Psyc 890 005 or
Psyc 592 008
DBS Professional
Seminar
Course Syllabus -
Fall 2003
Dr. Adam Winsler
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Instructor: Adam Winsler, Ph.D. Office: 2023 David King Hall
Phone: (703) 993-1881 Office Hours: Mon 10:30-11:30, Thur 1-2 + by appt.
Email: awinsler@gmu.edu Winsler URL: http://classweb.gmu.edu/awinsler
Course Schedule MW 11:30–12:20 Location: DK 1005
Credit Hours: 2
Course Description & Goals
The overarching goals for this course are to (a) develop the practical knowledge, skills, and attitudes most needed for DBS graduate students to maximize their Ph.D. or MA program experience here, (b) facilitate the professional/career development of graduate students, (c) help prepare students for academic and non-academic job searching post graduate school, (d) provide an opportunity for graduate students to organize and direct the DBS brown-bag colloquia speaker series, (e) to improve students’ interpersonal, written, and oral communication skills, and (e) provide a supportive cohort/group for facilitating each other's progress throughout graduate school and beyond.
Required Reading
Main text (at bookstore)
Darly,
J.M., Zanna, M.P., & Roediger, H.L. (2004). The compleat academic: A
career guide (2nd
Edition). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Other articles/handouts - Made available in advance
somehow.
Fine,
M.A., & Kurdek, L.A. (1993). Reflections on determining authorship credit
and authorship order on faculty-student collaborations. American
Psychologist, 48, 1141-1147.
Kenny,
P. (1992). A handbook of public speaking for scientists and engineers. Bristol, UK: U.W. Arrowsmith. (pp. 14-37 –
preparation of material, presentation)
Oetting,
E.R. (1992). Ten fatal mistakes in grant writing. In A.E. Kazdin (Ed.). Methodological
issues and strategies in clinical research (pp. 739-748). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Smith,
D. (2003a). Five principles for research ethics. APA Monitor, 34, (1), 56-60.
Smith,
D. (2003b). What you need to know about the new code. APA Monitor, 34, (1), 62-65. Available online at
American Psychological
Association (2001). Publication manual (5th Ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Course
Requirements/Assignments/Activities
1) In-Class Participation. This is a small graduate seminar course that
requires active discussion and contribution from each member of the class. The
course will be enhanced greatly if we can all benefit from each individual
student's ideas, questions, suggestions, and expertise.
2) On-line Discussion. We will be using WebCT to facilitate our discussion
both inside and outside of class this semester. Students are encouraged to post
whatever questions, answers, tips, issues, problems, suggestions, whatever, as
often as they like throughout the semester. In addition to this voluntary usage
of this resource, however, students are required to contribute at least 10
substantive (not just “What’s up?”) and timely (related to
the topic of the week) entries/posts to the discussion throughout the semester.
The earlier the post comes in the (course) week, the better chance we will have
for responses and discussion before and during class -- so please post these as
soon after the previous class as possible.
The
course website is located at: http://webct38.gmu.edu
You will log into this with your own individual MyWebCT account, and from there
access the Psyc 890/592 WebCT page. To do this, simply enter the URL above in
any browser, click on LOG ON TO MYWEBCT, and enter your mason user account (the
first part of your mason email address, e.g. jsmith5) as your login ID, and the
last four digits of your social security number as your password. Then change
your password to something you like/will remember by going up to password
settings at the top. Please have this done by Wednesday Aug 27.
3) Readings
- Students are required to read (before class) any texts that may be assigned
for that week.
4) Course Project – Resource guide for new students – It is the tradition of this course for the
students to revise the New Student Resource Guide that we give out to new DBS
doctoral students each year. Each student will pick one or two of the topics
from the guide and be responsible for updating the information in those
sections. Students can turn in their materials earlier to Dr. Winsler, but they
are required to do so by Dec. 1 in class.
5) Homeworks/Assignments - The
following small assignments/activities will also occur:
a. Literature Searching Assignment. Students will
conduct a thorough literature search on a topic of their choice using
PsychInfo, Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), and one other electronic
database of their choice. Student will turn in a summary of their results using
a variety of different search terms, showing which terms and combination of
terms yielded which results (number of raw hits and final # of screened good
references), and a listing of the final screened full references found to be relevant
to their topic. (Due Wed Sept 17)
b. CV. Students will turn in an updated version of
their CV for comments/suggestions. (Due Wed Sept 24)
c. Ethics Scenario. Students will turn in a brief
(1-2 page) scenario in which some kind of ethical question/problem/dilemma is
present in a context of relevance to a student, professor, researcher, or
professional/applied psychologist. The problem should clearly lead to a
question about what a person should do in that situation and spell out a few
options. The answer (what the person should actually do) is not needed. (Due Mon Sept 29)
d. Paper for Review/Critique. Students will find
an already existing paper that they have written on something (preferably a
genre close to something a graduate student or faculty member might write) to turn
in to me to give to another classmate for that student to review and provide a
friendly, supportive critique (written comments in a separate document and
mark-ups on the document itself). Then students will revise their paper on the
basis of the comments given and turn in the revised paper to the instructor.
