Writing Assignment - Developmental Psychology
Kimberly A. Jaroszewski - Spring 2003


Your writing assignment (WA) is due by 10:45 am on THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 2003. It is worth 50 points. Assignments turned in early will receive 2 bonus points per class that it is early, up to 10 points. Assignments turned in more than 5 classes early will get 10 bonus points. Late assignments will be penalized 1 point per day that it is late including weekends and holidays. ABSOLUTELY NO ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER THE LAST DAY OF CLASS THURSDAY, MAY 1, 2003.

You MUST turn in your writing assignment AND all outside references used to complete the assignment. If you do not turn in the outside references, your WA will not be graded. It will not be considered turned in until these sources have been turned in. Late points will accumulate until everything is turned in.

Assignments MUST be turned in directly to the TA or the Instructor. WE WILL NOT HAVE CLASS ON APRIL 10th.  YOU WILL NEED TO TURN YOUR PAPER IN TO KIM (or the TA) AT HER OFFICE BSB 1046A. You will need to sign in when you turn in your assignment. WA slide under the door, left in a mailbox, given to another TA, instructor, or staff person WILL NOT be considered turned in. If you are turning your WA in early or late, it is your responsibility to make arrangements with the TA or instructor to turn in the assignment. The best time to turn in WA is immediately following lectures or during the TA or instructor's office hours.

There are 3 different assignments that you can choose from. Look through all 3 assignments before choosing which one you will do. YOU ARE ONLY TO WRITE 1 PAPER following either assignment 1, assignment 2 OR assignment 3. DO NOT complete all 3 assignments.

Writing Assignment 1 Research Article Review
Writing Assignment 2 Theory Application
Writing Assignment 3 Kohlberg's moral reasoning

Warning: DO NOT PLAGIARIZE!!

Plagiarism will result in a ZERO on the ENTIRE ASSIGNMENT.
It is your responsibility to understand what Plagiarism is and to know the consequences of plagiarism. No Excuses!! Plagiarism is the unauthorized use of the language and/or thoughts of another author and representation of them as one's own. If you are going to use the words or thoughts of someone other than yourself, you must acknowledge the source. If even a few words come directly from another source, those words must be quoted.
Cite Information when the ideas or facts you are stating were taken from someone else but the words are your own.
Quote Information when the ideas or facts are taken from someone else AND you are using the other person's words.

How to Cite Information

    If the article only has 1 author, use the author's last name (Last name, year). For example, if the author's name is John Smith, only use the last name in parentheses (Smith, 1995). If the article has 2 authors, use both names all of the time (Last Name & Last Name, year). For example, if Jane Doe and John Smith wrote an article, include both names (Doe & Smith, 1994). If the article has 3 or more authors, the first time you cite the article, use all of the names (Name, Name, ...,& Name, year). After this point when you cite this article, only use the first author's name and et al (Name et al., year). For example, James Jones, Jane Doe and John Smith wrote the article, the first time you introduce the article, use all three names (Jones, Doe, & Smith, 1992). Any time you want to refer to this article after that, use Jones et al. (Jones et al., 1992). If you want to include the names of the authors in the sentence, put the year after the author's name. According to Doe and Smith (1994) ....
    If you want to refer to something that the authors of your article cited, look at the number of references they cite. If there is several, just reference it to the article you are reviewing. For example, previous research has allowed Smith (1995) to concludes .... If on the other hand, there is only 1 source cited then you want to give credit to the person who said it but reference where you found it. For example if in Smith (1995) he talks about and the article written by Jones, Doe and Smith (1992) and you want to would want to give credit to Jones, Doe and Smith but instead of using the year 1992, you would use the place where you got the information - Smith 1995. The citation should look like this - Jones, Doe and Smith (cited in Smith, 1995) concluded ..... or if you use an end citation (Jones, Doe, & Smith, cited in Smith, 1995).
    If you quote information, the year should still be placed immediately following the names and the page number should be in parentheses at the end of the quote. Jones (1995) stated, "......" (p.26). Or if an end citation is used "......" (Jones, 1995, p. 26).

