Dreams

PSYC 2301 – General Psychology Term Paper Assignment Psychological Effects of a Pandemic

By Monday, June 21, your electronic copy (.doc, .docx or .pdf only) must be submitted through eCampus by 11:59 p.m. Late paper submissions will NOT be accepted – NO EXCEPTIONS

70 Points (see “Grading Criteria” at the bottom of this page)

• APA Style - American Psychological Association (only exception - NO abstract section is required for this paper) To learn about APA formatting, link here to use Purdue University’s resource: Purdue Online Writing Lab

• Length: Two (2) full pages (in addition to a cover page and reference page) and no more than 3 pages.

Assignment Objective:

The purpose of this assignment is to stimulate self-awareness and intercultural understanding, by exploring the effects of our present pandemic situation, from a psychological perspective. In order to fulfill this objective, students are expected to identify and analyze specific subject matter, individually chosen from the textbook, and describe associations between this material and their own psychological experiences or the current condition of our society, as a whole. For detailed illustrations of this, please refer to the “Examples of Topics to Address” section below.

Course Core Objective:

This assignment intends to promote social responsibility, intercultural competence, knowledge of civic responsibility and the ability to engage effectively in regional, national, and global communities.

Requirements and Recommendations:

· In addition to the textbook, students are required to use at least one other, reputable, source of information. This can be a separate book, a professional journal, a website, etc. If this requirement is not fulfilled, you will automatically be deducted 10 points. If you are not sure if your reference is “reputable,” please email me the name of the source or the link and I will advise you. DO NOT use Wikipedia as your source.

· If your writing skills are not good, please use the Online Writing Lab (OWL). The instructions to access this resource are posted in eCampus, within the tab titled “OWL.”

· IMPORTANT NOTE: Essays containing plagiarized material will automatically earn a grade of zero. Plagiarism means using someone else’s words, as if they were your own, without them being quoted, cited and included in the references page.

Examples of Topics to Address:

The list below is simply to generate ideas. This is NOT a complete list of topics from which you can choose. They are only examples, to give you a better understanding of the assignment objective. There are many more concepts, related to this class, from which you can pick. You should select subject matter that is of interest to you! Be creative!

· Related to chapter 2, you could discuss the way that our neurological chemistry can be affected as a result of living under stressful circumstances, such as a pandemic.

· Related to chapter 4, you could discuss the manner in which the pandemic could affect our dreams, our meditative practices, our drug or alcohol consumption and/or our general states of consciousness.

· Related to chapter 6, you could discuss how this crisis has an impact on our memory processes.

· Chapter 10 has many topics that could be addressed (theories of emotion, depression, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs,

motivation to engage in volunteer work, etc.)

· Even though you are not required to read chapter 12 this semester, it contains many issues (e.g., stress, lifestyle, well-

being, etc.) that are relevant to this assignment.

· Chapter 15 and 16 relate to psychological difficulties and their treatment, which would both be excellent topics to

address in a paper about a global crisis.

Grading Criteria (70 points total):

➢ 35 points – Fulfillment of assignment “Objective” described above ➢ 15 points – College level organization & structure of essay (introduction, flow of ideas, conclusion, etc.)

➢ 10 points – College level writing (grammar, spelling, sentence structure, etc.). ➢ 10 points – Following the “Paper Format” instructions above.

Note: 0 points will be awarded for this last criterion if an additional source is not included and referenced, or if the essay is short of the required length, or if it is not written in APA style.