Educational Psychology

FORMAT REQUIREMENTS

Reports must follow a specific format consisting of a title page, table of contents, minimum and maximum length, numbered pages, etc… The instructions and requirements for writing reports are not open to discussion. They correspond to the careful and pedagogical home study plan of distance learning higher education, in order to maximize your capacity of online learning, and to facilitate academic work assessment.

Each report should be written in English. Font size 10 or 12 for the body of the paper. Headings and subtitles do not have any format restrictions.

REPORT STRUCTURE

The reports length ranges between 25 pages (minimum) and 35 pages (maximum). Your report may not be accepted if the length limits are not respected. Students have to understand that the length limitations set forth for an important purpose. Fitting the report’s content within these limits oblige the student to process the book’s information several times. In certain cases, a summary reaches the maximum number of pages allowed, and needs to be synthesized again; in other cases, the key concepts need to be further developed to meet the minimum number of pages. Either way, the active processing of the assigned textbook information, to meet the report requirements, will definitely consolidate the knowledge, without the need of excessive memory effort. 

A report that exceeds the length limits will not be accepted. The report will have to rewritten until the format requirements are met.

FRONT PAGE

The front page should include the students first and last name, degree program and field of study, title of the book, and date. The students signature and the following statement must appear on the front page.

TABLE OF CONTENTS – KEY CONCEPTS

Include a table of contents detailing the structure of the report and listing its main concepts or key ideas. This index should not be over three pages long. Pages should be numbered and clearly referred to this index.

ANALYTIC SUMMARY

A comprehensive synopsis about the assigned textbook has to be developed according to the organization and hierarchy established by the table of contents. This summary should range from 15 to 20 pages.

CASE STUDIES OR CONCLUSION

Depending on the topic, case studies or personal conclusion, or both, should be included in the report. This part should range from 5 to 10 pages.

* Case studies: One to three case studies from the assigned textbook have to be critically analyzed by the student. Depending on his/her own preference, a student may choose one single complex case study with several interrelated issues, or three simple ones. 

* Conclusion: The student is encouraged to provide his own solution or opinion based, not only on the principles learned from the textbook, but also on his/her own criteria, such as personal conclusions, or the application of the theoretical concepts to his/her profession.

CRITICAL THINKING

The report mostly consists of a summary of each of the textbooks studied, but it should demonstrate much more than the student’s synthesis skills. The report has to reveal the student’s level of understanding and knowledge. For this reason, the student is encouraged to add his/her own comments, thoughts, or opinions (good or bad) about the book contents. Reference to the cases studied and professional experience provide good illustrations of the application of the concepts learned. Any personal conclusion, or demonstration of knowledge applicability, will be highly valued. 

The report must always be elaborated in full written form; an outline will not be accepted. The only section that will be accepted in outline format is the table of contents.

Do not copy and paste content. Try to elaborate the full report using your own words and writing style. Note that 1/3 of the final grade is allocated to personal quality thinking, which is mostly evaluated from your case studies, conclusion, and your writing style.

HOW TO DO THE REPORT?

We suggest that first you do a quick reading of the assigned textbook. Check the table of contents, chapter’s introduction and other interesting parts. Take notes of the key concepts resulting from this preliminary quick review. The goal is to familiarize yourself with the book. Once the review is concluded, start with the comprehensive reading of the textbook. At the same time, do mark relevant paragraphs, and take your own notes about the reading. Once you finish the analytic reading, you will have an extensive written summary of the book, resulting from your notes. Use these notes, organized according to the key concepts of the subject, to write your final report.

A FINAL REPORT 

The student has to submit for evaluation a report ranging from 25 to 35 pages that must integrate in a harmonic way the previously described steps: the table of contents, the analytic summary, and the practical application of the knowledge learned, in the form of case studies or conclusion. In order to elaborate a good report, it might be necessary to re-write the work to match the format and length requirements, and to improve the writing style, content flow, and continuity.

The use of figures and/or tables is encouraged. 

In addition to including a final reflection section, as a researcher, based on the conclusions or limits or proposals for future lines of research, which contribute greater quality to the content, as well as forming part of the format of large research projects.