William K Estes

Order Description
Students will write a paper on a prominent figure in the history of psychology. Figures will be limited to those on a list provided by your Instructor. The paper assignment is divided into three parts: selection of the historical figure; the preliminary reference list; and the final draft of the paper.

General Description of the Assignment

The major objectives of the assignment are to tell a coherent story about the historical figure’s life and career, and to draw specific conclusions about several issues.

Genetic Influence

One of the first sections of the paper requires you to draw conclusions about if (and in what ways) the person’s genetics seemed to have influenced his or her success in the discipline of psychology. (Your knowledge about your subject’s genetics will be limited to accounts about his or her relatives [e.g., educational level, occupation], and socio-economic status.) If, after you’ve done a thorough search of the literature, you can find no evidence for a genetic influence (and no compelling evidence to the contrary), simply explain that.

Social Influence

The second conclusion students will make is if, and how much and in what ways, their subject’s social environment (in their childhood and later) appear to have contributed to the professional achievements (i.e., educational achievement, successful areas of research, and family life) of the historical figure they have chosen. The assumption here is that the figure’s interest in a particular area of research (e.g., Does Conrad Lorenz’ work on imprinting appear to be tied to his childhood experiences?).

Historical Significance

Lastly, the student will argue whether or not the historical figure they wrote about deserves to be considered a major figure in the history of psychology. That is, in general, should the figure be considered noteworthy, not really noteworthy (they deserve little or no attention in the history of psychology), or somewhere in between?

These things said, it is possible that the student’s library research will not support some (or all) of the possible connections between the factors described above and their subject’s success and major lines of research. In that case, the student will present their rationale for drawing each of their conclusions.

Use of Quotes

Avoid the overuse of quotations, especially block quotes. Almost all of the information used from your references should be paraphrased (put into your own words [and of course include a citation of the source of the information]).

Only include quotations when the statement is of great importance and said extremely well (i.e., if you were writing about Abraham Lincoln including at least several quotes would likely be essential). almost all of the information used from your references should be paraphrased (and of course include a citation of the source of the information). Papers may be submitted to Turnitin.com (via Blackboard) up to five times to help students improve their ability to paraphrase.

Requirements

The paper will be written in American Psychological Association (APA) style (see links below for helpful information on APA style). As noted above, the overall paper assignment will consist of three parts. The first part is the submission (and approval) of a subject/historical figure. The second part is submission of a Preliminary Reference List. The list must include at least 12 sources. Acceptable sources are published books, book chapters, refereed journal articles, and/ or legitimate websites (see Appendix B for details). The second part of the assignment is the paper itself. The paper will be double-spaced and in 12 point type. Papers should consist of 7 to 10 pages of text (running over a few pages is acceptable, as long as the paper is not “padded” with information that is not particularly important. See Appendix C for more details.

Sources of Information

Different sections of the paper will require information from different types of sources (see Appendix B). For instance, some sections will require historical information about the life of the person (most likely written by others). Other sections require the student to gather information from the person’s published research (e.g., journal articles, books, book chapters). Most of the sources used for the paper should be refereed journals, books and book chapters; however, biographies and autobiographies are also acceptable sources.

Information used for the paper must be from reliable sources. As you know there is much questionable information on the internet (e.g., you or I could set-up a website and publish very authoritative information about nuclear physics [regardless of how much we actually know about the subject]). The point is, be very careful when choosing sources of information on the internet. Our Librarians (and your instructor) can be very helpful in assisting students in separating out reliable from questionable on-line sources of information.

On-line APA Style Resources
https://www.apastyle.org/
https://www.apastyle.org/learn/tutorials/basics-tutorial.aspx;
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

Approved On-line Resources
The American Psychological Association (APA)
The Association for Psychological Science (APS)
PBS-Science Odyssey/Human Behavior
History of Psychology Archives
Classics in the History of Psychology
Archives of the History of American Psychology

Refereed Journals that may be Particularly Helpful Writing the Assignment

History of Psychology
Journal of the History of the Social and Behavioral Sciences