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Week 4 Assignment 3 Template Example

Instructions: Please review the following document, which is an example of a completed template for Assignment 3. The author of this template read the article, “Self-Reported Influences on Psychology Major Choice and Personality,” and used scholarly evidence from it to write evidence statements for the value and anecdote statements below. The author also accurately cited and referenced the article using APA style and wrote a summary using the MEAL Plan strategy. You will be asked to complete the same template for Assignment 3 based on a different article that your instructor has posted in the Announcements this week.

1) Value Statement: Psychology is a good undergraduate degree to prepare me for a graduate or professional degree.

Write a supporting Evidence Statement (1–2 sentences):

Marrs, Barb, and Ruggiero (2007) reported that both psychology majors and non-psychology majors believe that obtaining an undergraduate degree in psychology is a good way to prepare for a graduate or professional school. In fact, this ranked third in the most common reasons students major in psychology (Marrs et al., 2007).

2) Anecdote Statement: My mother is a very empathetic person and she has a successful career as a psychologist.

Write a supporting Evidence Statement (1–2 sentences):

Encouragement from family members can influence students’ decisions to major in psychology (Marrs, Barb, & Ruggiero, 2007). My mother is a very empathetic person and she has a successful career as a psychologist, which influenced my decision to pursue a psychology degree.

3) MEAL Plan summary of the article (1–2 paragraphs):

Students choose college majors for many reasons, and psychology majors are no different. Marrs et al. (2007) compared the influences on choice of college major for psychology and non- psychology majors. Though psychology and non-psychology majors reported largely similar influences for their choices of major, results showed that psychology majors were less likely than non-psychology majors to have chosen their major because it would prepare them for employment after graduation (Marrs et al., 2007). One possible reason for the results may be that many psychology students are planning to attend graduate school after earning their bachelor’s degree, making career preparation less important at this time in their educational paths. Psychology

Note that the information highlighted in gray is paraphrased from the journal article, is cited, and uses scholarly evidence to support the value statement.

The sentences highlighted in yellow constitute the Main Idea portion, or the M in the MEAL Plan. They introduce the topic of the paragraph.

The sentences highlighted in green constitute the Evidence portion, or the E in the MEAL plan. Note that the author of this summary paragraph could have focused on many other takeaways from the article but chose these pieces of evidence as the main focus of the paragraph.

Note that the information highlighted in gray is paraphrased from the journal article, is cited, and uses scholarly evidence to support the anecdote.

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majors were also more likely than non-psychology majors to have chosen their major based on an interest in the field and less likely to base their choice on previous life experiences, encouragement from family, or the hope to earn a good salary (Marrs et al., 2007). Despite many similarities, some personal and social reasons appear to impact the choice of major differently for students headed into the psychology field, some of whom may be influenced by their previous experiences or the values of those around them. The choice of college major is complex and influenced by many factors. Students choose psychology as a major for many of the same reasons as non-psychology majors, though some different influences do exist.

4) APA Style Reference of the journal article:

Marrs, H., Barb, M. R., & Ruggiero, J.C. (2007). Self-reported influences on psychology major choice and personality. Individual Differences Research, 5(4), 289–299.

The sentences highlighted in blue constituted the Analysis, or the A in the MEAL plan. They explain and analyze the Evidence information from the article, which is highlighted in green.

The sentences highlighted in pink constitute the Lead Out portion, or the L in the MEAL plan. This section summarizes the paragraph and serves as its conclusion.