Psychology thought paper

SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1Psychology 2301 – General Psychology

Fall 2019

Optional Extra Credit Thought Paper Assignments

Assignment: Write a brief paper describing your observation or experience of a psychological phenomenon related to the material in General Psychology. In addition, you should offer some assessment or explanation of what you observed using the knowledge you have gained in the course.

Objective: Often, as individuals learn about general psychology, they notice things in their world that relate to the course material. These things may have been happening in their experience or going on around them for years, but they may not have given them much thought until the phenomena are discussed in class or read about in the book. Sometimes, something related to psychology goes viral in the popular media (for example, remember the while/gold and/or blue/black dress?). The purpose of a thought paper is to give you the opportunity to reflect formally on such an experience, which will allow you to make a connection between what you are learning in this class and real life.

Guidelines: In the paper, your tasks are to (1) describe the phenomena you observed or experienced, and (2) describe how what you observed or experienced relates to material learned in class. Both of these tasks should be met using your own words. The paper is not a research paper; it is a thought paper and the thoughts that should be expressed are your own. Therefore, you do not need any formal references. If you do want to refer to a part of the text, something that was said or seen during a class meeting, or something you found online, it is necessary that you point to the source, but that can be accomplished informally. (For example, “The authors of our text, Yantis and Abrams, wrote…;” “In class, we discussed...;” “When I first saw the dress online at https://www.buzzfeed.com/catesish/help-am-i-going-insane-its-definitely-blue...”). You must not copy material from our text, material found online, or material from any other source. Instead, you should paraphrase, which means to write using your own words. Failure to paraphrase correctly may result in plagiarism, which is an Honor Code violation (see the Plagiarism Handout). Furthermore, do not quote; quotes are not your own words, so they should not be part of a paper containing your thoughts. See the sample paper posted on D2l.

Specifications: You have the option of completing up to four papers to earn extra credit. You can complete none, one, two, three, or four papers. Each paper will be scored on a five-point scale. To get full extra credit (i.e., five points), you must conform to the following specifications: each paper must be 1 page in length, give or take one or two lines only; each paper must be typed in black ink and double-spaced with 1-inch margins and 12-point font; each paper must have an APA title page.

Good writing will be rewarded, and poor writing will be penalized – organization, paragraphing, clarity of sentence structure and wording, spelling and punctuation will affect the number of points you earn. The number of points you earn on a paper will be added to your final grade at the end of the semester.

Timeliness and Lateness: Papers are due on the following dates by 11:59pm. Papers must be uploaded to D2l. You will not be able to upload a paper after the indicated date and time, so do not wait until the last minute. You can upload more than one version before the due date and time; I will read the most recently posted version only.

Thought Paper 1 Sunday, September 15, 2019 by 11:59pm

Thought Paper 2 Sunday, September 22, 2019 by 11:59pm

Thought Paper 3 Sunday, September 29, 2019, by 11:59pm

Thought Paper 4 Sunday, October 6, 2019, by 11:59pm

Late copies, emailed copies, and hard copies will not be accepted. You can upload a paper at any time before the due date and time. These papers are optional and they earn extra credit only; they are not required to complete this course.