The General Idea

Over the course of this course, you need to write three different kinds of papers and revise one of them.

 

Each of these will be about 6 pages long (about 1800 words). The revision will be a bit longer.

 

 

The Four Papers

Paper 1: Writing for the Public (PDF)

Paper 2: Taking the Next Step (PDF)

Examples of Good and Bad Writing (PDF)

Paper 3: Rewriting the Textbook (PDF)

Paper 4: Revision (PDF)

 

 

General Requirements: Sources

 

1) Each of the first three papers must use at least one of the articles posted.

 

2) Each of the first three papers must use at least two sources beyond what is on the website.

 

3) Those two sources must be published in the scholarly literature or in book form (College level textbooks are fine for one of the two sources. No...you can't use Gleitman.)

 

 

General Requirements: Writing

1. Always, always make sure you are using your own words. Direct quotation can be used but only very sparingly. It is rarely needed in this sort of writing. Direct quotes should be "in quotes" of course and a proper citation should be given. What we really want to avoid are papers where you read a paragraph and then write a paragraph that is a close paraphrase of your source. Changing "I discovered" to "She discovered" is not "using your own words". Read your sources. Take notes on your sources. Think about the material. Then write something of your own. If your paper is a pastiche of near quotes, we are going to give you a really bad grade.
   

2. Citation: Put an author and year marker in the text at the relevant point (Wolfe, 2004) and a suitable bibliographic reference at the end of the paper.
   
   Wolfe, J. M. "Writing Assignments for Intro." Psych. Journal of Course Requirements 12, no. 4 (2004): 403-405.
   
   The critical requirement is that one should be able to find the source of any facts and ideas that you gleaned in your reading.