Extra-Credit Project – Psych 101, Fall 2006

To receive five extra-credit points, you need to analyze the first draft of your short, 2-page paper in terms of the following six writing principles. This extra-credit project should be type-written and attached to the end of your paper draft (i.e., attached at the back of the first version of the paper that you turn in).

WRITING PRINCIPLE #1: GET TO THE POINT QUICKLY AT THE START OF YOUR PAPER. I (THE READER) SHOULD KNOW WITHIN ONE OR TWO SENTENCES WHAT THE MAIN TOPIC OF YOUR PAPER IS.

The following is an example of a badly written introduction that violates this writing principle:

“It was a dark and stormy night. We were joking around, and the rock music was blaring on the radio. I was happy, without a care in the world. I had been out drinking too much with my friends. Little did I know that I was about to experience an event that would change my life. We were driving down a curving road, going to Laguna Beach. The radio was playing loud. My parents had warned us about driving under the influence of alcohol, but of course, being typical teenagers, we didn’t listen. This was at the time that I was still living at home, but since then I have moved out. My friend, who was a little tipsy, decided he wanted to pass the slow-driving car in front of us. He floored the gas, and sped to the left side of the car. Suddenly headlights appeared in front of us, coming right at us. My friend tried to veer away, but it was too late. I remember the sound of the collision and the sensation of being lifting in the air, and that was it. The next thing I know I was in the hospital, with bandages all over my body.

Since then I have been anxious whenever I am in a car. I think I’m experiencing a kind of post-traumatic stress disorder. My fear of cars can be explained in terms of classical conditioning….”

The following is an example of a well written introduction that gets to the point quickly:

“About a year ago I was in a serious car accident, and since that time I have felt tense and anxious whenever I drive in a car. In this paper I am going to analyze my fear of cars and describe how it may have resulted from a kind of learning known as classical conditioning.”

In your extra-credit project, you need to present the opening two sentences of your paper and describe how they get to the point quickly.

WRITING PRINCIPLE #2: USE TRANSITIONS TO MOVE FROM ONE IDEA TO ANOTHER. TRANSITIONS ARE PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT WHEN YOU START NEW PARAGRAPHS.

The following is an example of a violation of this principle:

“…the surgeon told us that my grandmother had suffered a massive concussion and a small stroke on the left side of her brain. He had to operate to relieve the pressure created by the blood pressing against her brain. They would know the full extent of her brain injuries only when she recovered from the surgery and the swelling went down in her brain.

Broca’s area is the area in the frontal lobe of the brain, usually on the left side, that controls speech production and the production of grammatical speech. It was discover in the 1860s by Paul Broca, a Frenchman. There’s another area of the brain called Wernicke’s area that controls language comprehension and understanding the meaning of words. When she recovered, my grandmother showed evidence of problems in both Broca’s and Wernicke’s area of her brain….”

Notice how there was not a good transition between the two paragraphs. The following is an example of a more effective transition:

“…the surgeon told us that my grandmother had suffered a massive concussion and a small stroke on the left side of her brain. He had had to operate to relieve the pressure created by blood pressing against her brain. They would really know the extent of her brain injuries until she recovered from the surgery and the swelling went down in her brain.

When my grandmother did finally recover from her surgery, there was clear evidence of behavior problems and brain damage. Research in biological psychology can help explain some of the problems and deficits shown by my grandmother. For example, after her brain injury, my grandmother had problems talking and understanding what others said to here. Classic findings in biological psychology help explain my grandmother’s language problems. Broca’s area is the area in the frontal lobe of the brain, usually on the left side, that controls speech production and the production of grammatical speech. It was discover in the 1860s by Paul Broca, a Frenchman. There’s another area of the brain called Wernicke’s area that controls language comprehension and understanding the meaning of words. When she recovered, my grandmother showed evidence of problems in both Broca’s and Wernicke’s area of her brain….”

In your extra-credit project you must explain and illustrate at least two effective transitions you use in your paper.

WRITING PRINCIPLE #3: DO NOT REPEAT YOURSELF. THIS IS PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT IN THE CONCLUSION OF YOUR PAPER. A GOOD CONCLUSION WILL “SUM THINGS UP” AND TIE TOGETHER THE THEMES OF THE ENTIRE PAPER, BUT IT SHOULD NOT DO SO SIMPLY BY REPEATING POINTS YOU HAVE ALREADY MADE.

I will not provide an example here. In your extra-credit project, you must present the concluding paragraph of your paper and describe how it “sums things up” without simply repeating what you have previously written. If I then find examples of repeated ideas in your paper, I will then subtract at least two points from your total score.

WRITING PRINCIPLE #4: WORK FROM A PLAN. A GOOD PSYCHOLOGY PAPER, LIKE A GOOD SHORT STORY OR NOVEL, TELLS A STORY IN A COHESIVE AND LOGICALLY COHERENT WAY.

In your extra-credit project, you must present an outline for your paper and briefly describe the logical progression and connections between the various points and ideas listed in your outline.

WRITING PRINCIPLE #5: DEFINE YOUR TERMS. WHATEVER PSYCHOLOGICAL CONCEPTS OR TERMS YOU USE IN YOUR PAPER NEED TO BE DEFINED. IF YOU WRITE ABOUT CLASSICAL CONDITIONING, THEN YOU NEED TO DEFINE WHAT IT IS AND THE BASIC TERMS AND CONCEPTS OF CLASSICAL CONDITIONING. IF YOU WRITE ABOUT THEORIES OF EMOTION, THEN YOU MUST BRIEFLY DESCRIBE EACH THEORY YOU USE. IF YOU WRITE ABOUT FREUD’S THEORY OF DREAMS, THEN YOU MUST BRIEFLY DESCRIBE HIS THEORY AND DEFINE IMPORTANT CONCEPTS IN THE THEORY. NOTE, ALL DESCRIPTIONS AND DEFINITIONS MUST BE IN YOUR OWN WORDS. DO NOT COPY WORDS FROM THE TEXT BOOK OR FROM LECTURE OUTLINES.

In your extra-credit project show how you defined every psychological concept or term used in your paper.

WRITING PRINCIPLE #6: THERE SHOULD BE NO SPELLING ERRORS, TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS, OR GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN YOUR PAPER THAT CAN BE IDENTIFIED AND CORRECTED BY RUNNING A COMPUTER SPELL CHECK (E.G., THE “SPELLING AND GRAMMAR” TAB IN THE “TOOLS” MENU OF MICROSOFT WORD).

To satisfy this principle in your extra-credit project, you must state that you applied a computer spell check to the final version of your paper. If I then find spelling, typographical, or grammatical errors in your paper that could have been corrected by running a spell check, I will subtract at least two points from your final paper grade, and you may not receive full credit for the extra-credit project.