The Forensic Psychology Booklet

Potential students often look for guidance regarding the programs that they are considering. You are a program assistant at a local university. You have been asked by your department chair (psychology) to create a booklet about the field of forensic psychology for potential students. This booklet will be given out at information sessions and will be sent to students requesting more information. The department chair asks you to create this booklet with the undecided student in mind, remembering that while you don’t want to scare students away, you also want to be truthful about the field. She asks for the following information to be included:

The Forensic Psychology Booklet

• A description of the educational levels required and recommended (i.e. what can a MA level forensic psychologist do, versus a Doctorate level professional). Different roles that a forensic psychologist can take. This can include roles in the court and out as well as research possibilities. (2 pages)
• A discussion of each of the following and discuss why is it important that all forensic psychologists need to be well-versed in them (3 pages):

• • Case Law
  • Specific Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and why they are important
  • Important past research in the field
  • Diversity issues
  • Ethical considerations

• An analysis of at least three aspects of the American judicial system (such as eyewitness testimony, transfer of juveniles to criminal court, etc.), which are impacted most heavily by psychology and psychological research (3 pages). Be sure to discuss:

• • Three aspects of the American judicial system
  • How psychology has impacted these aspects
  • One research study for each aspect that is considered pivotal, classic or ground breaking in the field.

By Monday, August 15, 2016 deliver your assignment to the M5: Assignment 1 Dropbox.

Your booklet needs to be at least 8 pages long. Because it is an informational booklet, it will not be formatted like a formal paper, but should be professionally and attractively presented. Please remember that all citations should follow APA formatting rules, and the majority of the information should be in a formal academic writing style. However, a minority of the information can be written in bulleted format.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

Assignment 1 Grading Criteria
Maximum Points

Discussed the different roles that a forensic psychologist can take and the educational requirements required for each.
44

Discussed case law and its importance to the work of forensic psychologists.
24

Discussed specific constitutional amendments and their importance to the work of forensic psychologists.
24

Discussed the importance of psychological research to the legal system.
24

Discussed diversity issues specific to the legal system and psychology and their importance to the work of forensic psychologists.
24

Discussed ethical considerations for forensic psychologists as they work in the legal system.
24

Analyzed the first aspect of the American judicial system, how psychology has impacted it, and described one important research study pertaining to it.
24

Analyzed the second aspect of the American judicial system, how psychology has impacted it, and described one important research study pertaining to it.
24

Analyzed the third aspect of the American judicial system, how psychology has impacted it, and described one important research study pertaining to it.
24

Organization (16 points): Introduction, transitions, and conclusion
Style (8 points): Tone, audience, and word choice
Usage and Mechanics (16 points): Grammar, spelling, and sentence structure
APA Elements (24 points): In text citations and references, paraphrasing, and appropriate use of quotations and other elements of style
64

Total:
300

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

• Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
• Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
• One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
• I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

• Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
• In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
• Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
• Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

• Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
• Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
• I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

• I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
• As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
• It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

 

LopesWrite Policy

• For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
• Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
• Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
• Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

• The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
• Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
• If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
• I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
• As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

• Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: 
  • Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
  • Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.

The Forensic Psychology Booklet