psychology essay
The advice below is just a reminder of the coursework 2 essay requirements, following from the information originally given in the lectures and in the seminar on coursework 2.
In what follows I am going to provide some structured advice about what you need to do for the Coursework 2 essay (the title of which has already been posted in this section). 1. I want you to engage in INDEPENDENT research and reading for this essay – see this as an opportunity for you to research relevant articles, read them, and present an essay built around them in a way that shows your CREATIVE reading of those sources. 2. I want to define the topic areas for 21st Century life as follows;
Some major challenges of life in the 21st Century are likely to centre around;
Globalization.
An Increasingly Ageing Population.
War and Peace (including the war on Terror).
Advancing Human Health in Mind, Body and Spirit.
3. I want you to pick ONE or TWO of those four topics (no more than two though) as the basis for considering the relevance of Academic AND Applied Psychology to those particular challenges. N.B. Before setting these as the potential topics I did some basic research myself and I can assure you that each topic has easily accessible and psychologically relevant research relating to it. Indeed I was surprised to see how much there was in certain cases.
4. Some of you have already wondered which lectures on the module are relevant to this essay – the straight answer is that ALL of the lectures delivered thus far are potentially relevant, although NONE of them is directly relevant. However, I will be looking for you to find out how psychologists have dealt with your chosen challenges, and then also creatively discuss how things you have learned on the module might be of relevance to what those psychologists have done (on globalization, ageing, War and Peace, Human Health). The ‘world’ of 120PY lectures is YOUR Oyster with this essay!
5. It is possible that you will choose just two topics but find yourself being more interested in just one of those topics – then feel free to write about just that one.
6. I would expect you – at least – to find 4-5 GOOD articles, journal papers, or books if you pick ONE topic to write about, and at least 2-3 each if you pick TWO topics to write about.
7. We have a seminar scheduled for essay 2 guidance well before the submission date – I would like you to have written a fairly good plan of your essay outline by that seminar. Feel free to bring your articles etc. to that session to show your tutor. The tutors can then see that you are on the right track with things, or give general advice about how to get on the right track. Remember neither your tutors nor I will be experts on the content of your essay – we will be able to help you out with planning, ideas, confusions, referencing, and on whether your sources are good or lacking in scholarly repute.