SS510-C1 PSYCHOLOGY - Dr. Joseph Culkin

M104 | 718-631-6251 | JCulkin@qcc.cuny.edu

Office Hrs.: Mon. & Tues. 12:00-1:00 p.m.; Wed. 9:00-10:00 a.m.

COURSE OBJECTIVES: This course is designed to provide students with an overview of the major principles and practices in the field of psychology in order to provide students with an understanding of the history and current status of knowledge in the field and to establish a foundation for students to take upper-level electives in psychology.

Note: This course satisfies a Writing Intensive (WI) requirement.

TEXTBOOK: Essentials of Psychology, 3rd ed. by Stephen Franzoi, Atomic Dog, 2008

GRADING: Your final grade is based on the following components:

ATTENDANCE POLICY: Regular attendance is expected and required. College policy states that excessive absence and/or lateness (missing more than 15% of class time) is grounds for a grade penalty. In this class “excessive absence” means 3 or more unexcused absences.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICY

The Department of Social Sciences Academic Integrity Policy adheres to the standards described in the Academic Integrity Policy of Queensborough Community College. Within the framework of the college policy sanctions for violations of academic integrity are left to the discretion of the instructor. Students may appeal sanctions to the department chair who will refer the appeal to a departmental Committee on Academic Integrity for review.

In this class the following policy will be followed:

• 1st Violation results in F for the assignment.
• 2nd Violation results in F for the course and in disciplinary action.

What is a Writing Intensive Class?

The City University of New York Writing Intensive Policy requires that all students at CUNY community colleges must complete two Writing Intensive (WI) classes before graduation. The objective of WI classes is to provide students with opportunities to improve their writing in the context of learning different subjects and to use writing as a vehicle for enhancing the learning of different subjects. In WI classes students are given two kinds of writing assignments:

• “High Stakes” writing assignments are graded, and students have the option of revising.
• “Low Stakes” writing assignments are ungraded, but are counted in the final grade.

High Stakes Writing in this class involves five structured essays (one for each part of the syllabus) focused on brief articles distributed in class. You will be able to revise the essays as often as you like for consideration of a higher grade.

Low Stakes Writing in this class involves drafting sample multiple-choice exam questions for each unit of the syllabus. See separate hand-out for instructions.

Blackboard Website Resources: On the Blackboard site for this class you will find a great deal of information that will help you succeed in the course. The site contains study outlines, lecture notes, practice quizzes, articles, and other relevant documents. Refer to the separate page of instructions for accessing the site.