General formatting and grammar: (10 points)
Your paper needs to be 7-9 pages in length (5-7 pages of text, title page and reference page).
Number all of the pages.
Use 1' margins all of the way around.
Use a standard 10- or 12- point font.
Double Space the entire paper and do not skip lines

The paper should include all of the following:
Title Page (1 page)
1)Title
2)Your Name
3)Date you paper is turned in
4)Your TA's Name
5)Course

Text: The text of the paper should be 5-7 pages and follow the instructions of the assignment you are completing. See below.

Reference Page (1 page)
References should be listed in alphabetical order of the First author's last name.
Only include materials that you have read and that you cite within the paper
Reference format:
Author's last name, first initial. (year). Title of the article. Title of the Journal, vol, pages.
Author's last name, first initial. (year). Title of the chapter. In First initial & Last name of the editor (Ed.), Title of
the Book (pp. page numbers). Location: Publisher.
- If there are more than 1 authors or more than 1 editors, include all of the names using the and symbol "&" before the last name.
- When typing the Title of a chapter or article, only the 1st word is capitalized all other words are lower case.

References examples:
Howe, M. L. (1995). Interference effects in young children's long-term retention. Developmental Psychology, 31,
    579-596.
Heartherington, E. M., Parke, R. D., and Locke, V. O. (2003). Child Psychology: A Contemporary Viewpoint (5th ed.
    updated). Boston: McGraw Hill.

Bonus/Late Points:
The paper is due by 10:45 am on THURSDAY, APRIL 10. Bring papers to BSB 1054B.

Bonus points                           Late Points
Tu 4/8 = +2                            Fr 4/11 = -1
Th 4/3 = +4                            St 4/12 = -2
Tu 4/1 = +6                            Sn 4/13 = -3
Th 3/27 = +8                          Mn 4/14= -4
Tu 3/25= +10                         Tu 4/15 = -5
Before 3/25 = +10                  We 4/16 = -6
                                                        ...
                                                Th 5/1 = - 21

ABSOLUTELY NO ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER THE LAST DAY OF CLASS THURSDAY, MAY 1, 2003.

Writing Assignment 1 - Research Article Review
This assignment is designed to have you examine and review empirical research that has been conducted. Since the point of this assignment is for you to review this information, you will only be allowed to use 1 quote of no more than 3 lines. If you use additional quotes, or if your quote is longer than 3 lines, points will be deducted.

Steps to Complete this Assignment:
Step 1:Look through the TOPIC LIST and choose a topic that you are interested in writing about.
1) operant conditioning         2) autostimulation theory             3) day care & emotions      4) grasping
5) phoneme discrimination    6) high amplitude sucking            7) dual representation         8) self control
9) cardinality                      10) developmental quotient         11) creativity                      12) empathy

Step 2: READ the section(s) in your Textbook that are related to that topic.

Step 3: Find 2 Research Studies related to that topic.
1) Article must be from a Developmental Psychology Journal. Some of the more popular journals include: Child Development, Developmental Psychology, Human Development, International Journal of Behavioral Development, Journal of Applied Behavioral Analysis, Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Journal of Genetic Psychology, Mental Retardation.
2) The Article must be an ORIGINAL RESEARCH STUDY. In order to determine if it is an original research study, look through the article. If it contains ALL of the following sections, then it is an original research study: Abstract, Introduction (this will contain the literature review and the hypotheses), Methods Section (which will minimally include a subjects/participants section and a procedure section), Results Section, Discussion/Conclusion Section, and finally a Reference Section.
3) If all of these sections (Abstract, Introduction, Methods Section, Results Section, Discussion/Conclusion Section, and Reference Section) are not included, IT IS NOT AN ORIGINAL RESEARCH STUDY AND IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. Also, articles are NOT ACCEPTABLE if they come from Newspapers, Magazines, Books, Microfiche, Internet/Web pages, other sources of popular press, or Journals from outside of Psychology.

