Classroom: 2057 BSB

Instructor: Jennifer Wiley
Office: 1054B BSB Phone: (312) 355-2501 Email: jwiley@uic.edu
Office Hours: TBA

TA:

Purpose of Course
The purpose of this course is to give students first-hand experience with experimentation in cognition.

For the first part of the course, students will gain experience in running planned experiments on attention, memory, text comprehension and problem solving.  For each experiment, students will act as participants and then take the role of researchers responsible for entering and interpreting data, and reporting experimental results in APA format.  In the lecture portion of the class, students will learn the background for each experiment by reading original research articles, discussing the articles in terms of the ideas that they use to predict results, and how those predictions relate to our own results.  In the laboratory portion, students will have hands-on experience with data collection, data analysis in SPSS and guided instruction on writing each section of the APA style report.  At the end of the semester, students (either alone or in pairs) will be responsible for designing their own experiment, collecting the data, analyzing the data, writing up a final report, and presenting results in the form of a poster at an end of semester poster fair.

This class is designed to be of interest to students who may be considering graduate school in psychology, but it will be useful to any student who enjoys the topics of human learning, memory and problem solving, and wants to better understand the nature of cognitive research.  More generally, a background in cognitive experimentation is good experience for students who are considering a wide range of careers including education, law, business, medicine, and neuroscience.

Readings
Journal Articles:
Assigned readings will be posted as PDF files on the web page after students have participated in each experiment.

Strongly Recommended Text:
American Psychological Association. (2000). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.).  Washington, DC: Author.

All of your assignments MUST conform to APA style. This publication manual is recommended but not required for purchase.  If you are considering pursuing a graduate degree in psychology, you might as well buy it now.  For others, this book is on reserve at the library.  If you do decide to buy it, online merchants (e.g., Amazon.com, Borders.com) are usually cheaper than the UIC bookstore.

Grading
Grades will be determined by the following breakdown
       12%   Participation in Experiments (4 classic and two class-project days)
       20%   Quizzes on Readings and Final Exam (5 quizzes)
       12%   In Class/Group Exercises 
         6%   Assignment 1
       10%   Assignment 2
       10%   Assignment 3
       10%   Assignment 4
       20%   Final Project Presentation and Report

No make-up quizzes will be given.
No late papers will be accepted.

Students with Disabilities: Reasonable accommodations will be made, but requests must be made during the first week of class.  Students with disabilities who require accommodations for access and participation in this course must be registered with the Office of Disability Services (ODS). Please contact ODS at 312/413-2103 or 312/413-0123.

Campus Policy on Observance of Religious Holidays
The faculty of the University of Illinois at Chicago shall make every effort to avoid scheduling examinations or requiring that student projects be turned in or completed on religious holidays. Students who wish to observe their religious holidays shall notify the faculty member by the tenth day of the semester of the date when they will be absent unless the religious holiday is observed on or before the tenth day of the semester. In such cases, the student shall notify the faculty member at least five days in advance of the date when he/she will be absent. The faculty member shall make every reasonable effort to honor the request, not penalize the student for missing the class, and if an examination or project is due during the absence, give the student an exam or assignment equivalent to the one completed by those students in attendance. If the student feels aggrieved, he/she may request remedy through the campus grievance procedure.

Plagiarism/Cheating:
Plagiarism is defined as the use (or submission) of another’s ideas, thoughts, or writing, without proper acknowledgment (quotation marks and citations). If you are ever unsure about what constitutes plagiarism, ask questions.  When you are composing a new research paper and reading and discussing other research papers in it, be sure to use your own words to describe the gist of other studies or other author's explanations.  Make sure that you discuss other papers in a way that supports the point you are making in your own paper. This is one good way to avoid reiterating someone else's words.  If you must use a direct quote or wording from a paper you are reading, then use quotation marks.  However, even if you are just paraphrasing or summarizing what was found in a previous study, you must cite the source.

