The Psychology of Adjustment as a Roadmap to Graduation

Your College Success Plan: the Psychology of Adjustment as a Roadmap to Graduation
 
 In this paper you will be discussing different ways in which the basic principles of the psychology of adjustment covered in this course can be of help to developing and implementing your own College Success Plan.
Section I of your Paper:
Begin your paper with a few paragraphs that discuss at least four of your biggest challenges that concern you in terms of possible interferences in your ability to make it to graduation.  For each of those four challenges, discuss the ways in which that challenge developed and the range of variables/factors in your life at this point that make each challenge problematic or stressful.
Research Preparation to Write Section II of your Paper:
Before writing the rest of the paper, do some research about how to proceed with developing your College Success Plan by reviewing all of the material covered in the course whether in the assigned readings or in the powerpoints and pick out different psychological principles from that material that you relate to and that you can use to help you overcome the challenges that you noted at the beginning of the paper.  You will be expected to mention in your paper at least 7 different psychological principles that were covered in the course so make sure that before you start writing your paper that you have made up a list of those 7 principles that might be able to help you overcome your challenges.
Section II of your Paper:
After your introductory section on your challenges that you have identified, then in the second section of the paper you will be describing your College Success Plan that discusses changes that you plan to make beginning with the next quarter that will keep you on a steady path to college graduation.   As you write up your plan make sure that you refer specifically to psychological principles that you identified in your research that you plan to use to help you stay on that path.  Your College Success Plan should minimally address ways you plan to overcome the four major challenges you identified in the paper.  It should take you several paragraphs to describe your College Success Plan. 
Section III of your Paper:  Outline Summary of Your College Success Plan
1. List the 4 challenges that you have identified as possible barriers to your path to graduation.  List any additional challenges that you also addressed in the paper.
2. Summarize in outline form your College Success Plan that lists step by step what you plan to do next quarter to implement your Plan.
Section IV: Footnotes for your Paper:
The first time you mention in your paper a reference to a given psychological principle discussed in this course, please put a footnote number at the end of the phrase or sentence that mentions the principle.  Then develop a list of footnote explanations at the end of your paper.   So for example, if you are going to commit to a new plan to increase the quantity and quality of your sleep in order to increase your energy and alertness for studying, then in the paper after you mention sleep hygiene strategies (1) you should put a footnote number in parentheses as I have done in this sentence.  At the end of the paper, create a footnote section that lists all the footnote numbers with explanations for the location of the resource (article or powerpoint) where that psychological principle is mentioned.   Since you are expected to mention in your paper at least 7 psychological principles then your footnote section will have at least 7 footnote explanations.  If you mention more than 7 psychological principles, be sure you have included explanations for all of the footnotes in the footnotes section. 
                                                                        Footnotes
1. Stress Management PowerPoint Slides2. Article on Perfectionism
Format, Specifications and Submission Deadline for the Paper:
1. The paper needs to be at least 800 words.  This is the equivalent of about 3 pages, typed and double-spaced with a 12 point font, with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. Put your name at the top of each page. 
3. At the beginning of each section of the paper, label each section as Section I, Section II, Section III and Section IV and make sure the content of each section matches the instructions for each section I noted above. 
4. At the end of the paper, type in the word count. 
5. Submit this paper to me at the beginning of our September 1st class which is Week 13. There will be a 15-point penalty for any paper received after the September 1st deadline and no papers will be accepted for grading after Tuesday, September 6.   
Grading Criteria:
A paper earning a grade in the 90 to 92 range out of 100 points will:
1) Did a satisfactory job of discussing in detail 4 of your challenges that concern you about progressing to graduation - discussed the ways in which each challenge developed and the range of variables/factors in your life at this point that make each challenge problematic or stressful.
2) Mentioned in your College Success Plan at least 7 psychological principles covered in the course
3) Provided explanations for all of your footnotes to identify the source of each of the psychological principles mentioned
4) Followed all of the instructions in terms of what should be covered in each of the four sections of the paper.
5) Your paper was easy to read without a lot of significant writing problems
6) Your paper was at least 800 words in length.
A grade of 94 plus will be reserved for papers that go above and beyond the assignment (such as mentioning more than 7 psychological principles or discussing more than four challenges, etc.)