To Psychology 103 Instructors,
On the page below, please find the necessary insert for your PSYC 103 syllabus. All PSYC 103 instructors must insert these paragraphs into their syllabi, verbatim. Because the group of PSYC 103 instructors changes each semester, this standardized insert was prepared to ensure consistency across all sections of this course.
The final page of this document includes an example of how the research requirement might be incorporated into a typical grading system. This last page is intended solely as an example and therefore you are in no way obligated to insert the tables into your syllabus.
The Psychology Department’s Participant Pool Committee, under the charge of the voting faculty, authored these materials. Please direct any comments or concerns to:
Carol Toris, torisc@cofc.edu, 953-8198
Vince Spicer, spicercv@cofc.edu, 953-6785
An electronic version of this document is available at our departmental web site at http://www.cofc.edu/psychology/. Thank you for supporting our teaching and research mission.
Sincerely,
The Participant Pool Committee
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PSYC 103 Research Requirement: Research Participation or Journal Article Reviews
Students enrolled in Psychology 103 must fulfill a research requirement as part of this course. This research requirement constitutes 5% of your final grade, and may be completed in one of two ways: (a) participating in experiments offered by the Psychology Department, or (b) reading and reviewing empirical journal articles on psychological research obtained from the electronic reserves website at http://ereserve.cofc.edu. Each of these options is described below in more detail. You should not feel pressured to participate in experiments; fulfilling your research requirement through experimentation is optional and you will receive full credit if you successfully complete either alternative for this requirement.
Student and faculty researchers in the Psychology Department conduct scientific investigations on many of the topics covered in this course. These studies typically require 30 minutes to 1 hour of your time. You are encouraged to participate in psychological research for several reasons: The experience is educational, allowing you to learn "first hand" about psychological research. In addition, your participation helps to train advanced psychology majors about how to conduct scientific investigations (under faculty supervision). Experiments are posted electronically along with electronic sign-up sheets on the Internet at http://experimetrix.com/cofc/. The handout provided along with this syllabus ("Getting Started…") describes how to sign up for experiments, and it lists websites that provide other important information.
In order to satisfy the research experience requirement for this course (and earn these points toward your grade), you will need to earn 6 research credits. At least 2 of these research credits must be earned prior to midterm or you will be penalized a portion of your grade. You will earn 1 credit for each study in which you participate that is 30 minutes or less in length, and 2 credits for any study greater than 30 minutes and less than an hour. A 60-90 minute study will earn 3 credits, and so forth. Be sure to attend experiments for which you sign up or call to cancel ahead of time or you will be penalized (see the listed web sites on your "Getting Started" handout for more details).
Journal Article Review
You may prefer not to participate in psychological research. You have the option of earning your research credits by reading and reviewing approved journal articles on psychological research. Approved journal articles are available at the College of Charleston Library via electronic reserve. To access electronic reserves, interested students should go to the library web page (http://ereserve.cofc.edu). Approved articles and review forms can be found under the course listing “Research Requirement.” To access theses materials, you will need to use the password, “knowledge.” Students should download an article and a blank “Review Form.” After reading an article, complete the review form, and turn it in to your psychology professor before the last day of class. Because each review is worth 1 credit, you need to complete 6 reviews to fulfill your requirement (if you choose not to participate in any experiments). However, note that one may choose to fulfill his/her requirement by participating in experiments and reviewing some journal articles so long as a total of 6 research credits are earned.
To access the materials for the Journal Article Review do the following:
1) Go to http://ereserve.cofc.edu
2) Click on the "Electronic Reserves and Course Materials" link
3) Then where is says "Select a Department" choose "Psychology" and click on "Go"
4) Then select "103 Research Requirement" Note: do not choose your Psychology instructor
5) Type in "knowledge" and choose "accept" at bottom left
6) Select the article you want to read
7) also download the Journal Review Form
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END OF
INSERT
Below is an example of how the 6-research credit requirement may be incorporated into a grading system. This is only an example, and references to exams and assignments below are, of course, not part of the research requirement as they are at the sole discretion of the instructor.
Source |
Points |
% of Grade |
| 5 Exams @ 60 points each | 300 |
60 |
| Paper Assignment | 50 |
10 |
| Group Project | 30 |
6 |
| Research Experience Requirement (6 credits) | 20 |
5 |
| Comprehensive Final Exam | 100 |
20 |
| Total | 500 |
100 |
Grade Assignments: (# of Points Required for Letter Grades) |
||
Number of Points |
Approx. % of Total Points |
Grade Earned |
465 and higher |
93% and higher |
A |
450 – 464 |
90 – 92% |
A- |
435 – 449 |
87 – 89% |
B+ |
415 – 434 |
83 – 86% |
B |
400 – 414 |
80 – 82% |
B- |
385 – 399 |
77 – 79% |
C+ |
365 – 384 |
73 – 76% |
C |
350 – 364 |
70 – 72% |
C- |
335 – 349 |
67 – 69% |
D+ |
315 – 334 |
63 – 66% |
D |
300 - 314 |
60 – 62% |
D- |
299 and below |
< 60% |
F |