Psychology
Psych 105: Plagiarism Assignment
Your Completed Assignment MUST Include:
1) A printed certificate indicating co mpletion of the plagiarism test.
2) A 2 page typed (12 point font) write-up for Part s 1 & 2 (see below), including the URL for the
plagiarism site and complete references for your TWO articles presented in APA editorial
style (See APA Referencing Handout and tuto rial posted in Angel for guidance on APA
editorial style).
3) A hard copy of the article from your initial search in Part 2. (NOTE: Attach the entire article,
NOT just the abstract!)
4) A copy of the grading rubric (found at the end of this assignment).
This assignment will focus on increasing information literacy related to the research process in psychology.
There are two parts to this assignment.
PART 1: UNDERSTANDING & AVIOIDING PLAGIARISM
Background: Intellectual honesty is an important aspect of the scientific process. Plagiarism threatens
intellectual honesty. It also violates WSU Academic Integr ity standards. Part I of this assignment is designed to
help you better understand what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it.
Activity: Complete the “How to Recognize Pl agiarism” tutorial from Indiana University at the following link
( https://www.indiana.edu/~istd/). Once you have completed all parts of the tutorial, take the certification test.
If you pass the test, you will qualify for a certificate which will be sent to the email account you use when
registering for the test. Print your completion certificate an d submit it with your assignment.
NOTE: The plagiarism test is NOT an easy test . It is, however, an exce llent measure of how well you
truly understand what is means to plagiarize a source. The length and questions of the test will vary
with each attempt. You may need to take the test more than once to earn a certificate. For these reasons,
you should complete the tutorial before attempting the test and consider co mpleting at least one of
practice test to receive feedback on your performance before attemp ting the certification test. You may
re-take the certification test as many times as you need to earn a certificate.
Be sure to print the email with your certificate and submit it with your assignment to earn credit for this
component of the assignment.
Write-up: Once you have completed the IU certificate, please write a brief (one paragraph) description of what
you learned about plagiarism, and how to avoid it, as a result of completing the tutorial and the quiz. Your
description should demonstrate both your understanding of what constitutes plagiarism and specific information
about how to avoid plagiarism.
PART 2: USING PsycINFO TO FIND PEER-REVIEWED RESEARCH ARTICLES
Background: Another important part of the scientific process i nvolves finding and reading existing research on
a topic of interest. Part 2 of this assignment will introduce you to the database PsycINFO and how you can use
it to search for peer-reviewed ar ticles in psychology journals.
Activity: Use the PowerPoint tutorial posted in Angel to learn how to navigate th e ProQuest PsycINFO database
through the WSU library system. Choose a psychological topic that interest s you. This topic can be from the
chapters covered thus far in the course or other topi cs within psychology. Use PsycINFO to search for recent
peer-reviewed journal articles on this topic. The database can help you find other types of resources (e.g.,
books, dissertation abstracts, articles published in non-peer-reviewed journa ls, etc.), but you should limit your
search to articles from peer-reviewed journals. Spend some time trying the different search and limit options
within PsycINFO. Take notes as you search to keep track of your process and steps.
Select one article you think will be relevant to your interest s and find that article at WSU . You will need to
provide a copy of this article with your assignment. Print the full article.
Once you have selected and accessed your article, look at the reference list at the end of the article. The
reference list includes information about every source cited in an article. Often times, one article can be useful
in finding addition references about your topic of interest. Use the PsychINFO database and/or the WSU
Citation Linker Service to access one of the articles listed in the reference list. Again, take notes on your
process. You do not need to turn in a copy of this second article, but you will need the reference information
and information about where it can be found through the WSU library.
Write-up: Write up a brief description (1 paragraph) of your search process for the first article, including
identification and explanation of you r initial psychological to pic, the key terms you used in your search, how
you limited the search, how many options you found, how lim iting the search changed the number of options,
etc., and how you selected the specific article.
Read the journal article and briefly describe how this article contributes to your unde rstanding of the topic you
chose. You should clearly articulate how this individual research study addresses the psychological
question/topic and how psychology relates to “real world” issues. Make sure to use your own words (DO NOT
copy directly from the article). Properly cite the article in your discussion.
In addition, you should write a brief desc ription of the process you used to find one of the articles from the
reference list of the first article. Be sure to in clude where to find a hard copy at WSU.
Finally, provide complete reference information for both articles, in proper APA editorial style. A tutorial
PowerPoint presentation about APA reference and citation formats (adapted from the Office of Teaching
Resources in Psychology) and an APA Referencing Handout are provided in Angel to help you. You may also
consult the library and the WSU Writing Center. Finally, the Purdue Online Writing Center (OWL) is an
excellent online resource on APA editorial style. It can be found at
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/.
REMEMBER : Your write-up should consist of complete, understandable sentences with proper grammar,
punctuation, and spelling. Clearly label your work following the example given above. Carefully proof-read
your paper before submitting it to avoid losing points.
Psych 105: Plagiarism Assignment
Grading Rubric
ATTENTION STUDENT: The following is the grading rubric that will be used to evaluate this assignment.
You MUST print this rubric and staple it to your assi gnment for use during grading.
PART I:
______ (1.5 pts) Certificate confirms plagiari sm test was taken and passed.
______ (1.5 pts) Write-up (i.e., explains what the student learned about plagiarism and how to
avoid it).
PART II:
______ (1 pt) Provides a copy of the article.
______ (1 pt) Complete description of search process for first article.
______ (1 pt) Complete summary of article describing how it contributes to one’s
understanding of the topic.
______ (1 pt) Complete description of the s earch process for finding ONE article from the
reference list.
______ (1 pt) Complete reference information for both articles in APA format.
OVERALL :
______ (2 pts) Quality of the write-up (grammatica lly correct; sentences flow naturally)
Was the assignment late? _________
(1 pt deduction per/day including the due date if assignment was submitted after the beginning of class)
POINT TOTAL: ______ pts/10 possible points.