Psychobiology
Group Project First Option (Paper)
70 points possible
Hassett
General information: This group project is worth 70 points. Each group member will
receive his/her own grade sheet. Each group member’s grade will depend on his/her selfevaluation and the group members’ evaluations of each person’s work. For the paper to
be considered on time it needs to be turned in at the beginning of class on the due date
(see syllabus). You will not receive a grade unless you have turned in the self/group
evaluation. That too needs to be turned in on the due date. It does not get attached to the
paper but needs to be turned in separately. This is confidential, and only I will see it. If
the paper is turned in after the beginning of class, it is considered late and will be docked
5 points. For each 24-hour period it is late it will be docked an additional 10 points.
Papers will not be accepted through e-mail, so be sure you check your printers the night
before the due date.
Guidelines for your group project
Group Members: You are allowed to work in groups of no more than four on this project.
Choose your members wisely, as your paper will be graded as a whole, not individually.
You will need to make sure that the entire paper is edited and free of grammar and
spelling errors.
Topic: Your group will choose a topic from Psychobiology with the consent of the
instructor. The list of possible topics is not extensive so I encourage your group to come
up with an original topic. Your topic must be relevant to course content, but it should be
investigated in greater depth. The focus of your topic is important. If your focus is too
broad it will either be a superficial analysis or paper that is too long; however if your
focus is too narrow this will lead to a lack of source material and redundancy. Once your
group has decided on your topic, your next step is to agree upon the purpose of your
paper. Your paper needs to provide more of a purpose than a summary of your source
material. Below are examples of purposes for research papers. Your paper might have
more than one purpose.
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Research and investigate: seek out obscure and hard-to-find material, and unify it
into a clear presentation
Synthesize: draw together diverse material to show patterns and relations
Organize: give logical continuity and structure to diverse material
Analyze: provide critical analysis in which arguments are examined for evidence,
validity, logic and flaws
Clarify: make evidence and arguments clearer to the reader
Examine in a broader context: show how a specific subject fits into a broader
context
Select and refine: weed out fluff and irrelevancies to get at the main issues of a
complex subject
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Adopt a point of view: show how the prevalence of evidence and reason favors
one side in a controversial issue
Audience: Of course your instructor will be reading your paper, but you should write to
an audience that is intelligent but uninformed on your topic. Because of your target
audience, fundamental concepts, like those taught in the course, should be addressed (if
applicable) before moving onto more difficult material. One recommendation is to have
someone outside of the class, such as a friend or family member, read your paper to see if
they understand it.
Research Materials and References: Before you begin writing your paper, you need to do
an extensive review on your topic. Your research should include material from as many
sources as possible including books, professional journals, internet sources, interviews
and media sources. You will be gathering as much information as possible on your topic.
You will gather more information than you will include in your paper. Note: the sources
you use must go beyond the internet! Most of the information you find on the
internet is NOT going to be reliable, but occasionally you are pleasantly surprised.
There is not a set number of references, but between 5-10 sources is typical. Of those 510 sources, at least 3 need to be from scholarly journals. Textbooks tend to be general
and should not be one of your 5 key sources. Direct quotes must be placed inside
quotation marks and should be used sparingly. Paraphrasing is better in most cases.
You will be marked down significantly if you use a lot of direct quotes. You must cite
references in your paper. If you are familiar with APA format, please refer to it as
guidelines. For those of you that are not, you will place the author and year in
parentheses (e.g., Freburg, 2006) after you have used that source in your paper. When
you use someone else’s ideas or words, you need to cite them (i.e., give them credit for
their work). You need a bibliography (reference sheet) of all cited sources at the end of
the paper with author(s), year, title, publication or publisher, volume and pages. These
need to be in alphabetical order by name of the primary author.
Organization of your paper: You can be creative with the organization of your paper and
the focus of your paper, but you must include the following sections:
1) Title Page: (include your title, the names of group members the course and the
due date).
2) Introduction: here you will introduce the topic you are investigating. Briefly
discuss what your paper will be covering. It might be appropriate to discuss the
purpose of your paper if it makes sense to do so and fits in with your writing style.
3) Discussion sections: here you will be synthesizing and organizing the information
you have gathered and writing with a purpose. Because most of you will be
writing this paper as part of a group, you need to make sure that it is not
redundant. A well-written paper will include an analysis of the information
gathered. For instance, were there any inconsistencies in the research you found?
Were there any possible biases on the part of the author?
4) Conclusion: here you will tie up loose ends. Often times when we do research all
of our questions were not answered. Discuss any unanswered questions or new
questions your group would be interested in finding out more about. For instance,
if there wasn’t information on a specific part of your paper, address where future
research needs to focus.
5) Bibliography (Reference sheet)
Length and Format: The paper should be about 10 pages typed, but no more than 15.
Illustrations, charts and graphs are not required but are often useful in explaining
information, such as statistics; they do not count towards the total number of pages. The
presentation of your paper needs to be professional. Make sure you double-space the
text, use 12-font and Times New Roman, use only one side of each sheet, with at least a
one-inch margin at the left and 3/4 inch margins on the other three sides. Please number
your pages and secure the pages so that they can't get out of order. Please staple your
paper and DO NOT turn it in, in any type of folder or binder.
Mechanics and Style: Before turning in your paper proofread your paper carefully for
correct spelling and grammar. Read it critically for form and content. I recommend
having someone outside of your group read it as well. If he/she doesn’t understand
something, fix it. If you do not edit your paper, more points can (and will) be taken off. I
expect college level writing (see the syllabus for more details).
Grading: I have posted a grading rubric that I will be using to grade each paper. Each
member of the group will receive his/her own grade sheet. I will be taking into account
the self/group evaluation when determining each person’s grade.
PLEASE NOTE: I expect that your paper will be free of most mechanical errors
(grammar and spelling), will be organized and have transitions so the paper is easy to
follow. If there are significant problems in mechanical errors and/or organization, you
WILL either FAIL or get a much LOWER grade. Please keep this in mind prior to
turning in your paper.