Grading

Your grade in this class is determined based on the following elements:

• Participation, teamwork, contributions to discussion - 10%
• Quizzes - 18%
• SPSS/stats exercises - 13%
• Written article critique - 8%
• RAF - 5%
• Draft intro & methods - 8%
• Draft of results & discussion - 8%
• Final paper - 30%

Note that there are a number of pieces that compose your final grade. The points in the course reflect all aspects of the research process, including the fact that successful research culminates in a clear, well-written research paper that follows the appropriate format for the field, which in this case is the format determined by the American Psychological Association.

Thirty percent of your grade will be determined by the final grade on your paper. The paper itself should reflect how much you have learned through the semester about the many different aspects of research. The remainder of the points for the course are distributed across a variety of tasks: as in research itself,conscientiousness and pacing in this course will pay off. Ask questions. START EARLY!

Drafts of the 4 major sections of your paper are required. If you do not hand in these drafts, you will receive 0 points, and I can guarantee that your final paper will also suffer from lack of feedback (writing a good research paper is not a particularly intuitive process--you need input!). Points may be subtracted if drafts are late, but more importantly, handing in drafts late will decrease the amount of time, and consequently, the amount of feedback, that I will be able to provide.

Plagiarism is a violation of the College honor code, (as well as a serious ethical violation generally) and will be dealt with via the College General Judiciary. No credit will be given for plagiarized work, and credit for the course will be in jeopardy if plagiarism is confirmed. Plagiarism is the use of another author’s words or ideas without clear attribution to that author. This definition includes internet sources. To represent another's ideas as your own, even if paraphrased, is plagiarism. Carefully citing your sources protects you. It also makes clear the research and authority that you bring to your subject. If you have any doubt about what constitutes plagiarism (and many students do!), please talk to me.