MTSU Department of Psychology

Information About Written Reports (for PSY 1410 students)

The last day to participate or turn in a written report is Monday November 18, 2024 by 11:59 pm (central time zone)

What is a Written Report

If you choose not to participate in research or are less than 18 years of age, you may fulfill your research credit requirement by reading one of the assigned research papers and answering a set of questions on the written report form. Answers must be typed, clearly written, using complete grammatical sentences (see below for grading guidelines). This exercise is designed to take approximately 2.5 hours (the same amount of time as research participation).

Who Must do a Written Report

If you choose not to participate in research
If you are less than 18 years of age
If you cannot find enough credits through studies

How to do a Written Report

To obtain full credit you must first choose and read one article from these three:

Bearden, A. G., Turnbull, B., Wallace, C., Prosser, S., & Vincent, A. (2024). The effects of a course‐based mindfulness intervention on college student perfectionism, stress, anxiety, self‐compassion, and social connectedness. Psychology in the Schools, 61(7), 2893-2911. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.23201
Kassie R. Terrell, Bridget R. Stanton, Hanadi Y. Hamadi, Julie W. Merten, & Nathan Quinn. (2024). Exploring Life Stressors, Depression, and Coping Strategies in College Students. Journal of American College Health, 72(3), 923–932. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2022.2061311
Robbins, M. M., Brown, K. G., Marks, A., & Ransbotham, E. M. (2024). Emotional intelligence moderates the stress-depression link in college students before and during COVID. Current Psychology, 43(19), 17854-17865–17865. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-05178-9
Free copies of the articles are available on the library’s e-reserve system. Here are instructions on how to access the e-reserves.
You must use the Written Report Form F2023
Answers must be typed, clearly written, using complete grammatical sentences (see below for grading guidelines). This exercise is designed to take approximately 2 hours (the same amount of time as research participation).
File format. Please turn in your work in .docx format or as a .pdf file (we prefer .docx). We cannot read files in .pages format — files written in pages format will be returned ungraded but may be resubmitted before the deadline in .docx format.

How to Turn in the Report

Send your written report as an email attachment to Research.Pool@mtsu.edu by Monday, November 18 (even if your class does not meet on Mondays). Please also send a copy of the submission email to your instructor. The graduate assistant in charge of grading and assigning research credits will receive your report. Your credits will then be listed with those of students participating in research on the MTSU Study Sign-Up System.

Did the Instructor get notified of my report?

Your instructor will be given a list of student credits. You can check your record (on the Sona system) to be sure you received proper credit. There is typically a one to two week delay between when you turn in a report and when your credit will be reported to your instructor.

Guidelines Used to Assign Full or Partial Credit

Full Credit (5 points)	The report has been completed thoroughly, with responses demonstrating that the student carefully read the article and answered all the questions correctly. No more than one quoted sentence is included. Questions are answered using complete, grammatically correct sentences.
Partial Credit (4 points)	Most answers (at least 4) were completed thoroughly, while some were incomplete, or contained spelling and grammatical errors. No more than 2 quoted sentences are included.
Partial Credit (3 points)	At least 3 answers were completed thoroughly, while ½ (3 answers) were incomplete, or contained spelling and grammatical errors. No more than 2 quoted sentences are included.
Partial Credit (2 points)	Answers provide little evidence of student effort and/or indicate that the student did not completely read the article (e.g., minimal and incomplete sentences resulting in incomplete answers, fewer than 3 questions completed thoroughly). Work contains multiple spelling and grammatical errors. No more than 3 quoted sentences are included.
Patrial Credit (1 point)	Same as partial credit for 2 points, but some questions are left unanswered by the student.  Work contains multiple spelling and grammatical errors. Four or more quoted sentences are included.
No Credit (0 points)	ANY evidence of plagiarism (copying more than three words in a row from the original article) will result in a zero for the entire report. Copying answers from another student also is considered plagiarism and will result in a zero on both students’ reports.  Any use of AI generated answers will also result in a zero for the entire report.