Psy 3902W: Major Project in Psychology The guidelines for Major Projects in the College of Liberal Arts are brief: Each major requires completion of a major project, intended to demonstrate a student's analytic and conceptual skills as well as an understanding of the modes of inquiry common to the major discipline. The major project is intended to be the capstone experience of the student's work in the major fields. For most students, the format will be a literature review paper. Completion of this course is considered to be completion of the major project requirement. As such, the course consists of two elements. First, it is a capstone for your psychology baccalaureate degree. You will review the discipline of psychology by reading the book by Stanovich and by reflecting on your experiences in your degree program. Second, you will focus your efforts this semester at formulating and reflecting in written form on a culminating experience. You will learn more about an issue you choose to research in depth from a psychological perspective. Paper Requirements All Papers must: Strictly follow APA Style guidelines. Will likely need to be between 15-20 pages in length. Papers are not graded on length. Reference at least 15 articles (primary sources). You will likely need more sources to learn about your topic and these additional references may be secondary sources. Cite the Stanovich book that we use in this course. In his book Stanovich reviewed critical thinking of research and a good place to consider some of the points made by Stanovich is in your discussion/summation (though you may choose to do this elsewhere). Relate to a personal or occupational interest of yours. Be informed by extra reading or contact with people working in your area of interest. The most common way to satisfy this requirement will be for you to read a book written by a psychologist for a general audience (not a textbook) or to interview at least 3 professionals working in an area of interest to you. You must have your choice to satisfy this requirement approved by your instructor.
The above guidelines are meant to guide you rather than restrict your creativity. If you have good reasons to depart from them, discuss them with the instructor. You will learn more about the specifics of these requirements as you do assignments for this course. As always, we want to help you understand your task and how you can be successful. Course books: Stanovich, K. E. (2010). How to think straight about psychology (9th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Pearson. optional references: The Concise Rules of APA Style. Writer's Help, an online writing guide. Course Assignments All course assignments and feedback on them will be transmitted electronically to you by the instructor. As you work through them, you will be creating an electronic portfolio consisting of your drafts, your instructor s comments on them, and any redrafts that may be required. Missed assignments may be made up only under special circumstances approved by your instructor. **Be advised that we will be randomly submitting students work to online systems that check for plagiarism.** Assignment 1 requires you to write briefly about how your psychology degree will be valuable to you personally, what kind of career(s) you see yourself pursuing after you graduate, and about a topic you might like to write about for your Major Project. Assignment 2 requires you to read an article about evaluating the psychology major, construct an APA style title page with your reaction to the article reflected in the title, summarize the article relating it to your psychology degree, and construct an APA style references page. You will write how your degree experience (a) meets your goals and objectives, (b) relates to what the (Lecture: week 2) panel members said, and (c) suggests how the UofM should change its degree. Assignment 3 helps you select your paper topic. Assignment 4 helps you begin your literature search.
