Writing to Learn (Disorders)

General Psychology Writing to Learn (W2L) Entry

Course Objective 6: Describe the symptoms and treatment of several categories of psychological disorders.

Course Objective 7: Apply critical thinking skills (e.g. evaluate information quality, distinguish between causation and correlation, adopt multiple perspectives for a given problem).

Course Objective 9: Employ the framework of psychological science (for example: correctly use terminology and concepts and engage in scientific problem solving).

Overview

Psychological research indicates that consistently writing about psychological concepts increases learning and retention of information. In General Psychology you will find many concepts with which you are not yet familiar. Focusing on the information from Chapter 9 (Psychological Disorders), you will submit a short writing entry in which you relate a concept from the chapter to real-world experiences using your own words. You will complete some basic outside research, using the internet (do not use the library database), and compare the information found in an internet search to that which you gained through the reading and lecture for this course. This choice has been provided to encourage you to think more deeply about course concepts that are personally meaningful/interesting to your own life. I hope you find this to be a helpful learning strategy that may be used to learn more concepts in this course and in your other courses.

Instructions

Create a document (save as .doc, .docx, .pdf, or .pages)
State the concept you selected from the chapter at the top of the page. A good way to identify concepts is to go to the “Study Guide” at the end of each chapter in your textbook and select one term from the “Key Terms and Names” section.
Describe/define the concept in your own words. Typically 2-3 sentences but you may write more!
Do an internet search of your concept (not using the Library database), and explain how the top search result explains the topic. Include a citation for the website!
Provide a real-world example of the concept- this can be from your life or something you know or have heard about. Share how the example relates to the concept. Typically one-two paragraphs, but you may write more!
Evaluate the internet source that you used. Did the explanation provided match with the explanation provided by the Hinrichs text? In what ways were they different? Based on these similarities and differences, would you consider your internet source to be a valid source?
Grading

This Discussion Post is worth 10 points. To earn full credit, focus on the following:

State the concept from the chapter and describe/define in your own words (do not copy the definition from your textbook!) (2 points)
Describe how your internet resource described the concept that you chose (2 points)
Include a citation for the internet source you chose (1 point)
Provide a detailed real-world example and share how this example relates to the concept. (2 points)
Evaluation of your internet source, including how well it matched our text/lecture definition and how you would rate it in terms of validity (3 points)
this is the textbook Hinrichs, B.H. (2018). The Science of Psychology (2nd Ed). Minneapolis, MN: Ellipse Publishing ISBN-13: 978-0979012976