It sounds like I'm in a minority, but in every class I teach I have them write a term paper in APA style describing a small group research project. When the focus of the course is on research (e.g., experimental psychology or research methods) I have them write two papers; one is based on a class project and they write it one section at a time, and the other is based on their group project. My philosophy is that a project like this gives them experience doing what psychologists do.
________________________________________ From: Gerald Peterson [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, March 28, 2008 11:46 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] class papers I teach Experimental (this semester), Social, Personality, and labs in Social psych and also in Personality, and a class on Scientific Foundations of Psych. In social psych I note how I hate traditional term papers. I want them to demonstrate proficiency in understanding and using social psych. I developed a paper assignment where they do a social psych analysis of some event or experience (news events, personal situations dealing with groups, gangs, families, etc.). They can only use our text and must demonstrate or show me the operation of various social psych principles. The other option is for them to develop a proposal using social psych to resolve or deal with a social problem--racial conflict, drug problems, etc. I have found these papers to be valuable. This paper is not in apa format and does not use library research. The only text they can use is the one assigned in our class. In each of the labs the students complete a couple of hands-on projects using friends, family,classmates, etc., to gather data and then analyze and write these up in apa format. The emphasis is to give them further practice in apa format and reporting particular to the class. In Experimental they complete an actual study using our Gen. Psych pool, and must develop, design, analyze, and write up the report plus present it in a dept. poster session at the end of the term. In the Scientific Foundations class, (intended to prepare them for Experimental), they complete a review of the literature and are introduced to basic apa formatting and elementary understanding of experimental and correlational research. Gary Gerald L. (Gary) Peterson, Ph.D. Professor, Psychology Saginaw Valley State University University Center, MI 48710 989-964-4491 [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
