Alternate Method for Receiving Extra Credit

Educational Psychology 215 (Dr. Zimmerman)

If you are unable to participate in Psychology Department Research for extra credit, the alternate assignment is as follows.

Select an article from the journal Educational Psychologist (online or at Milner Library). DO NOT USE "Editorial" or "Introduction to a Special Issue" documents.

Issues are available online through the Illinois State University subscription. Use "Find articles on your topic" and then type in the name of the journal in the field for JOURNAL NAME.

After a few clicks you will be directed to the table of contents for the journal (an alternate is to use ERIC or PsycINFO and limit your search to this journal and a topic of interest).

Scan the issues for a title that interests you. This may require looking through a few issues (or using search functions and key words).

Click on PDF FULL TEXT and it will open a copy that looks exactly like the journal does in the library. Read the abstract to make sure the article is of interest, and to ensure that it is not an editorial or an "introduction to a special issue". You must select a research article. If you are in doubt, contact me.

If you have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed, the PDF document will open in your browser window. You can either download/save the article to your computer, or send it to a printer without downloading. 

The Writing Assignment

Please note that "Introduction to Special Edition" articles cannot be used for this assignment (these are easily identified, as they typically include "Introduction:" in the title and are the first in a series of conceptually-related articles. They do not describe research, but give a paragraph summary of all the articles in the issue. Those articles are fair game, but the "Introduction" is NOT).

For each paper you select, provide me with a printed copy of the paper, and a summary of the article that is approximately 500 words in length (about one single-spaced or two double-spaced pages). I will return both to you.

  1. At the top of the first page of your report, give a complete bibliographic reference to the article. Use APA style format. See example below (take note of the punctuation throughout as well as the small case letters for the title of the article)

    Example: Perry, N. E., VandeKamp, K. O., Mercer, L. K., & Nordby, C. J. (2002). Investigating teacher-student interactions that foster self-regulated learning, Educational Psychologist, 37(1), 5-15.

  2. The summary should include brief descriptions of (a) the purpose of the study; (b) the methodology (e.g., subjects), (c) the main findings and conclusion.

Papers for extra credit can be handed in at any time during the semester.

Last modified: 1/13/09