshop).
5. A random webpage found by ‘Googling’ cannot be counted toward the two scholarly resources; BUT it might be useful. You can use such sources. You can cite them (give the URL). You just can’t rely on them exclusively.
6. Electronic versions of scholarly publications (like most of what I have put on the server) are just fine.
7. When in doubt, ASK.

General Requirements: Writing

1. Always, always make sure you are using your own words. Direct quotation can be used but only very sparingly. It is rarely needed in this sort of writing. Direct quotes should be “in quotes” of course and a proper citation should be given. What we really want to avoid are papers where you read a paragraph and then write a paragraph that is a close paraphrase of your source. Changing “I discovered” to “She discovered” is not “using your own words”. Read your sources. Take notes on your sources. Think about the material. Then write something of your own. If your paper is a pastiche of near quotes, we are going to give you a really bad grade. You have been warned.

2. Citation: We are not particularly concerned about the form of citation that you use. I suggest following the model used in Gleitman. You put an author and year marker in the text at the relevant point (Wolfe, 2004) and a suitable bibliographic reference at the end of the paper.

   Wolfe, J. M. “Writing Assignments for Intro.” Psych. Journal of Course Requirements 12, no. 4 (2004): 403-405.

   The critical requirement is that we should be able to find the source of any facts and ideas that you gleaned in your reading. Again, when in doubt, ask.

The Four Papers

Paper 1: Writing for the Public (PDF)

Paper 2: Taking the Next Step (PDF)

Examples of Good and Bad Writing (PDF)

Paper 3: Rewriting the Textbook (PDF)

Paper 4: Revision (PDF)