Step 4: Photocopy the ENTIRE article. You will need to turn the articles in with your paper. You are STRONGLY encouraged to show your articles to Kim Jaroszewski or Dana Rusch to make sure that they are actual research studies. Reviews turned in with unacceptable articles (articles that are not related to one of the listed topics or articles that are not research studies, articles from inappropriate sources) WILL NOT be graded.

Step 5:Write your paper.
1) Because the point of this assignment is to review and summarize the information, you are only allowed 1 QUOTE of NO MORE THAN 3 LINES. Additional quotations or a quote longer than 3 lines will result in the lose of points.
2) The text of your paper should include the following sections: Introduction, Review of Article 1, Review of Article 2, and Conclusion. You are to use these as subheadings in your paper.

Introduction: (10 points)
Brief Review of the topic (topic MUST be 1 of from the topic list above).
Summary of the information from the textbook.
Explain what you will be discussing in the main section of your paper.
include how this is related to development
Explain how your articles relate to this topic (what aspect do they look at)
Explain how your articles are related to or an extension of the information presented in the textbook.
Review of Article 1: (10 points)
Summarize the article includes answers to the bold face questions. The questions and comments in () are to further explain what is meant by the questions.
- Why was the study conducted?
(What will this study tell us about the topic? How will it help us to understand this topic better? What new piece of information will be obtained from this study?)
- What were the hypotheses?
(Remember hypotheses are prediction statements that are testable. Your hypotheses should be stated in terms of comparisons between groups(IV) with one group doing better than the other on a particular measure(DV) or in terms of a relationship between 2 measures(DVs) with an increase (decrease) in one measure leading to --?-- in the other measure.)
- Who participated?
(Only include important information- how many subjects, factors used to group subjects, MAJOR selection criteria factors)
- What did the researchers do?
(Keep this general, basically what did they do, and what did they measure. DO NOT include all of the details behind the measures. For example if the study is looking at depression and uses a clinical interview and the Beck's Depression inventory, then in your paper you would want to say - They measured depression in 2 ways. First, they used a survey to determine the person's level of depression. Second, each subject was interviewed to confirm his/her level of depression. DO NOT go into all of the survey details - Subjects completed the Beck's depression questionnaire which is a XX item self-report questionnaire that measures depression on a X point likert scale.)
- What did they find?
(This should come from the Results section. Here you want to indicate what was compared, which group did better than which group on what measure, and then what that difference means. Or what measure was related to what measure, how change in one measure altered the other measure and what is suggested by this relationship. DON'T include Stats, p values, tables, graphs, ..... just indicated where differences were and which group did better/worse that which group on which tests - For ex. Group A had higher scores on test X than Group B which means that Group A is more XXX than Group B)
- Does this support or reject the hypotheses?
(Basically did the researchers find what they expected to find. Don't just say yes or no. Explain.)
- What did they conclude based on their findings?
(What do the results allow then to conclude in terms of the hypotheses, theory, research question)

Review of Article 2: (10 points)
see Review of Article 1 for more detail description of each question.
- Why was the study conducted?
- What were the hypotheses?
- Who participated?
- What did the researchers do?
- What did they find?
- Does this support or reject the hypotheses?
- What did they conclude based on their findings?

Conclusion: (10 points)
Summarize the main points within the paper
- what do each of the articles tell you about the topic (and it's relation to development)
- how are the 2 articles related to each other
Based on everything you have read, what did you learn about this topic and development?
-What can you conclude on this area of developmental psychology?
-What is your opinion on this topic now?

Step 6: Turn in your finished review AND your external references.

Grade: Points
Formatting and Grammar  10
        Introduction              10
        Review A1               10
        Review A2               10
        Conclusion               10
                                        50

Writing Assignment 2 - Theory Application
The purpose of this assignment is to have you observe and explain the development of a child in terms of one of the theories that are discussed within the textbook. In order to make is assignment available to all students, the child you will report on will be a fictional child from either a book or a movie. The child should be one of the main characters in the book or movie so that you will have enough information to complete this assignment. If you use a movie, I strongly recommend that you choose a movie that you can rent on video or DVD so that you can replay segments as you think about how the child's development and the theory fit together.

