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PURPOSE
The purpose of the "Advanced W" requirement is
to encourage the student to continue to develop the writing
skills gained in the basic W and use these skills within
your major. These skills include an ability to: a) comprehend
terms and theories used in psychology, b) use knowledge
of psychology to present logical arguments, c) gather information
from reliable sources, d) bring critical thinking skills
and your own point of view to the discipline, e) gain knowledge
in order to formulate answers to your questions about human
behavior, and f) seek increased self awareness and understanding
of others. Through your writing you can communicate to others
your competence in these skills in the field of psychology.
In addition, by using the method of writing described in
the American Psychological Association's Publication Manual,
you will learn to participate in the discourse of the discipline.
TYPES OF PAPERS
In order to graduate each student must successfully complete
three of the following four types of papers: literature
review, research report, position paper or a reflection
paper.
The literature review is a comprehensive paper integrating
important themes, research findings, questions, and
controversies in an area of psychology. The paper should
reflect your voice and intellectual engagement through
your use of organization, informed criticism, portrayal
of points of agreement and disagreement within the literature,
and identifying future trends in the area. At the same
time the paper should accurately reflect the professional
literature in the area. A literature review is more
objective and comprehensive when compared to a position
paper. The author should assume an audience of educated
peers. When evaluating this paper the readers will ask:
Did you present the work of others clearly and accurately?
Does the paper present the major relevant findings and
issues in the area being investigated? Is the paper
written at a level beyond the introductory level? Does
the paper contain independence of thought and a critical
analysis? Do primary sources provide the main documentation
for the paper and are they of sufficient quantity to
adequately reflect the topic under consideration?
In the research report you will describe a question
of interest in psychology, give a brief review of the
relevant literature, specify a research hypothesis,
define the variables, describe the research design,
and include data and analyses if available. The author
should assume an audience familiar with research methods
in psychology. Evaluators will examine the structure
of the paper to ensure that the following sections are
present and contain the necessary information in a clear
and logical way: abstract, introduction, method, results,
discussion, and references.
A reflection paper allows you to use psychological
constructs as tools for self-discovery. For example,
you might use such constructs to reflect on your own
life experience or enhance your understanding of social
concerns. The author should assume an audience of educated
adults. Evaluators check to see that the paper uses
psychological constructs and/or theories, shows evidence
of self-discovery, uses analogy, metaphor or examples
appropriately, has substance, and is original.
- Position Paper
In a position paper you will develop and support a
position on an issue in psychology. The paper should
demonstrate your ability to select evidence and construct
arguments with an awareness of your own purposes and
alternative points of view. Assume an audience of educated
adults. Evaluators check to see that the paper establishes
a clear position, is persuasively supported, uses examples
appropriately, and is sensitive to opposing points of
view.
- Case Study/ Lab Report
A paper analyzing and reporting observations taken of one person over a period of time.
PROCEDURES FOR SUBMITTING PAPERS
1. Save all of your papers from your courses; do not destroy
them until you have your diploma in hand! Also, be sure
to have backup copies of your papers.
2. When instructors think a paper you have written has
the potential for satisfying the Advanced W, they will "flag" the paper
to identify it may be submitted for the Advanced W. The student
is encouraged to work with the instructor when revising
the paper to make sure the student understands the nature
of the revisions. The student should also consult the technical
guidelines in this document and the APA publication manual.
3. When all of the revisions have been completed, the student
submits a clean copy of the paper to the instructor along
with the "flagged" paper from the course. ONLY
PAPERS WHICH HAVE BEEN PREVIOUSLY FLAGGED BY INSTRUCTORS
MAY BE SUBMITTED FOR THE WRITING REQUIREMENT. If you find
that you have an insufficient number of "flagged"
papers, talk to your instructors to see if your papers can
be revised, talk to your advisor, or talk to the department
chair. You must have at least one paper accepted by the
end of your junior year and a plan for the completion of
the other papers by the fall semester of your senior year.
4. DEADLINES. Papers must be submitted the semester after
they were written. The deadline for submitting papers is
the FOURTH THURSDAY OF THE SEMESTER. Papers are submitted
to the instructor of the course in which the paper originated.