Any form of plagiarism or cheating will not be tolerated.  Students who are found to have plagiarized work or cheat on any assignment may be subject to various disciplinary actions including a failing grade on the particular assignment, failure of the entire course, and possible expulsion from the University. For more information about the violation of Academic Integrity and its consequences please see the UIC Department of Student Judicial Affairs (http://www.uic.edu/depts /sja/integrit.htm).

Course Schedule

Class 1            Introductory remarks, Review of Syllabus, Overview of Class
                       Discussion of Four Key Questions
                       Participate in Experiment 1
                       Reading Assignment 1:

Class 2           Quiz on Reading Assignment 1
                       How to read a journal article
                       Walk through article, background, and predictions for study

Class 3            Intro to SPSS and EXCEL, Descriptive & Inferential Statistics, Worksheet
                       Enter data and analyze

Class 4            Overview of APA Style, Manuscript Order, Example Paper
                       Short Lecture on APA Style Title Page & Abstract
                       Writing Assignment 1: Title Page and Abstract for Study 1
                       Grading Checklist for Writing Assignment 1

Class 5            Writing Assignment 1 Due
                       Participate in Experiment 2
                       Short lecture on APA method section content
                       Take notes on method
                       Reading Assignment 2:

Class 6            Quiz on reading
                       Walk through article, background, and predictions for study
                       Enter/Analyze data from Study 2 with Worksheet

Class 7            Lecture on APA method & reference section
                       Writing Assignment 2 -- Abstract, Title, Method, References and Appendix
                       Grading Checklist for Writing Assignment 2

Class 8            Writing Assignment 2 Due
                       Participate in Experiment 3
                       How to run an experiment
                       Experiment Assignment: Run two other people in study
                       Reading Assignment 3:

Class 9            Quiz on reading
                       Walk through article, background, predictions
                        Discussion about how to code data
                        Code Data

Class 10         Discussion of reliability
                      Resolve coding differences
                      Enter Data/Analyze with worksheet

Class 11        Lecture on APA results section, tables and figures
                     How to make Graphs in Excel
                    Writing Assignment 3 -- Title, Abstract, Results, References, Table or Figure
                    Grading Checklist for Writing Assignment 3

Class 12        Writing Assignment 3 Due
                      Participate in Experiment 4
                      Reading Assignment 4

Class 13         Quiz on Reading
                      Walk through article, background, predictions
                      Score data
                      Analyze data with worksheet
                      How to write an Introduction and Discussion

Class 14         How to find papers on PSYCINFO/ERIC/Google Scholar/Web of Science (with worksheet)
                       Reference Assignment: Find a related article to summarize for the class.

Class  15         Reference Presentations: Summarize an article for the class
                       (5 minutes or less per student)
                       Writing Assignment 4: title, abstract, intro, discussion & reference section.
                       (Your paper must cite 3 journal articles in the introductory section)
                       Grading checklist for Writing Assignment 4

Class 16          How to pick a project  - Project worksheet
                       How to write a proposal
                       Sample Proposal
                       Assignment: Decide on a project (you can either work alone or with a partner)
                       Complete one worksheet per project
                       When worksheet complete email to instructor and if acceptable, she will schedule meeting.

Week 9           Writing Assignment 4 Due
                       Meetings with Instructor on Proposed Projects

Week 10         Meetings with TA on Experiment Materials and Running Procedure

Week 11         Full written proposal due
                       Proposal including FINAL and EXACT COPIES of running materials must be submitted.
                       Proposal Grading Sheet

Week 12        Participate in Data Collection

Week 13        Graded proposals returned in class.
                       Discussion how to revise into Final Reports (Full APA Style Papers)
                       Data distributed
                       Begin to enter/code data with worksheets

Week 14         How to make a poster
                       How to present your poster
                       Poster preparation and draft approval
                       Applying to Grad School and Letters of Recommendation; Sample Vita
                       Course Final Exam (Quiz 5)

Week 15        Poster Fair -- Final presentations. 12-2 in 2019 BSB. Also 
                      Final Papers due.
                      BE SURE TO INCLUDE GRADED PROPOSAL WITH FINAL PAPER.