Steps to Complete this Assignment:
Step 1: Pick the theory that you feel best describes the way a person develops and read through the sections in the textbook related to that theory. NOTE: 1)There is more than 1 section on the theory in the textbook. You should look in the Name Index and read the information presented on each of these pages to get a better understanding of the theory. 2) You need to use a theory that examines the way a person develops (Freud's Psychoanalytic theory, Piaget's Cognitive theory, Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory, etc.). Topical theories (theory of attachment, birth order, self-esteem, etc.) are not acceptable.

Step 2: Pick a movie or a book where one of the main characters is a child. NOTE: If you choose a theory such as Freud's theory of psychosexual development, then the child MUST be younger than 12 since we reach his last stage of development at age 12. With Piaget, the child would MUST to be younger than 11. In all cases, the child should be in the pre-adolescent stage (that is no older than 12 or 13). If you are unsure, PLEASE ask ahead of time. Papers turned in where the child is not one of the main characters or the child is in late adolescents or adulthood will NOT be accepted.
 
Some samples of movies that could be used: (Note: This is by no means an exhaustive list. It is only meant to give you an idea of some of the movies that could be used. And some of these movies would be easier than others.)
Deep Impact     Hook            House of Cards            Iron Giant
Jurassic Park     Jumanji         The Miracle Worker     Mrs. Doubtfire
October Sky     AI                 The River Wild             Searching for Bobby Fischer
Sixth Sense       Jack              Stand By Me                Stuart Little
Harry Potter     Goonies         Star Wars Episode 1     My Left Foot
Terminator 2     Heidi             Mary Poppins               Never Ending Story

Step 3: As you watch the movie or read the book, try to identify aspects of the theory that pertain to the development of the child. Identify where the person would fall in terms of the theory at the beginning of the book/movie and where they would fall at the end of the book/movie. What developmental changes have occurred and how would the theory account for them.

Step 4: Write your paper
Use the following subheadings in the text of your paper: Theory, Book or Movie (depending on which you used), and Explanation of Development.

Theory: (10 points)
- Give a general overview of the theory. This is the theory as it is presented in your textbook.
- Explain in detail the aspects of the theory that you will be talking about in terms of the development of the child in the book or movie.

Book or Movie: (10 points)
- Explain what the movie/book was about (the general plot).
- Identify who the child is that you will be examining and what his/her role is in terms of the plot.
Note: Give enough information here that a person who has not seen the movie or read the book could understand what types of events are possible. However, you do not need to list all of the details of the plot.
One word of caution here, DO NOT PLAGIARIZE. DO NOT simply copy book jackets, movie previews, online summaries of movies or books. If you do this, you will get a ZERO on the entire assignment.

Explanation of Development (20 points)
- Identify what stage of development the child is in at the beginning of the book/movie.
- Explain why you would place him/her at this stage.
- Use examples from the book/movie to support your classification.
- Identify what stage of development the child is in at the end of the book/movie.
- Explain why you would place him/her at this stage
- Use examples from the book/movie to support your classification.
- What developmental change(s) occurred during the course of the book/movie.
- How would the theory account for these changes?
- Be sure to explain how the theory would account for these changes in terms of things that occurred in the
book/movie not just in terms of the general theory.
- Are there developmental changes that occur that the theory can not explain?
Based on your assessment of this theory, do you feel that this theory adequately explains development?

Note: Not all of the theories stage theories. If you choose to use a continuous theory, then explain the place along that continuum (as opposed to the stage) where the child is at in the beginning and at the end of the book or movie.

Step 5: Turn in you paper
 

Grades: Points

Formatting and Grammar 10

Theory 10

Book/Movie 10

Explanation of Development 20

50
 
 
 
 
 

Writing Assignment 3 - Kohlberg's Moral Reasoning
 

Kohlberg's theory of moral development lists 6 stages of development. The stages are not based on the decision that a person makes with regard to the dilemma, but the rationale that the person used to reach the decision. The purpose of this assignment is to have you further explore Kohlberg's theory and testing of moral reasoning.
 