Assignment 5 helps you organize the information you have collected. Assignment 6 helps you develop your thesis. Assignment 7 is the first submission of your paper. The closer it is to a finished product, the better feedback you'll get and the less work you'll need to do on your final draft. The feedback you receive will help you produce a high quality final draft. Assignment 8 requires you to do a peer review of a classmate's paper draft. Assignment 9 requires you to create a PowerPoint presentation consisting of 6-8 slides that briefly describe what you did for your paper. The first slide must be a title page and the last a conclusions page. You must also include an abstract. Assignment 10 is the final submission of your paper. Assignment 11 requires you attend the Poster Session to present your poster, select 3 posters by other students, and talk to those students about their papers at their presentations. You will write briefly about what you learned from each of them. COURSE GRADING Reading Quizzes: (12 chapters from Stanovich, 10 items ea. @.2 points/item = 24 possible points): Assignments: #1(5 pts), #2-6, 8 & 11 (15 pts ea.), #7 (50 pts), #9 (20 pts), and #10 (graded A-F) Assignments Total = 180 points Final Grade Calculation The Final Grade is based on 2 components: a) the quiz and assignments other than the final paper, and b) the final paper. 1. Total possible points on Assignments 1-9 & 11 and quiz: 180+24=204 (Grading: A=190; A-=184; B+=175; B=169; B-=163; C+=155; C=149; C- (or S)=143; D+=135; D=129; F=below 129) 2. Paper Final Submission (Assignment 10): A-F
Final Grade: Midpoint between the above 2 letter grades 3. When there is not a midpoint between the two letter grades (e.g., you have a B+ on the final draft and a B on everything else), I will give the higher grade. 4. Attendance and Participation 5. The course calendar clearly defines when attendance in lab is mandatory. An absence is only accepted (excused) for documented illness or emergency and whenever possible the student should notify the instructor in advance. You are responsible for checking your email regularly, as the instructor reserves the right to make changes to the schedule and will send out updates via university email addresses. There are also mandatory individual meetings with the instructor throughout the course. 6. Failure to attend a mandatory session will result in a 1.5 pt deduction from the 180 possible points on Assignments 1-11. Failure to lead a Stanovich discussion will result in a 5% deduction from the 180 possible points on Assignments 1-11. 7. All students in this class are expected to think and participate actively during class discussion and class exercises. No use of texting, phones, internet, laptops etc. during class unless special permission has been obtained. 8. Policy for Late Assignments 9. Assignments must be uploaded on Webvista by the appropriate deadline listed on the course calendar in order to receive full credit. Late assignments will be docked 5% per day late. NOTE: The final paper (Assignment 11) will not be accepted after the final day of the summer term (8/17/2012) without special permission from the instructor. 10. Academic Dishonesty 11. Academic dishonesty is defined by the Committee on Student Academic Affairs as any act that violates the rights of other students with respect to academic work or that involves misrepresentations of a student's own work. Academic dishonesty in any portion of the academic work for a course shall be grounds for awarding a grade of F or N for the entire course and referral to the Scholastic Conduct Committee. 12. Difficulties, Incompletes, and Withdrawing from the course 13. Failing assignments or exams will NOT be considered sufficient cause to drop this course. If you choose to withdraw, do so before the date on which the instructor s signature is required (see the University Course Schedule for this deadline). If you are experiencing difficulties in the course, please talk to the instructor as soon as you realize it, and, if at all possible, BEFORE you get a poor score back on your assignments. Overall, the earlier you share with me your concerns, the more likely I will be able to help you.
14. Incompletes: You may request an Incomplete in the course if you are unable to complete your work during the term. However, this status will only be granted if you have completed Assignments 1-7 before the final class meeting (poster session). Please consult the UMN academic policy regarding Incompletes http://policy.umn.edu/policies/education/education/gradingtranscript S.html). 15. Accommodations for Students with Disabilities 16. We all learn in different ways and with varying degrees of success. If you know of any factors in your life that hinder your ability to learn up to your potential in this course, please notify the instructor at the beginning of the semester. If these factors are recognized disabilities, under the ADA, please provide the instructor with appropriate notification. Specifically, you will need to present the instructor with a letter from the Office of Disability Services, (McNamara Alumni Center Suite 230). If you do not already have contacts there, you should call them at (612) 626-1333 as soon as possible http://disserv.stu.umn.edu/. If these factors fall outside official categories, you should talk to the instructor in person as soon as possible. 17. Diversity of Student Body 18. You are expected to listen to and interact with each other in a respectful manner. Students in this class are quite diverse; they will have different values, beliefs, and opinions. Students are expected to maintain open minds to the differences among themselves. Students may argue with others who hold opinions different from their own, but must maintain respect for all students at all times. 19. Sexual Harassment 20. University policy prohibits sexual harassment as defined in the University Policy Statement adopted on December 11, 1998. Complaints about sexual harassment should be reported to the University Office of Equal Opportunity, 419 Morrill Hall, East Bank. For more information, please refer to the following webpage:http://www1.umn.edu/regents/policies/humanresources/sexharassme nt.html.