Independent Study Syllabus – Spring 2015
The Urban Life History & Behavior Laboratory
Division of Applied Behavioral Sciences – University of Baltimore
Professor: Dr. Mike Frederick
Office phone: 410.837.5997
Email: mfrederick@ubalt.edu
Office: LC 406; Lab: AC 220
Course objectives:
 Student will work in collaboration with the faculty member to initiate and complete a research
project during the spring 2015 semester. Tasks include: weekly presentations of journal
articles, attendance at our research team meetings, collection of relevant literature, data
collection, data analysis and interpretation, and the creation of a complete APA-style paper. I
will provide you will deadlines during the course of the semester to help you in writing up your
paper (outline, bibliography, etc.)
 Students in this course are expected to spend approximately 10 hours of work a week on
research. We will be meeting for one to two hours per week, and this is included in your hours.
Annotated Bibliography Assignment
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
This assignment involves creating, in APA format, a working reference list for your project.
In addition, you are to briefly annotate each of these references. Make sure that your
annotations are in your own words.
These references should be empirical data-based articles, that is, APA style articles
reporting original research with an Introduction, Method, Results and Discussion sections.
Usually, such articles come from either a peer-reviewed journal or an edited book. You may
have additional non-empirical articles, such as theoretical or review articles, usually from
authored books or web pages.
Instructions:
 Type each of these references in APA format in a Word document. This will be the
beginning of your reference list for your final assignment.
 Under each of your APA-style references, annotate each of your references as follows.
For each article, state the following, a couple of sentences each in your own words:
1. The purpose/hypothesis of the study
2. Brief description of participants, materials, procedure
3. Major findings
4. What you plan to use this article for (to justify/relate to your method?
Your hypothesis?)
Outline Assignment
The purpose of this assignment is to help you identify the areas of research you will need to
cover in your introduction and organize them in a logical fashion.
1. Outline: Should be as detailed as possible. Subheadings should be listed, reflecting the
various areas of previous research you intend to review. For each subheading, provide a
brief description of that area of research and why it is pertinent to your study. List by first
author’s last name only, any references you currently have that might fit into these various
sections (some may fit in more than one section, which is perfectly fine).
2. Tentative Hypotheses: After the outline, you should include a draft of any proposed
hypotheses that you may have at this time, with a rationale. Refer back to the research when
explaining why and how you developed these hypotheses.
NOTE: If a hypothesis requires the collection of original data, you must follow the
appropriate IRB procedures. This process is likely to take about two months before any usable
data will be available, so start early! You are responsible for your own data collection. This
option will entail more work than the use of existing data, but is more likely to yield novel
findings that may lead to publication.
Requirements for the Paper
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The paper should be a complete APA-style paper including: title page, abstract,
introduction, method, results, discussion, table or figure, and references.
Reference requirements:
o First, you must use all of the references in your reference section for them to count. 
o 15 empirical journal articles. Keep in mind that some of these sources can (and should)
be used in the discussion section to explain how your results fit in with the results of
other articles.
Tentative Schedule:
Week of…
Lab Events
Assignments
1/26
Introduction & Status Report
Overview of Zotero, Drive, & Checkbox
Find articles & start bibliography,
Complete CITI compliance course
2/2
Present article in lab
Work on bibliography (5+ refs)
2/9
Data collection / analysis report
Work on bibliography (10+ refs)
Any hypotheses requiring original
data should be formulated by now.
2/16
Present article in lab
Work on bibliography (15+ refs)
2/23
Focus on demographics & census data
Prepare outline
3/2
Work on symposium presentation
Formulate hypotheses
3/9
Test run of symposium presentation
Gather data and begin analysis
3/16
Spring Break;
Symposium at William & Mary: 3/20 & 3/21
3/23
Work on NEEPS presentations
Draft of Intro & Methods due
3/30
Test run of NEEPS presentations
Draft of Results due
4/6
NEEPS Conference in Boston: 4/9 – 4/12
4/13
NEEPS Recap
Revise Results & prepare Figures
4/20
Present article in lab
Draft of Discussion due
4/27
Discuss outlets for disseminating findings
Draft of complete paper due
5/4
Discuss future directions for research
Final draft of paper due
Division of Labor:
Note that everyone is expected to attend meetings, present articles, and run participants.
Ramy –
Manage articles on Drive & Zotero; prepare master bibliography.
Matt –
Manage surveys on Checkbox and the export of data to SPSS.
Hillary –
Prepare NEEPS oral presentation.
Maddie –
Prepare NEEPS poster.
Humama –
Prepare William & Mary Presentation & NEEPS Poster.
Not yet delegated –

Manage lab data collection & participants, including Sakai, WeJoinIn, and the lab space.

Collect and manage archival and census data tied to developmental neighborhoods.

Create a master map of all neighborhoods of interest.