PSY – Paper Assignment Directions
Directions
1) Complete the activity: Choose a national or world issue, such as poverty, education, climate change, violence, aging, human rights, drug addiction, hunger, healthcare, disease, mental health, etc. On a sheet of paper, write down your initial thoughts and views on the subject and how your thoughts and views about the subject affect your behavior, such as interpersonal communications, career choice, voting, volunteerism, etc.
2) Put the paper aside (you will need it to answer questions in the paper assignment).
3) Find an article from Monitor on Psychology at the American Psychological Association on the subject.
4) Bring in additional sources only from PPCC Library databases (peer-reviewed article), PubMed/Medline at the National Library of Medicine, and/or the National Institutes of Health only. You need a minimum of 2 sources besides the Monitor on Psychology article. So, you will have a total of at least 3 sources on your reference page.
5) No Monitor article will constitute an automatic 20-point deduction
6) Complete the template questions.
7) Attach your initial thoughts paper to the paper assignment in D2L.
Grading:
1) Content = 82 points. Note that points will be deducted for not meeting sentence minimums and exceeding quote maximums. Points will be deducted for not adequately answering each question.
2) Mechanics = 6 points
3) APA format in-text citations = 6 points
4) APA format reference page = 6 points
5) Total points = 100
Mechanics and Style:
1. Use proper grammar and spelling.
2. Use complete sentences.
3. Do not use 2nd person (you/your).
4. Double space and use Times New Roman 12-point font.
In-text Citation Requirements: (Must use)
1) You should not use any programs that generate the references or in-text citations for you. They generally result in format errors. This includes the function in Word. You should type in your in-text citations and references yourself.
2) In-text citations need to be in APA format. See the APA information located under content tab on D2L.
3) You will have at least 1 in-text citation for each Question 1-4 -if the question requires you to discuss 3 sources then you need to cite 3 source in that question.
Quotes: You are not required to use quotes but if you do read #1.
Quotes do not take place of required in-text citation requirement.
1. No more than 1 quote per question.
2. All quotes should be no more than 1 sentence in length.
3. All quotes should be in quotation marks.
4. Make sure to include the page number (print/pdf sources) or paragraph number (web page sources) in addition to author(s) last names and publication year in the in-text citation. See the APA Handout for format.
References:
1) You will need to fill in APA format references for each source on the reference page at the end of the template.
2) See the APA information under content for guidance.
Helpful Hints for Your Paper Assignment – Follow these suggestions if you want a passing grade!
(1) Your Monitor on Psychology article will have a web address that begins www.apa.org/monitor . If it doesn’t begin this way, you don’t have an article from Monitor on Psychology. This is an automatic deduction of half of the content points.
(2) If you are using the search box, make sure to click the down arrow next to the box that says entire site and choose Monitor so that you are searching just in Monitor on Psychology.
(3) If no sources listed under References or no web addresses for your sources listed under References, your paper will receive a 0 and not be graded further.
(4) Only use sources from the list in the directions paragraph.
(5) Every source listed under References needs corresponding in-text citations.
(6) You need in-text citations in each question 1, 2, 3, & 4.
(7) Use the template.
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