Format, due date

Assignment

You are the psychology and neuroscience correspondent for an international news service. Your job is to scan the popular and scientific press for recent findings in psychology and neuroscience and to describe them to a general audience in a succinct and thoughtful way.

Choose two articles from the popular or scientific press on the same issue or recent finding of relevance to the biology of behavior. You may find appropriate articles in general interest magazines such as Time, The Economist, in a newspaper such as The New York Times, in general science publications such as Scientific American, The American Scientist, Science News, or Discover, or scientific journals such as Science, Nature, Current Directions in Psychological Science, etc. Summarize and discuss the main points of the articles as follows:

  1. In an introductory paragraph or two, describe the main purposes and findings of the research reported on in the articles. Remember the strategy that good reporters use: Who did what to whom, when and how did they do it, and why?
  2. In another paragraph or two, discuss what is known about the neural mechanisms underlying the behavior in question, what are the strengths and weaknesses of the approach to studying the biology of behavior undertaken by the investigators you are writing about, and how the current results expand or alter our knowledge about the topic.
  3. In a concluding paragraph, discuss why the new discovery or issue covered in the article is important and interesting, and what questions about the topic remain to be answered. In other words, why should a general audience care about this topic, and what do we still need to know?
  4. If your non-textbook references are unavailable online, submit printed paper copies.
  5. Your paper should be about three to five pages in length, using double-spacing, margins no smaller than 1" and a 12 point typeface. This is approximately 500-1,000 words.
  6. THE TA OR I WILL BE HAPPY TO DISCUSS POSSIBLE ARTICLES AND TOPICS WITH YOU.

How to submit

Send an email to Dr. Gilmore and the TA. Attach your paper with the message.

Sources

You may use your textbook or other reference materials as additional resources. When mentioning a finding that appears in your textbook or another source, please cite the source using the APA Publication Manual format — e.g. (Gilmore & Cohen, 2003). If you use sources other than your textbook, provide a full bibliographic reference at the end of your paper.

Tips for success

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