Step 8: Final Essay Instructions and Upload

   Learning Outcomes: This is an INDIVIDUAL Assignment

Course-Level

1.      The primary objective of this assignment is for you to identify concepts in psychology and make connections between human behavior and research.

2.      Demonstrate the ability to define concepts in psychology to explain human behaviour.

3.      Demonstrate an ability to read and summarize research methods used in peer-reviewed journals to explain the relationship between human behavior.

4.      Apply psychological concepts to personal, social, and organizational issues that demonstrate understanding of the concept.

5.      Use information literacy skills to locate appropriate research and other relevant community resources and materials to create an informative essay. (Your Librarians are Excellent Resources and willing to help you).

Unit / Module Level

• Concepts from the articles cover different modules in from the course: Specifically: Biology of Mind and Consciousness.

  Instructions:

This PSY 101 essay will require you to use your critical thinking skills and your writing ability to address a question of primary importance:  

1. Defining Concepts from Psychology including: Behaviour, Biology and Mental Processes

In order to be able to successfully answer this question, you must be able to analyze and synthesize psychological concepts and be able to explain the Behavior taking place in the articles.   

a.       Go to Module: Articles for Final paper.  

b.       Choose one article that you are interested in writing about, sign up for these articles will be in the second week of class and are limited to a maximum of 3 people per article. (have another option in case your first article is not available)

c.       You will then search in Online Databases for a SECOND article (not on the list given). That you would like to compare or contrast with your first article. This could be in relation to the topic; the research method, the population…

1. You will be required to compare/contrast the TWO RESEARCH articles you have chosen.

1. You will provide a summary of each article:. What concept from psychology did they research? How did they define the concept, how did they do the study (methods)? How were they similar, how were they different?
2. You will evaluate the articles based on what you think was well done and why, and in what ways the article(s) was limited and how it could have been improved.

1. What did you find most interesting/applicable about these articles?
1. Was there something remarble about their findings?
2. Was there something that caught your attention?
3. To whom would these studies be useful and why?

Sources: Your paper will make use of a minimum of THREE sources:

1. The first source is your textbook or a psychological source where you got the definitions of your concepts.(In-text citations are required as per APA).
2. TWO research articles (for each psychological concept). One Provided; one you will look for in the library databases: PSYCINFO or EBSCO

1. From a refereed (peer-reviewed) journal
2. Published within the last five-ten years which addresses one of the psychological concepts or topics relevant to your first article (chosen from Module on Canvas).
3. Article must be research (data-driven) based and which uses the experimental or correlational method. 

Hint: The research article will have the traditional sections associated with a research study (abstract, introduction (literature review), methods, results, discussion, references). That means no reviews of literature or other types of articles. If you are unsure about the article you have selected, check with the librarians. 

   Deadlines

Due

This is a Multi-Part Assignment and Includes

A.   WLC Report: To help you get started with your essay and make sure you are on the right track (by Sept 23)

B.    Article Summary Worksheet: October 7

C.  First Draft: Due October 28

D. Final Essay: Due November 4

E. Oral presentation: Due November 17

   What to Turn in 

• Students will write an essay of 750-1000 words
• Your paper must be done using APA formatting style which includes:

1. Type -written in size 10 or 12 font (Times New Roman)
2. 1-inch margins all around
3. A Title Page with the title of your essay and name in the middle of the page
4. Page numbering in the upper right corner beginning with 1 on the title page
5. In-text citations in APA format (that means the citation follows either the quote or the paraphrase of the information provided). Any article that was cited in text must appear in the reference page.
6. A Reference page at the end (called References) in APA format. Any article that appears in the reference page must be cited somewhere in the text.
7. You will upload your paper to Canvas as a word or PDF file with your name, student number, and 1 word descriptor separated by _ in the file title:  jolene_muckle_12345678_memory.doc

OTHER expectations: 

• Critical Thinking: Critical thinking involves the mental process of observation, analysis, and evaluation. Critical thinking typically involves an objective observation, followed by an analysis of the event, which ties in class material and scholarly sources to these observations.
• Using Scholarly Sources/Primary Sources: You are required to have 3 Scholarly sources. Scholarly sources are distinguishable from other popular sources because the publications are peer reviewed. Primary sources are a source that comes directly from the author, such as a blog post or journal entry.

For more information on deciding how to classify a source, see: https://alexandercollege.ca/student-success/writing-and-learning-centre/writing-and-humanities/

“College Level Writing”: College level writing means that you are able to:

o Use correct punctuation

o Use proper grammar

o Address the appropriate audience for the assignment

o Write in an appropriate voice (Ask yourself: Is the “I” voice okay for the assignment? Should it be geared towards a more formal audience?)