Steps to Complete this Assignment:
 

Step 1: Read the sections in the textbook related to Kohlberg's theory of Moral Development.
 

Step 2: Create a new dilemma that could be used to test moral development.
 

Step 3: Identify how a person would respond to the dilemma at each of the 6 stages. NOTE: you will need to identify a total of 12 responses: 1 response for agreeing with the actions and 1 response for disagreeing with the actions at each of the 6 stages.
 

Step 4: Interview 1 person with both the dilemma that you wrote and the Heinz dilemma given in your textbook and/or study guide. Write down the person's response to both dilemmas. 
 

Step 5: Write your paper

Use the following subheadings in the text of your paper: Dilemma and Responses, Observation, Classification and Conclusion
 

Dilemma and Response: (15 points)

In this section, you should write out the dilemma. And it should include some response to the dilemma.
 

Some advice on Dilemmas;

1) Kohlberg's dilemmas focus on a person having to choose between obeying a rule, law, or authority figure on one hand or taking some action to serve a human need on the other. These are NOT just difficult choices, they need to address some moral issue. In the Heinz dilemma, the choice is to obey the law of not stealing or to give his wife the chance at life.
 

2) You need to present the positive and negative aspects to the dilemmas. For example, in the Heinz dilemma, if he steals the drug, he is breaking the law and could go to jail but will be giving his wife a chance at life. If he does not steal the drug, he will be obeying the law and will not get himself in trouble but will have to watch his wife die.
 

3) Give your characters names and action. The character who is facing the dilemma should make a decision to act in one way or the other at the end of the dilemma. 
 

4) Your dilemma should end with the question, "Should (name of the character) have done that?"
 

You should than lists the 12 responses based on each of stages. That it, YOU should identify how:

- a person at stage 1 who agreed with the decision to the dilemma would rationalize the decision, 

- a person at stage 1who disagreed with the decision would rationalize their decision

- a person at stage 2 who agreed with the decision would rationalize their decision

- a person at stage 2 who disagreed with the decision would rationalize their decision

- a person at stage 3 who agreed with the decision would rationalize their decision

- a person at stage 3 who disagreed with the decision would rationalize their decision

- a person at stage 4 who agreed with the decision would rationalize their decision

- a person at stage 4 who disagreed with the decision would rationalize their decision

- a person at stage 5 who agreed with the decision would rationalize their decision

- a person at stage 5 who disagreed with the decision would rationalize their decision

- a person at stage 6 who agreed with the decision would rationalize their decision

- a person at stage 6 would disagree with the decision would rationalize their decision
 
 
 

Observation: (10 points) 

In this section, you need to record how the person responded to each of the dilemmas. 

The participant should read the Heinz dilemma, and then respond to the question, "Should Heinz have done that?"

Then the participant should read your dilemma and respond to the questions, "Should s/he have done that?"
 

Try to record as much of their responses as possible. Remember Kohlberg's Theory is not based on whether the person agrees with the solution to the dilemma or not but on the rationale behind their response. So your observations need to include this rationale. Make sure to record their response to each dilemma - 5 points for response to your dilemma, 5 points for response to the Heinz dilemma.
 

DO NOT have the participant respond to each of the levels. They are simply to respond to the question, "Should s/he have done that?"
 

Classification and Conclusion: (15 points)

When comparing the person's response on the Heinz Dilemma to the responses in the book, at what stage of moral development would you classify this person? 

What within the person's response leads you to classify him/her in this stage?

When comparing the person's response to your dilemma with the response you listed above, at what stage of moral development would you classify this person?

What within the person's response leads you to classify him/her in this stage?

When classifying this person, did you reach the same stage of moral development with the Heinz Dilemma and with your dilemma?

Do you feel this stage adequately identifies this person's stage of moral development? Explain

Do you feel this is an adequate method to assess moral development? Explain
 

Step 6: Turn in your finished paper.
 

Grade: Points

Formatting and Grammar 10

Dilemma and Responses 15

Observation 10

Classification and Conclusion 15

50