write about a family member’s battle with depression.

All courses that fulfill a GE requirement must include a writing component. Assignments require “the organization and expression of complex data or ideas.” Assessment of writing competence will be used in determining the final course grade.

For this course, you will be expected to write a paper applying concepts learned in the course to a situation or experience in your life or a friend or family member’s life. The experience must be connected in some way to material covered in the textbook “Huffman, K. (2012). Psychology in Action (10th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.”.

For example, you could write about your troubles in falling asleep, your efforts to apply learning principles to train your dog, a family member’s battle with depression, your friend’s struggles with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, your attachment style in a

previous relationship, or other topics in psychology that are covered in the textbook. If you are not sure whether the topic of your paper is a suitable one, please ask me about it and I will help you figure it out.

In the paper, you will be expected to first write about your experience or your friend or family member’s experience. As you write about the topic, you will weave into your discussion what the textbook has to say about the topic. So, if your paper concerns your efforts to train your dog, you would need to include information from the textbook about how to apply learning principles to dog training. You will need to cite the textbook as a source by referring to the chapter and page number in parentheses. You are also expected to paraphrase the text in your own words – do not insert multiple or lengthy quotes. Use your own words!Do not plagiarize! For example, you might write: When my dog rolled over on command, I gave him a treat as a reward. Primary reinforcers, such as food, are often used to strengthen behavior (Chapter 6, p.

217).

You will also be expected to cover the material in the text accurately. So, if you write about training your dog, you should provide information like the following: description/overview/history/purpose of operant conditioning, how it works (types of reinforcement, schedules of reinforcement), and which principle of reinforcement works best.

Your paper must be written in a Times New Roman font (12-point), and it should be 3-4 typed double-spaced pages, with 1 inch margins. Please do not use a cover sheet for your paper. Your last name and page number should be typed in the margin, ½ inch from the top. Please ask me if you have questions about how to do this.

PSYC 101 – Spring 2014 !6

Your paper will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

suitability of the topic (explained above)

appropriate referencing of the textbook (including providing the correct chapters and page numbers)

accuracy in terms of your understanding of the topic (including an accurate discussion of appropriate material from the text) and ability to integrate the information

organization of the material

grammar, spelling, punctuation

adherence to the required format (e.g., 12-pt Times New Roman font, 1 inch margins, 3-4 double-spaced pages)

The paper is worth a total of 50 points, and it is due on Monday, April 21st. There is a Late Penalty of

5% for every day the paper is late. You may not submit your paper by email.