PSYC B2: Interpersonal & Group Process Skills
Professor Lora Larkin
Final Paper
(70 points possible/ 30% of semester grade)
Course Goals
By the end of this course, you should be able to:
 Demonstrate an understanding of issues necessary for preparation to work in
interpersonal and group settings, including social perceptions, and verbal and
nonverbal behaviors across cultures
 Differentiate and appropriately apply interpersonal and group process skills for
communication, decision making, and conflict management
 Identify and summarize various ethical issues in helping relationships as applied
to a diversity of individuals and groups
The goal of this final exercise is to incorporate these course goals into a
capstone project, highlighting your understanding and ability to apply various
communication tools that are covered in this class.
Before you begin, calendar the following …
 Final paper is due by July 21st
Choose one of these three options for your final paper:
 Self-critique
o Discuss the progress you’ve made in your communication skills
throughout the course. How would you have described your
communication skills at the beginning of the course? What were some of
your plans for improving on those skills (you must be specific here)? How
would you judge your communication skills now at the end of the course?
What are your plans for continuing your education beyond this class?
(refer back to your paper assignments for self-reflection)
 TV series/Movie Critique
o Choose a 5-10 minute clip from a TV series or film to analyze using the
knowledge that you’ve learned in this course about specific areas you
wanted to work on. Use terms and concepts that we’ve covered in class to
discuss the interaction from an interpersonal communication lens. What
went wrong/right within the scene? What could have been done
differently? How can you apply this information to your own
communication skills or plans for improvement?
 Role play (video-taped or in-class)
o Rather than watch a video clip, you will create your own scene. Discuss
what is taking place in the interaction, using terms and concepts you’ve
learned from this communications course. How does this relate to your
own communication experiences?
 Other…you are allowed to be creative 
Instructions:
Once you have chosen an option for your final project, brainstorm ideas for carrying
out your project.
 If you have selected a self-critique, for example, analyze your current
communication skills, set goals for yourself, conduct research on the various
communication skills, and develop a plan for reaching your goals, including
anticipating obstacles you may encounter this semester and ways to work with
those obstacles.
 If you have selected a TV series/Movie critique, for example, brainstorm some of
your favorite shows or characters. Locate specific interactions within the various
scenes available to you and select one with a significant amount of interaction
among the characters. What initial observations do you make? Where can you
find information to support or discuss your observations?
 If you have decided to role play an interaction among participants, for example,
think about the areas of your communication skills that you would like to improve
on. What would be a typical example of a scene where you could utilize those
skills? Who would be willing to work with you on your project? Research ideas on
the internet as well. What resources and materials are available to you?
As a suggestion, write an outline detailing as much information as possible showing
how you intend to organize your final paper before you begin writing your paper. Even if
you have decided to role play, you will explain the scene within a paper as well. At the
end of the semester, you will also share your experience with your classmates in a 2-3
minute presentation (just a simple overview).
Evaluation:
Refer to the attached rubric and sample paper included in your assignment link
on my website. You must use APA style referencing and include a bibliography of at
least 3 sources (Paper = 60points possible). In addition, you will present a brief 2-3
minute summary of your project (see attached rubric) to your classmates (Presentation
= 10points possible).
Name:___________________________
Total:_______/60
PSYC B2: Interpersonal & Group Process Skills
Professor Lora Larkin
Final Paper Evaluation
A. Format/Presentation
Is your work clean, neat, and legible? Did you double space and use 1” margins and 12point font size?
/10pts
B. Clarity of Thought
Was your work organized into paragraphs, each containing a separate idea or support
for the main idea? Did you spell correctly? Does your paper contain grammatical mistakes? Is it
easy for a reader to follow your organization?
/10pts
C. Inclusion of Chapter Concepts
Did you include relevant terms and content from your text? Did you define the term
and/or explain the chapter concept?
/10pts
D. Personal Application
Did you provide examples to clarify your understanding of the content? Did you relate
your ideas to a personal experience, class experience, role play or movie clip? Was your
example relevant to the discussion?
/10pts
E. Self-critique/Planning
Did you identify communication skills or areas of communication that you would like to
improve on? Did you identify a plan for practice or ways of improving on these skills or acquiring
that knowledge?
/10pts
F. APA Referencing
Did you provide at least three sources as supporting evidence? Did you follow APA
formatting in your in-text citations and reference page? Do your in-text sources match with the
sources on your reference page?
/10pts
Name:___________________________
Total:_______/10
PSYC B2: Interpersonal & Group Process Skills
Professor Lora Larkin
Presentation Evaluation
A. Identification of Communication Skills
Did you identify the areas within your communications that you
wanted to work on/focus on this semester?
/2pts
B. Plan of Action
Did you identify how you initially planned to practice making
improvements in or focus on these areas?
/2pts
C. Challenges
Did you identify some of your challenges for practicing these skills,
role playing a particular scene, or critiquing communications?
/2pts
D. Future Directions
What have you learned this semester? What do you plan on
working on beyond this semester? How do you plan to continue
practicing your communication skills?
/2pts
E. Presentation
Was your speech audible? Were you able to maintain eye contact?
Did you display appropriate nonverbal behavior?
/2pts