Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
CONTACT INFORMATION
Instructor Teaching Assistant
Dr. Candice Mills Vaidehi Natu
candice.mills@utdallas.edu vsn061000@utdallas.edu
972.883.4475 972.883.4983
GR 4.202A GR 4.910
Tues 1:30 – 2:30 or by appointment Thurs 10 – 11 AM
Course Description
Laboratory and field experience in designing and conducting psychological research, with a major emphasis on the
writing of research reports. This course fulfills the advanced writing requirement for Psychology majors because you will
write, receive feedback on, and re-write more than 15 double-spaced pages.
Additional required readings will be assigned. These assignments will be posted on the WebCT site for our class.
Articles can be downloaded from the WebCT site or campus library online resources in PDF or word document format.
Course website
New assignments, revisions to the syllabus, announcements, and your grades will be posted on the WebCT site,
http://webct6.utdallas.edu/ When the course site is set up by the computer center, you will be notified via your UTD email
address. You are then responsible for creating an account on this site and for checking this site frequently (at least twice
weekly) in order to remain aware of new learning activities, announcements, etc. You also need to enter a UTD email
address on this account (see info below on UTD email policy). Any email to students enrolled in this class will be sent
through this service.
CLASS S CHEDULE
Week Date Topics Required Readings Major Assignments Due
(others added later)
1 Jan 10 Introduction to course. The science of
psychology. Becoming a knowledgeable
consumer of research.
2 Jan 17 Critiquing psychological research. Zimbardo, 2004; Stanovich, Pop article
2004
3 Jan 24 Surveying the psychological literature. Anderson, Lindsay, &
Bushman, 1999; Bem
(optional)
4 Jan 31 Stats workshop 1. Methods and study TBA Literature search assignment
design.
5 Feb 7 No class – SPSP Conference
6 Feb 14 Stats workshop 2. Working with data. TBA
Tables, graphs, and statistics.
7 Feb 21 Stats workshop 3. Completing the story TBA
with results and discussion. Writing a
research proposal.
8 Feb 28 Catch-up day. Research project TBA Results and discussion
discussion.
9 Mar 6 Research project discussion.
10 Mar 14 No class – Spring Break
11 Mar 20 *Group appointments Research proposal
12 Mar 27 *Group appointments
13 Apr 3 Research project discussion. Choosing
an audience for your work.
14 Apr 10 *Group appointments
15 Apr 19 Presentations.
16 Apr 24 Last day of class. Final paper
Important Note: These descriptions and timelines are subject to change at the discretion of the Professor. It is your
responsibility to keep track of changes in the schedule through blackboard and by attending class.
2. Research Project. During the second half of the semester, you will design and execute a real study with a small
group of classmates. All students in the group will be expected to be involved in every step of the project. The
instructor and TA will closely supervise the project.
a. Research Proposal. You will develop and write a research proposal that will include a short introduction,
hypothesis, method section, and planned data analysis section. The proposal is worth 15 points.
b. Presentation. Your group will give a 15-minute presentation to the class about your research project. The
presentation is worth 10 points.
c. Final Paper. You will write a complete APA-style paper based on your group research project, written up
individually. It is expected that you will take the comments received on your research proposal to rewrite
and develop your final paper. The final paper is worth 35 points.
3. Participation. Students are expected to attend classes regularly, complete the assigned readings before each class,
and participate in class discussions. Given that we meet once a week, it is essential that you make every class
period. If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to acquire missing lecture notes, assignments, and
announcements from a classmate. The class periods marked with an * may not require attendance, although group
meetings may be required. In addition, three or more unexcused absences will lead to a five-point penalty on the
final grade for the course. Someone with that many absences before we break into groups will not be able to be in
a group for the research project.
COURSE POLICIES
Grading policy
The course grade will be based on the above assignments.
Short reports/quizzes: 40
Research proposal: 15
Presentation: 10
Final paper: 35
TOTAL 100
Final grades will be calculated as follows: 90-100% = A, 80-89% = B, 70-79% = C, and 60-69% = D. Plusses and
minuses may be given for borderline cases. If you are concerned about your grade, see me as early as possible.
Late policy
Make-up quizzes and work will not be given except in the case of verified illness (by a doctor) or death of a member of
the immediate family. Anyone missing a quiz without such approval will be given a “0” for the quiz. It is your
responsibility to make up the quiz within one week of the scheduled exam time. Be prepared—make-up quizzes are
designed to be more difficult than regular quizzes to compensate for having more study time.
Because of the number of assignments and the importance of understanding one assignment before moving on to the next,
it is imperative that work be turned in on time. Short reports and any papers are due at the BEGINNING of the class
period, and they must be turned in proofread and typed. After this, penalties are as follows:
Up to 24 hours late 10% deduction
24 to 48 hours late 25% deduction
Grades will also be lowered 10% for assignments that are not typed. FINAL VERSIONS OF PAPERS WILL NOT BE
ACCEPTED MORE THAN 48 HOURS AFTER THE DUE DATE.
Early policy
You may hand in your final paper up to 7 days before the deadline for a “free” evaluation. In order to receive this early
feedback, you will need to provide a cover letter regarding your specific concerns when you hand in the paper. Complete
papers will be read over, comments made, but no grades recorded. While the short papers are not eligible for early
readings, we encourage you to discuss any paper with us more generally.
Extra credit
There will be no individualized extra credit given for this course.
Contacting us
The best way to reach us is by email rather than by phone or WebCT. Please put the course name (Cognitive
Development) in your subject line and include your first and last name in the message. In addition, you should use a UTD
email address for all email correspondence (see the Email use policy below).