Written Assignments Criteria

General Criteria

Written assignments should be on time and prepared on a word processor or appropriate computer applications (e.g., database, spreadsheet, etc.). Writing conventions of the American Psychological Association (current edition) should be used. Use of other writing manuals should be cleared prior to submission of work.

Assignments can be attached to an e-mail message. Documents should be attached and not placed inside a message. Attached documents should be formatted for easy transformation using MS Word (if sending a presentation it must be in PowerPoint or in HTML format). It is the student’s responsibility to make sure work is presentable according to standards described here.

Three kinds of written assignments are possible for this class:

  • Papers/ Projects
  • Presentations
  • Journals

The following are guidelines for each type of assignment.

Papers

The paper should be double-spaced, with 10 or 12 pt font and 2.5 cm margins. Appropriate citations should be noted in the body and a bibliography attached at the end. Papers should

  • Be within suggested lengths to ensure thoroughness and cogency.
  • Include appropriate headings and figure/graphs.
  • Have sufficient documentation of other sources.
  • Use APA (1994) guidelines for all citations.

Research reports should include the following sections:

  • A review of research literature documenting empirical research on the topic;
  • The question being investigated;
  • Subjects involved including their characteristics and sampling procedures;
  • Methods used to conduct research and analysis including instruments;
  • Results; and
  • Discussion including how findings relate to current scholarship on the topic, limitations of the research, and implications for future research.

Specific Descriptions of Project Assignments will be provided at announced times.

Presentations

Presentations can be of several types including multimedia and poster displays. In all cases, presentations should include the following:

  • A title explaining the focus of the presentation
  • Absence of distractible and unnecessary elements.

Multimedia presentations should be in PowerPoint, or HTML format; made available electronically on flash drives or on appropriate network drives; and have appropriate document properties information indicating title and author(s) of the file (e.g., FILE/Properties/Summary menu in PowerPoint).

Journals

Journals in this course have two purposes:

(1) for students to describe course content and

(2) For students to discuss potential uses of the content in teaching and/or in one’s education.

A "double entry" reflection and analysis approach is to be used in the following manner:

Reflection / Analysis
Place date of class at the top of each cell here.
  • Discuss what took place during class.
  • What specific information was presented?
  • How was it presented?
  • Only descriptive information or lecture notes should be written in this column.
  • Writing conventions (e.g., APA) are not necessary in journals.
  • Note information in a way that will best allow you to write your analysis (in the adjacent cells)
  • Be thorough, but concise.
(Table formats automatically expand by default. Consult me if you have problems with this format.) /
  • Discuss potential uses for teaching and/or one’s education here.
  • Refer specifically to the content presented.
  • Note that such specificity is impossible without good notes.

Use a different row for each class period. Borders and lines between cells are optional. Although a table format has been found to work best, the writer is free to try other options as long as they result in side-by-side entries for each class period as shown above. For example, the following format is not acceptable:

Reflection

This format makes it difficult to follow the analysis as it is related to what the writer acquired during class.

Analysis

Also, this format uses up more space. Notes such as these should be concise and to the point and so should the analysis.