Term paper points - "Save the World" Option

Topic (10 points)

Is this a paper that couldn't be written without the field of social psychology? (good!)

Is this a paper that would fit better as a term paper for another course (bad!)

Does the paper reflect a knowledge of social psychology?

Has the student developed some expertise on a topic within social psychology?

Content and Coherence (20 points)

Is it clear what the topic of the paper is?

Does the paper have a cohesive argument or theme? ("saving the world" may be credited here)

Does the body of the paper follow an organization that is apparent?

Are there extraneous sections which don't belong? (bad!)

Are there missing links in the arguments presented? (bad!)

Are there appropriate transitions between ideas and sections?

Lit review (20 points)

Are the articles that are covered relevant?

Is the coverage of articles appropriate? (coverage should not include extraneous details; what is taken from articles should promote the goals of the paper)

Is the coverage correct? (as best as you can tell)

Is there are sufficient body of literature covered?

Syntax (10 points STRICTLY for writing; poor syntax that detracts from other aspects may be deducted elsewhere in addition to these 10 points)

Is the paper free from grammatical and spelling errors?

Is the paper elegantly written? (bonus!)

References (10 points STRICTLY for this; picking poor references may detract from other aspects of the paper in addition to these points -- e.g., picking articles that aren't relevant to social psychology)

Are references properly cited throughout the text? (e.g., ideas that should be cited are, proper parenthetical citations are used, page numbers are provided for quotes, quotes used sparingly and appropriately, "as cited" references used only when essential/kept to bare minimum)

Are the references APA style?

Are there at least 7 references total?

Are there at least 5 references that come from the approved journals?

Presentation points may be counted here too

Something to say/Creativity (10 points)

Does the paper generate new ideas (good!)

Is the paper interesting?

Is the paper creative?

Term paper points - "Next Chapter" Option

Topic (10 points)

Is this a paper that couldn't be written without the field of social psychology? (good!)

Is this a paper that would fit better as a term paper for another course (bad!)

Does the paper reflect a knowledge of social psychology?

Has the student developed some expertise on a topic within social psychology?

Plan for research (20 points)

Is it clear what the question being posed is?

Is there a good research question being posed? Is it interesting, not trivial, worth testing?

Could this study feasibly be run? (assume generous resources)

Is it clear who the subjects would be?

Is the procedure detailed in such a way that you could follow it?

Would it be possible to analyze the data to find the answer that is being posed? (e.g., watch out for a paper proposing t-test type results -- Group A will be higher than Group B -- with a categorical dep var)

Is it clear what results are expected and why? (competing hypotheses with accompanying expected results are fine, as long as the results are justified)