Your final grade will be based on the following:

Class participation & preparedness 30%

Participation in a seminar class is predicated upon your coming to class prepared. This means that you have read all assigned articles CAREFULLY, and that you have thoughtful comments, questions, and opinions about them that you are prepared to share with your classmates. Preparedness will be assessed throughout the semester through a variety of means such as in-class writing assignments and quality of comments made in class. Your participation grade will be based on your attendance as well as the quality and quantity of your comments during class discussions and activities. You must be present and say something during each class to earn full credit for participation. If you are worried about this component of the course (i.e., if you find it intimidating or difficult to participate in class discussions), PLEASE SEE ME. I would be happy to facilitate your participation by eliciting your comments, or through other means that we can discuss. It is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to talk to me about this if it poses a problem for you.

Individual & group presentations 30%

During seven weeks of the semester, class meetings will be devoted to student led presentations and discussions focused on selected topics related to child maltreatment. The format for these presentations will be as follows: Each week, a pair of two students will be responsible for teaching the rest of the class about the topic. Each student in the pair must identify a scholarly article related to the topic (i.e., one that expands upon the material presented in the assigned article for that week). It is important to coordinate with your partner so that there are no duplicate articles. On Tuesday, each student will present his or her article to the class. These presentations should be about 30 minutes long and should include a detailed summary of the article, as well as a critique (comment upon the strengths and weaknesses of the article, and how it relates to the chapters assigned to the whole class for that week). Although not a hard-and-fast requirement, it is recommended that students attempt to find empirical articles for these presentations. Should you miss class on the day you are scheduled to present an article, you would receive 0 points for that presentation, with NO OPPORTUNITY to make up these points. On Thursday, the two students will collaboratively lead the class in a discussion or activity related to the week's topic. Grades for these presentations will include individual grades for the article presentations and group grades for the class discussion/activity. Each student will be assigned one topic, and will thus complete one individual and one group presentation, each worth 15% of the final grade. To receive full credit for these presentations, each student must be present on both days the week that he or she is scheduled to present.

If you would like to view the topics for presentations, click here.

Literature review 40%

Each student will write a 12 to 15 page literature review on a topic of his or her choice.  The topic could be related to the issues addressed in this course (and could even correspond to one of the presentations the student completes), but any topic in psychology may be chosen, pending instructor approval.

For full credit on the literature review, students must:
 

(1) Select an appropriate topic (in consultation with instructor).

(2) Identify an adequate number of appropriate sources on the topic (these should include at least 15 empirical articles published in scholarly journals).

(3) Demonstrate thorough understanding of the sources, including strengths and weaknesses of methodology (as reflected in annotated bibliography and, ultimately, in the literature review itself).

(4) Synthesize the sources (compare, contrast, show how they are related to each other and how they fit together).

(5) Draw appropriate conclusions based on your synthesis of the findings. (What do we know about the topic, what is still unknown, and how could further study shed more light on the important issues? What are the implications of what we do know?)

(6) Communicate items 3 through 5 in an appropriate, professional format (well organized literature review, 12 to 15 pages, APA format, correct spelling and grammar, clearly written).

(7) Complete all components of the assignment ON TIME. (These include: paper topic draft, revised paper topic plus two sources, list of first 10 sources, first two entries of annotated bibliography, completed reference list [12-20 citations], completed annotated bibliography [12-20] entries, outline of paper, brief oral presentation of topic, first draft of literature review, written comments on another student's first draft, and final draft of literature review). Click here to view a timetable for these assignments.