Assignments (Small)

Introduction to Psychological Studies 202

Dr. Sherri Lantinga | Dordt College  | http://homepages.dordt.edu/~lantinga/IPS/index.html | Spring 2010

Reading Summary #1 (due January 15; worth 5 points):  Read the excerpts from the Lantinga (2004) and Miller & Delaney (2005) articles handed out in class, then for each reading write a one-sentence summary on an index card that answers this question: What does it mean (to this author/s) to be human?

PsycInfo Tutorial Quiz (due January 22; worth 12 points): This assignment helps you learn how to use PsycInfo, which is a computerized index of references to all professional journal articles, books, and other publications in psychology (and closely related fields) since 1879 or so. The format is the same as EbscoHost and other on-line, searchable databases.

• Complete the on-line PsycInfo tutorial: go to the Library home page on DENIS; under the Get Help heading, click Search Path tutorials, choose Search Path databases, then choose PsycInfo.

• Take the quiz at the end of the tutorial and print your results. 

• Now, using PsycInfo, do a search with your last name in the "author" field and print the record for the most recent article with someone of your last name as an author. (If there are no records using your name, print the screen that says so).

Reading Summary #2 (due January 27; worth 5 points): Read the Vitz article on-line, then summarize on an index card each major school/theory in psychology and summarize what Vitz believes a Catholic/Christian perspective can add to psychology.

Reading Summary #3 (due February 3; worth 5 points): After reading this (pretty cool) article on Psychology research methods, choose two of the Big Questions we discussed in class and identify on an index card what research method(s) you would use to answer each question (feel free to rewrite the question or break it down into more manageable parts). Briefly note why you chose those particular methods over others.