Students choosing this option will read 5 articles about psychological research, and write a summary of each one. You must select your five articles from a larger set that you access through the UD library's electronic journals system.. We have selected 3 issues of a journal called Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal that contains articles from a wide variety of research areas in psychology. The articles in this journal are not overly technical, and so are a good introduction to the research literature for beginnning students in psychology.

As stated above, if you select the Readings Option, it will be your responsibility to choose any 5 articles from from the following 3 (and only the following 3) issues of Current Directions in Psychological Science:

        Volume 16, issue 1 (February 2007)
        Volume 16, issue 2 (April 2007)
        Volume 16, issue 3 (June 2007)

For each article you will prepare a brief (1- 2 page) typewritten paper summarizing its contents. That's 5 separate papers. Each should be clearly written, and indicate that you have read, understood, and thought about the contents of the article. The first part of each paper should summarize the research in the article and the nature of its findings/conclusions. The second part of each paper should be your reaction to the article: your own ideas about the research and its implications. If you omit  this second part, your summaries will not pass.

Some students who select the Experiments option may also have to write one or more papers according to the rules of that option (for details see http://fleen.psych.udel.edu/research.php). The rules for those papers are the same as described here.

To find and read these articles, you should go to the UD library home page, click "electronic journals", and find the journal called Current Directions in Psychological Science in the alphabetical list provided. You will then click on the journal name, and be taken to a page that gives access to the various issues and the articles within them.

Note: To satisfy this requirement, you are only allowed to use articles in the issues listed below:

Volume 16, issue 1 (February 2007)
Volume 16, issue 2 (April 2007)
Volume 16, issue 3 (June 2007)

Note: We do not assume the responsibility of teaching you how to use the library's resources, including the use of electronic journals. So, if you choose the Readings Option, you should very quickly begin learning to use this system. It is well organized, and works quite well. However, like many resources on the internet (ebay, itunes, youtube, etc etc etc), there is a learning process involved, which takes some, but not a great amount of time. It is your responsibility to learn to use the library's electronic journal system.

Formatting:  Papers must be formatted as described below:

        At the top of each paper, you must include the following heading information: Your first and last name, your PSYC100 instructor's name, your PSYC100 section number, the volume and issue number of the journal that the article came from, the title of the article you are summarizing, and the author of the article. You must doublespace, use no larger than 1 inch margins, and use Times New Roman 12 point font.

       The text of the summary, not including any heading information at the top, must be longer than 1 page, and cannot be longer than 2 pages. You do not need a "works cited" or "references" page. You are not allowed to include direct quotes in these papers; the summaries should be written in your own words so that it's clear you have understood the information in the articles. While one or two grammatical or spelling errors will not be a problem, excessive errors will cause us to fail your papers. (Papers are graded on a pass/fail basis, just like the requirement itself.)
Papers that are hand written or that are illegible due to the ink running out on the printer or other reasons, will also fail.

       The deadline for the papers is 5:00 PM on the last day of classes (not the last day of finals.) You may of course, hand your papers in earlier than that if you wish. When your papers are completed, you should put them in the mailbox at the research participation office. (Click here for our contact information). Feel free to turn them in as early in the semester as you wish. As with any paper you write, make sure that you save copies on your computer and/or elsewhere. We are not responsible for lost papers. If you claim to have turned papers in, but we are unable to locate them, you will have to print them out and turn them in again.

Academic Honesty
       All students are required to read the university's policy on Academic Honesty. If any of the papers that a student turns in for the research requirement are judged by the instructor and T.A. to violate the academic honesty policy, the instructor reserves the right to give that student a failing grade in the course. Note that instructors may also report such incidences to the office of judicial affairs.

      While the vast majority of students already know and understand the following facts, they are made explict here in case there are some who might not: (1) Including sentences in your summary that are identical, or nearly identical, to sentences in the article, constitutes plagiarism. (2) Copying the work of other students, from the present or past semesters, constitutes plagiarism.