Week 7 & 8 Psychology Paper

To prepare:

• Re-read the Week 7 and Week 8 Discussion contributions posted by you and your group members. (i will be posting an extra file)
• Note similarities and differences in what you and others found for the factors studied both weeks in this module. Why are there differences? Why are there similarities? Are they explained by the characteristics of each health condition? What other factors may have played a role? Draw conclusions from what you’ve read in the Discussions and, also, include your own thoughts on what may explain your conclusions.
• Organize your findings by factors (culture, social determinants). Use subtitles to help you stay focused and help your Instructor grade effectively.
• Compare and connect is a higher-order critical thinking skill. If indicated by your Instructor, re-review the Learning Resource, titled “Writing a Paper: Comparing and Contrasting,” before you begin your Assignment.

BY DAY 7

At the end of the module (Week 8), write a brief, focused paper or create a well-organized table in which you:

• Compare and contrast your findings for your assigned health condition with that of others in your team, based on your collective findings in the group Discussions.
• Include in your comparison whether the health behaviors you studied caused or contributed to the development of the health condition—also whether the health behaviors might be effective treatments for the health condition.
• Draw conclusions regarding reasons for similarities and differences among the health conditions.
• Cite your assigned readings for the class, so far, as well as the readings you located to support your statements.

You can prepare this Assignment in essay format (with subtitles for each factor you are comparing) or in table format. Either way, include a cover page (no abstract) and try to stay within 2–3 pages in length of text, plus cover and Reference pages. You are welcome to create your own graphs and figures if these facilitate your understanding and ability to organize the material.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

• Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
• Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
• One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
• I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

• Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
• In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
• Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
• Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

• Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
• Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
• I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

• I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
• As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
• It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

 

LopesWrite Policy

• For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
• Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
• Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
• Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

• The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
• Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
• If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
• I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
• As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

• Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: 
  • Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
  • Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.