Papers will be evaluated by two psychology faculty members
and returned to the student by the end of the seventh week
of classes. Papers not submitted by the fourth Thursday
of the semester will be evaluated the following semester.
Do not delay in picking up your paper. If you have been
asked to further revise the paper the DEADLINE FOR THE REVISION
IS THE NINTH THURSDAY OF THE SEMESTER (the week after the
semester break). When submitting revisions the student must
submit both the revised version as well as the version containing
the evaluator's comments.
5. If you find that you are a second-semester senior just
beginning a course with an Advanced W paper yet to be written,
you obviously will not be able to make the fourth Thursday
deadline. In this case you must speak to the course instructor
to alert them to the situation and negotiate deadlines during
the first two weeks of classes. Failure to make arrangements
ahead of time will result in you participating in graduation
ceremonies as a degree candidate - not a graduate.
6. The requirement is complete when a student has earned
a pass on three papers. The department chair will inform
both the student and the Assistant to the Vice President
when a student completes the Advanced W in psychology.
TECHNICAL GUIDELINES
1. The paper is typed, clean, complete and without handwritten
corrections.
2. The paper has a title page specifying the title of paper,
student's name, date, course, instructor, and type of paper.
3. The pages are numbered beginning with the title page
which is counted and numbered as 1. A header is printed
in the upper right corner of each page (E.g., see the words
in the upper right hand corner of this document.)
4. The main body of the paper is double spaced, without
right justification, and has 1 1/2 inch margins on all four
sides.
5. The paper is free of typographical, spelling, grammatical,
and punctuation errors.
6. The paper use psychological words and terms correctly,
avoids ambiguous meaning, and avoids a sexist use of language.
7. The paper establishes a clear thesis and is well-organized.
Each part of the paper relevant to the whole paper. Each
paragraph logically follows from the preceding paragraphs.
The sentences within a paragraph are connected.
8. The paper provides appropriate acknowledgement and documentation
of the works of others. This means that necessary citations
are present, citations follow APA style, each citation has
a corresponding reference, the references follow APA style
and references not cited in the paper are not included in
the reference section.
THE MOST FREQUENT REASONS FOR PAPERS
BEING RETURNED TO STUDENTS FOR FURTHER REVISION
1. Failure to write or revise as previously instructed.
Too often students make one or two small editorial changes
(add or delete a word here and there) but do not really
REVISE the paper as needed. You need to make sure you understand
what the revisions involve and make changes throughout the
paper without the teacher having to make every instance
of the problem. Failure to follow the above technical guidelines
(particularly the one about references) will also result
in us sending the paper back to you for further work.
2. Ackward presentation of your ideas. What IS your thesis?
The reader wants to know what the focus of the paper will
be in the first paragraph. Also, make sure you don't contradict
yourself later in the paper. Are your ideas consistent?
How do your ideas relate to material that has been presented
in class? Each paragraph needs to make one point and should
be between 1/3 and 3/4 of a page long. Two sentences does
not make a complete paragraph. One paragraph should not
run on for more than one full page - if it does you are
trying to accomplish too much in that paragraph.
3. Failure to communicate clearly. The college mission
states that students will learn to communicate with "precision
and style". Precision means to use the best word to
convey your meaning. Imprecise writing leaves the reader
confused as to your intended meaning. The following are
all common examples of a failure to use precision.
a. Unclear referent. Use of this, that, they, her, or
it without making clear who or what this, that, they,
her, or it is. E.g, "Hey! Look at that!"
b. Overuse of general words such as "issue".
Do you mean problem, concern, question, topic of importance,
condition of the world?
c. Failure to clarify which meaning you intend for words
that have more than one meaning. e.g., "significant".
Do you mean statistically reliable, clinically important,
or noticeable?
GETTING HELP
The Cushwa-Leighton Library has a number of books on how
to write. Two highly recommended books are:
Rosnow, R. L. & Rosnow, M. (1995). Writing papers
in psychology. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Sternberg, R.J. (1988). The psychologist's companion:
A guide to scientific writing for students and researchers.