(Paper due Mon Oct 27, Review/Critique due Mon Nov 3, Revised paper due Mon Nov
10).
e. Oral Presentation with Feedback. Student will
prepare a formal (visual aids, handout etc…) 10 minute presentation to
the rest of the class on some sort of research topic (can be a project they
have worked on or a summary of someone else’s study). Students must bring
in a blank videotape for their presentation to be recorded on and returned to
the student for self-review.
Students will provide sensitive written feedback to each other. Students
will informally summarize and give to the instructor the main lessons learned
from this activity (things they need to work when presenting etc…) (Nov
17 and Nov 24)
As seen above, students will
develop skills (if skills are not there already) using a web-based tool for
electronic course communication (WebCT) in the form of an asynchronous
unmoderated discussion. The course will also ensure that students are familiar
with a) searching professional bibliographic databases for finding published
scholarly literature, and b) using the WWW to access potentially useful web
links for graduate students.
Grades for this course will
be on a satisfactory/no credit basis. In order to receive a satisfactory pass,
students will need to complete requirements above and any homework assignments
that may be assigned.
Accommodation for
Students with Disabilities
It is the policy of the
University and this instructor to make reasonable accommodations for qualified
individuals with disabilities. Students who may have special needs because of a
physical or learning disability are encouraged to contact the Disability
Resource Center ASAP (222 Student Union I) 993-2474 http://www.gmu.edu/student/drc/ Students with disabilities who are in
need of accommodation relative to class attendance/arrival, course
requirements, or related aspects of course performance and who have already
processed the necessary paperwork with Disability Support Services must
initiate such a request in writing immediately, and prior to any anticipated
need, to the instructor. Such requests will be accommodated within the reasonable
constraints of fairness and timeliness with regard to the instructor and the
other students enrolled in the course.
|
Date |
Topic(s) |
Reading/Assignment |
|
Monday Aug 25 |
• Introductions • Overview of Course |
|
|
Wednesday Aug 27 |
Surviving, no, Thriving in Grad School - General Advice, Tricks,
& Tips |
• WebCT Account Set Up • Bring Grad Student Guide
(Blue book) |
|
Mon. Sept 1 |
LABOR DAY – NO CLASS |
|
|
Wednesday Sept. 3 |
Planning Session for Colloquia (New and Returning Students) |
|
|
Monday Sept 8 |
Internet/Technology/Software Resources for Graduate Students |
|
|
Wednesday Sept. 10 |
|
|
|
Monday Sept 15 |
Literature and Measure Searching: - Databases, Resources, and Strategies |
|
|
Wednesday Sept. 17 |
|
Lit Search Assignment Due |
|
Monday Sept 22 |
• Curriculum Vitae (CV) and Resumés • CV Building – Things you can do now |
Darley et al. (Ch. 1) |
|
Wednesday Sept. 24 |
CV Due |
|
|
Monday Sept 29 |
Ethical Issues for Researchers and Applied Psychologists |
• Ethics Codes & Articles • Darley et al. (Ch. 11) Ethics Scenario Due |
|
Wednesday Oct. 1 |
Brown Bag
Colloquium Sandy Sanford Assistant
Director of Research Compliance Office of
Sponsored Programs “Preparing
for Institutional Review Board (IRB) Submission” (Human and Animal Subjects) |
|
|
Monday Oct 6 |
• Interpersonal Communication • Impression/Reputation Management |
|
|
Wednesday Oct. 8 |
|
|
|
Tuesday Oct 14 |
Publishing, and Presenting at Conferences |
Fine & Kurdek (1993) |
|
Wednesday Oct. 15 |
|
|
|
Monday Oct 20 |
• Getting Funding for Student Research/Travel • Writing Grant Proposals |
• Darley et al. (Ch’s 8, 9) • Oetting (1992) |
|
Wednesday Oct. 22 |
|
|
|
Monday Oct 27 |
Writing, Reviewing, and Revising Papers |
|
|
Wednesday Oct. 29 |
|
|
|
Monday Nov 3 |
• TA’ing and Teaching Tips/Issues • Tips for Oral Presentations |
Darley et al. (Ch. 5) Kenny (1992) Review/Critique Due |
|
Wednesday Nov 5 |
|
|
|
Monday Nov 10 |
• Graduate Program Progress - Program of Study, Annual Evaluations - Advising/Mentoring Issues - Internships/Practica/Thesis |
|
|
Wednesday Nov 12 |
(TBA - Student
Oral Presentations?) |
|
|
Monday Nov 17 |
Student Oral Presentations |
Oral Presentation & Feedback to students |
|
Wednesday Nov 19 |
Brown Bag
Colloquium: Dr. Steven Schiff |
|
|
Monday Nov 24 |
Student Oral Presentations |
Oral Presentation & |
|
Wednesday Nov 26 |
NO CLASS –
THANKSGIVING BREAK |
|
|
Monday Dec 1 |
• Now What? - Career Options & Paths |
Darley et al. (Ch’s 2,3,4) Materials Due for New Student Resource Guide |
|
Friday Dec 3 |
|
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Name ___________________________________________
SS# ___________________________________________
Program/Year __________________________________________
(i.e., MA, 1st year)
Phone Number(s) ___________________________________________
___________________________________________
Primary Email Address ___________________________________________
GMU (Mason) Username ___________________________________________
(i.e., awinsler)