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Assignment 6 – Finding Your Own Articles, References, and Making a Cover Page

There are three components to this week’s assignment: the first is finding two articles covering some aspect of memory, the second is building a References page with the six articles (the four I gave you plus the two you find), and finally, making a cover page. The References and cover page aspects of the assignment will be for feedback only – however, if you do not include them, your assignment grade will be docked 10% for each part not completed.

Part 1: Finding Articles

To date, I have been providing the articles, and you may have noticed that they all have one unifying theme – memory. At this point, you’ll need to find two articles on your own, each dealing with some aspect of memory. There are a number of ways to do this from blind searches on the topic to more guided types. A blind search (by the way, this is my term) is where you go to the databases or search engines and type in your search term. If you do that for just the word memory, you’re going to be overwhelmed. A guided search happens when you either use word pairings or when you use a citation/reference from a previous article you’ve read to hunt down a source. The problem with a guided search on word pairs is you don’t find the right key words, you can again come up with way too much or that well might be dry. When using the citation/references from other articles, you will only find sources that are older than the article you are currently reading. That can take you back to articles which are outdated and have been made obsolete because of the results of newer research.

I often find that doing the guided word pairs the easiest method at first. Once you find the right set of keywords and parameters, you’ll often find valid resources to help you in your hunt. Also, if you pair memory (in this case) with other ideas that you are interested in (such as – are there ways to slow memory loss in dementia patients?), you’ll find articles that are more relevant to you. Remember, since you’re the one reading the articles, it’s best to find material of interest to you. The absolute WORST way to go about this is to think “what is David interested in…?´ In all honestly, I’m interested in what you find!

There are some simple guidelines that go along with this – pay attention because if you do not follow directions, you will lose points.

1. The articles you find cannot be related to the articles I’ve given you. In other words, you cannot use articles that cover memory and:

   1. Ear worms or how music effects memory;

   2. Prospective memory;

   3. Eyewitness memory, or;

   4. Humor.

2. The articles you find cannot be related to each other. If you choose an article connecting memory to say eating breakfast for one of your articles, you must find a different topic for the second. And no, connecting memory to other meal times would not work.

3. The sources must come from the PsychArticles database. I will not accept articles found via a random Google search.

4. They must be journal ARTICLES. Stay away from letters to the editor, commentaries, and book reviews. How do you know if you have one of these? In

PsychArticles it will tell you in the article information block while you’re searching.

1. You will need to print a copy of the article. Print it in the .PDF format – the HTML format is the default and will not look like a journal article. It will also run two to three times more pages than the .PDF. If you do not know how to find the .PDF version – ASK BEFORE PRINTING. If you give me the HTML version of the article, I will take 2 points off your score for the assignment.

Once you have your two articles, you are to read and summarize them. There are no questions from me to answer. You will need to do a reference for each article. I want you to have the Reference first, then the summary, then the Reference for the second article, and then the second summary. These can be on the same page, printed front to back, or on two sheets. If it’s on two pages, they better be stapled together.

Part 2: References Page

You now have six articles – the four I gave you and the two you’ve found. I want you to make an APA References page with these six and only these six articles. Do NOT include the 10 from Assignment 3. If you are still having problems with how to do a References page, please come and see me during my office hours. This is to be on a page separated from your article summaries – and it should be the last page of the assignment you turn in.

Part 3: Cover Page

To date, I haven’t required you to do a cover page. Included is an example of how it should look. On the cover page, you will include the following information:

Title: Portfolio Assignment 6

Your name

Introduction to Psychology

Your section

Take notice of what is in italics – those words are either not included on the cover page (the word Title for example), or you’re to fill in the appropriate information. You should also include a header with your last name and page number. The handout on cover pages explains how to do this.

Final Points:

Be careful with how you do your citations and references. If you’re having problems with how to do them and can’t figure it out after doing Assignment 3, come see me for help. Often, all it takes is five minutes to show you what you’re doing wrong and explain the correct way to write them.

Finally – remember – you are not to use contractions, second person voice, or conjunctions to start a sentence. These are all listed on the very first handout. Proof-read your papers and correct the mistakes BEFORE turning them in. Add three other things to the list of “The Forbidden” – using the word prove, the phrase ‘talks about’, and the random use of quotation marks for added emphasis. As I’ve been saying since the beginning of the semester – in psychology, we cannot PROVE anything – so refrain from saying that the author(s) of your papers have proven something. They have demonstrated, supported their hypothesis/theory, reported, or so many other things – but they have not proven anything. Secondly, your authors have not talked with you. They have not had a direct conversation with you. They have written, reported, investigated, studied, discussed, etc. the material you find in the articles. Finally, quotation marks indicate that you are quoting someone else. I do not want you to quote – I want your own writing. If you use them to emphasize a word or phrase that is unique to you, remember, they are common ideas and concepts amongst your audience.

Again, if you have questions, please come see me!

This assignment is due Apr 21