University of Baltimore

PSYC 490.101

Senior Project in Psychology

Fall 2010

Instructor:          Thomas Mitchell, Ph.D.                    

Office:                Academic Center 209 D

Office hours:      Tuesdays & Wednesdays    12-2 PM;                     
Phone:                (410) 837-5348   Fax: (410) 837-4059

Email:                tmitchell@ubalt.edu                         

Class:                 Academic Center 409

Class time:         Tuesdays 8:15 – 10:45 PM                    

• Course Description

• Learning Goals

• Academic Honesty Policy

• Dates and Assignments

• Assessment for grade

• Introduction to this course (please read carefully)

   

  WebTYCO webboard for class

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  UB IRB information  (please read:

  IRB Application and Exempt Checklist -- required for ALL IRB requests
  Responsible Conduct in Human Subjects Research
  Responsible Conduct of Research Training and Oversight Plan 

Websites for Psychology 

LibGuides (Lucy Holman) very useful for help with research projects

American Psychological Association
Association for Psychological Science
Psychological Research on the Net (APS)
Psychological Journals Online (Hanover College)
Cozby, P. C. (2001). Methods in behavioral research. (7th edition). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield.
 Research Methods Tutorial

Statistics Homepage
SPSS helper (UCLA)
Statistics Homepage
SPSS helper (UCLA)

SPSS Online tutorials:

• Dr.Carl Lee, Dr Felix Famoye and Joyce Sharp from Central Michigan University.  http://pages.infinit.net/rlevesqu/spss.htm#GeneralTutorials

•  U. of Toronto:  http://www.psych.utoronto.ca/courses/c1/spss/toc.htm

• Amherst (good introdction SPSS) https://www.amherst.edu/academiclife/departments/psychology/resources/SPSS

• Research Methods Tutorial

Some journals of interest to this class:

• Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (APA)
• Journal of Applied Psychology (APA)
• Psychological Bulletin
• Annual Review of Psychology

 Sources attached to this syllabus:

Greek Alphabet
Kerlinger definitions of theory and other key terms
Tips for writing a paper (ARC Nancy Bates)
Questions to critique an experimental report
Guide for writing experimental reports
Publication manual of the American Psychological Association
Using APA format for manuscripts
APA Style.org (tips on style)

Course Description
 

This is the capstone experience for psychology majors.  Students design and conduct original, quantitative or qualitative studies of psychological topics of personal interest, and share their own project problems, progress and outcomes in a weekly seminar.  Completed projects are reported both in a formal, APA-style written report and orally as part of a Psychology Student Colloquium.  Prerequisites:  PSYC 200, PSYC 300, PSYC 310, PSYC 311, and PSYC 405, or their equivalents; senior status.

Assessment

The assessment for student course grade will be entirely dependent upon the grade received on the project paper See Evaluation Criteria for project.

A = Exceptional;  Criteria fully met beyond expectations

B = All criteria fully met

C =  Performance expectations met for Criteria

D = Less than expected performance on Criteria

F =  Less than minimal performance on Criteria or failure to submit project

Learning Goals
 

Content learning goals will vary from student to student according to their chosen topics.  As a capstone experience, however, this course should provide evidence regarding whether you have achieved several significant outcomes of the PSYC-BA program:

Creative, technical and communication skills necessary for the completion of an original project within a psychological domain of personal interest, including

1.      thorough description of the problem under investigation;

2.      discussion of concepts, theories, and prior research relevant to the problem;

3.      application of methods appropriate to systematic study of the problem;

4.      statistical analyses of data when and as appropriate;

5.      evaluation and discussion of investigational outcomes;

6.      writing style and organizational format consistent with current American Psychological Association standards; and,

7.      speaking skills sufficient to the coherent presentation of investigational outcomes.

Academic Honesty Expectations and Policy

All students are expected to be honest and to do their own work.  This includes quizzes, exams, term papers, homework, extra credit work, presentations, and any other assignment to be completed in or out of this and any other class (unless otherwise directly indicated by the instructor).  Academic honesty includes, at the very least, submitting work that is yours, giving appropriate credit whenever someone else’s work is used, and taking tests and completing assignments strictly according to the conditions specified by the instructor.  Any evidence to the contrary will result in a failing grade for this course, as well the filing of a report of academic dishonesty with the Academic Integrity Review Board.  Cheating will not be tolerated under any circumstance.  If you are not sure what the expectations are for any assignment, it is up to you to ask your instructor for clarification.  Do not guess!

For term papers, research reports, and other written assignments, you may have someone else proofread your work prior to submission to check spelling, grammar, writing style, punctuation, proper vocabulary, correct (i.e., APA) paper format, etc., and you are encouraged to make use of the services provided by the Langsdale Library and the UB Achievement and Learning Center (in AC 113) for the preparation of student papers.  However, the work of actually researching and writing a paper is YOUR responsibility.

The most frequently occurring problem behavior in this context is plagiarism.  Plagiarism occurs when a person submits written work as her/his own, when in fact the work has been done entirely or in part by someone else to whom the person has not given appropriate credit.  This includes any written work that copies the language, structure, ideas, or thoughts of another (UB Student Handbook, 2006), work that has been paraphrased, and even the reporting of facts derived from another source and not a part of common knowledge.  This includes sources such as magazine or newspaper articles, encyclopedias, dictionaries, pamphlets, brochures, other students’ term papers and reports, articles in professional journals, transcribed interviews, live interviews, books, internet pages, CD-ROMs, etc.  This list is not meant to be exhaustive.  The fact is, if you do not give appropriate credit to any source of your written words besides your own ideas or common knowledge, you have committed plagiarism.

If you make a statement in a written assignment that is not original and is not general, public knowledge, then you MUST tell the reader the source of the statement.  This is done in APA format through in-text, parenthetical citations of sources, and a reference page at the end of the paper.  In general, you must give enough information so that the reader can easily look up and verify the source.  See the current edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association for specific citation formats. 

You should be aware that your written work for this class shall be submitted to Turnitin.com, a widely used resource for the identifying of plagiarized student works.  If the resulting analysis indicates that you have committed plagiarism in your senior project, you will receive a failing grade for the course, and you will not be able to graduate at the end of this semester.

Notice:

If you think there is any reason why you may require reasonable accommodation to be able to meet the expectations of this course as indicated in this syllabus and as described by me, you must inform me immediately after the first class meeting.

 Dates and Assignments