Psychology 2100: Introduction to Social Psychology

Warren Thorngate, Professor
Psychology Department, Carleton University
1125 Colonel By Drive
Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5B6
Canada
e-mail = warren_thorngate@carleton.ca

copyright 1999-2006 by Warren Thorngate, all rights reserved 

Optional Essay Guidelines

The deadline for submitting an essay proposal is Tuesday, 17 October 2006

I am often concerned that the large number of students in this course prevents my teaching assistants and me from assigning essays in place of multiple-choice exams. There is simply not enough time to read and respond to hundreds essays twice each term. Yet I do have time to read a few. So I have devised a modest option for students who wish to exercise their writing abilities as part of their course grade. If you want an opportunity to write an essay for this course, please read on!

As noted in the Course Outline, any student may submit an essay on a topic related to the application of social psychology theory and research to his/her own experience for part of her/his grade in the course. If you (1) are one of the first 20 students to submit an essay outline to me, and (2) submit the essay to me at the final examination, then your paper will count for 25% of your course grade, the midterm exam for 30% of the final exam for 45%.

Here are the rules for the essay:

• The essay should be 3,000 to 4,000 words (10-13 pages), typed, double-spaced;
• The essay should describe an incident in your own life that is rich in social psychology (2-3 pages), then show how the incident is related to at least four, and preferably more, social psychology theories or research results discussed in at least four chapters of the text or at least four lectures (7-10 pages). The more theories/research results you take from the text/lectures, the higher your mark will be. Cite your references [example: "As Festinger's Theory of Cognitive Dissonance assumes (text, page 321)..."]
• Good writing is very important. I deduct points for spelling, grammatical and rhetorical errors.

Some recent essays have discussed such topics as:

• My telemarketing job and theories of attitude change
• My experiences as an immigrant adjusting to Canada: Prejudice and changing self concept
• Environmental lobbying, attitude change and the Dilemma of the Commons
• Group dynamics in my Chinese family
• Hockey coaching and theories of group processes and leadership
• I am a Gringo: Social judgment and impressions of Canadians in Latin America

If you are interested in writing an essay, here are the steps to follow:

• contact me (520-2600 ext 2706, A429 Loeb, warren_thorngate@carleton.ca) to discuss your ideas about an essay topic
• submit a 50-100 word, typed proposal for your essay to me, listing (1) a short description of your personal experience and (2) 4-6 concepts from the text/lectures that you plan to relate to your experience.
• obtain my signature on your outline (this becomes our "contract")
• staple the signed outline at the end of your essay when you submit the essay to me at the final exam

If you do submit an outline, you are not obligated to write the essay. If you submit an outline to me but do not write the essay, then I will simply consider you as a typical "no essay" student and base your course grade on the two exam grades (midterm = 40%; final = 60%). In my experience, about half of the students who submit an essay outline do not write the essay. That is OK.

I encourage you to consider writing an essay. I think it is a much better way for you to understand concepts of social psychology than is memorizing facts for a multiple-choice exam. I shall read and grade it personally. Perhaps you should know that I love good writing. I have been a journal editor, and have developed a habit of writing lots of comments on student papers.

How to get a high mark on the optional essay

• The average grade for an essay is C; I give higher marks, if they are deserved, and lower marks.
• Write very clearly and cogently (I am a professional writer and editor and have high standards);
• Organize your essay very well;
• Make logically defensible links between aspects of your personal experience and concepts, theories and research results from the text and lectures; the more links the better -- minimum of three, maximum set by length limit of essay;
• I will grade according to the quality of writing and to the number and cogency of the links between (a) aspects of the personal experience you describe and (b) text and lectures.