Craig, The major difference between this assignment and a typical term paper is the kind of writing. The students write these news articles for a different audience (not me) and they can write in a style that is a little more comfortable for them. (Some of them do present a term paper with a catchy headline.) I can still judge from these papers whether they have read and understood the scientific literature. The assignment still forces students to start learning how to digest scientific articles and I ask for a list of references in APA style so they can learn the nuances of that system.
Dennis Dennis M. Goff Professor of Psychology Randolph-Macon Woman's College [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: Cowden, Craig R. [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2002 12:40 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences Subject: dev. psych. writing assignment Dennis Goff wrote: I have students write a news article about any topic in Developmental that they would like. The longer pieces in Science News or the news magazines like Time serve as the model. I require that they use five sources for the news article and require that those sources are from the psychology journals. (They also submit an APA style list of references.) I like the assignment because students encounter these kinds of reports in their daily lives and they are more likely to do this kind of writing when they graduate. The students seems to enjoy the assignment more than the traditional term paper. If they use the primary literature and write in APA style, what makes this different than a term paper? Craig Cowden, Ph.D. Northern Virginia Community College --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
