PSYC B2: Interpersonal & Group Process Skills
Professor Lora Larkin
Final Paper
Course Goals
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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 improvement in applying
the various communication skills that are covered in this class.
Before you begin, calendar the following:
 Final paper is due by ______
Final Paper Instructions:
 This analytical paper assignment is a self-critique of your past and current
communication skills (refer back to your paper assignments for self-reflection). How
would you have described your communication skills at the beginning of the course?
Discuss the progress you’ve made in the communication skills you identified in each of
your unit papers. What were some of your plans for improving on those skills (you must
be specific here) and what were some of the obstacles you encountered in making more
improvements in these communication skills? How would you judge your
communication skills now at the end of the course? What are your plans for continuing
practice and improvement beyond this class? Develop a plan for continuing
improvement, including anticipating obstacles you may encounter in the future and ways
to work with those obstacles.
 Be sure to also conduct research on the various communication skills you’ve
identified. 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. At the end of the semester, you will
also share a summary of your final paper with your classmates in a 2-3 minute
presentation (just a simple overview).
Evaluation:
(70 points possible/ 30% of semester grade)
Refer to the rubrics below and sample paper included in your assignment link on my
website for formatting requirements. You must use APA style referencing and include a
bibliography of at least 3 sources. In addition, you will present a brief 2-3 minute
summary of your project to your classmates.
Paper Total:_______/60
A. Identification of Skill Area (Paragraph 1)
Did you identify the communication skills you intended to work on this semester? Did
you identify your specific goals in these areas of communication for improvement as identified
within your unit papers?
/10pts
B. Evaluation of Progress (Paragraph 2-4)
Did you discuss the progress you’ve made in each of the skill areas using specific
examples of your communications? What did you specifically propose to do to practice and work
toward improvement? What were some of the obstacles you encountered?
/10pts
C. Future Plans for Practice (Paragraph 5)
Did you identify your plans for continuing practice and improvement beyond this class?
Did you anticipate obstacles you may encounter in the future in these areas and others and
ways to work with those obstacles? Did you identify how you will obtain feedback? Did you
discuss how you will know your final goals have been reached?
/10pts
D. Presentation/Proofreading
Did you follow the instructions and sample paper from your unit paper assignment
instructions?
/10pts
E. Inclusion of Chapter Concepts
Did you include relevant terms and content from your text? Did you define and explain
the term and concept? Did you include procedures for the use of the specific skills and
examples?
/10pts
F. APA Referencing
Did you reference the sources of your information, including your text and at least two
other sources? Did you follow the APA guidelines for in-text citations and reference page?
/10pts
Presentation Total:_______/10
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?
/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