New York: Cambridge.
The APA publication manual is available at the reference
desk for use in the library. This manual is also available
at the bookstore for purchase.
American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication
manual of the American Psychological Association,
fifth edition, Washington, DC: APA.
The WRITING CENTER is located on the Library Mezzanine and has tutors available to help students with their
writing assignments. Sample papers which have successfully
passed the Advanced W in psychology have been placed in
a file at the writing center for students to review.
PLAGIARISM
Essentially, plagiarism is presenting someone else's work
as your own. Plagiarism not only involves using the exact
words of another without using quotation marks or indicating
their source, but it also occurs when the writer borrows
the sequence and patterns of ideas of someone else without
giving credit to the original author. Although defining
plagiarism is easy, students have a harder time knowing
if a particular instance constitutes plagiarism. Consider
the examples given below.
The following quote is from Loftus, E. F. (1993). The
reality of repressed memories. American Psychologist,
48, p. 533-534.
The 1990s brought a blossoming of reports of awakenings
of previously repressed memories of childhood abuse. One
reason for the increase may be the widespread statistics
on sex abuse percentages that are published almost daily:
.... "If it happens so often, did it happen to me?"
is a question many women and some men are asking themselves
now more than ever before. The appearance of abuse statistics
is one battle in the war waged against an earlier tendency
on the part of society to disbelieve the abuse reports of
women and children- a tendency that we should all deplore.
.... Although women's anger is certainly justified in many
cases, and may be justified in some repressed memory cases
too, it is time to stop and ask whether the net of rage
has been cast too widely, creating a new collective nightmare.
Repressed memories of abuse often return in therapy, sometimes
after suggestive probing. Today, popular writings have been
so fully absorbed by the culture that these too can serve
as a source of suggestion that can greatly influence what
happens in therapy and outside of it (Guze, 1992).... Despite
lack of corroboration, some of these recollections could
be authentic. Others might not be.
.... First, we need a renewed effort at research on the
problem of repressed memories. This should encompass, in
part, a reexamination of some of the widely cherished beliefs
of psychotherapists. Is it true that repression of extremely
traumatic experiences is common? .... If so, how do we explain
findings obtained with children who witness parental murder
and other atrocities? In one study (Malmquist, 1986), not
a single child aged 5 to 10 years who had witnessed the
murder of a parent repressed the memory. Rather they were
continually flooded with pangs of emotion about the murder
and preoccupation with it.
First example of plagiarism.
The Need to Study Repressed Memory
Today there are many cases of people suddenly awakening
to a previously repressed memory of childhood abuse. Because
sexual abuse of children is so common many women are asking
themselves: "If it happens so often, did it happen
to me?" These repressed memories of abuse often return
in therapy, sometimes after suggestive probing. Although
some of these recollections could be authentic, others
might not be. It is therefore important for the student
of clinical psychology to study the phenomenon of repressed
memories in more depth.
Commentary: Without citing Loftus and using quotations
around the end of the first sentence and the third whole
sentence this paragraph would constitute plagiarism. Although
some of language has been altered, the ideas, pattern
of ideas as well as specific word use are essentially
copied from Loftus.
Second example of plagiarism.
The Need to Study Repressed Memory
Psychotherapists have seen an increase in the number of
clients who have reported being sexually abused as children.
Sometimes these memories seem to appear quite suddenly,
often after a secure therapist-client bond has been established.
Research studies in human memory however, suggest that at
least some of these memories are in fact false. The time
has come to examine some of the beliefs of psychotherapists.
For example, is it true that repression of extremely traumatic
experiences is common? Recent research indicate that it
may not be.
Commentary: Although more original that the first example,
the fourth and fifth sentences are straight out of Loftus
and should be cited. In addition, citations should be given
after the third and last sentence where the findings of
research reports are indicated.
It is instructive to note how Loftus makes extensive use
of the works of others in her review of the literature on
repressed memory. She always gives credit to the works and
ideas of others and yet the final product (her thesis and
argument) are clearly her own.
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