The full instruction is in the upload files in pdf format.
The book is going to be Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman.
I read the summary but it was interesting how the author said conscious thought has a small impact on one’s life and most of one’s behaviors are driven by the unconscious mind.
The word limit has to be 200 words or less, my professor is very strict about it.
Psyc 320: Book report assignment
In the book report assignments, I would like you to read the following books and write
short commentaries (200 words limit). Your commentary should not be just a summary of the book. Rather, I would like to see your own opinions and ideas. You can get the books at the course reserve (Media Lib). For the deadline, submission procedure, and evaluation criteria, please read the separate sheet posted on the class website.
Book report 1: read the following book carefully, and write a short report (no more than 200 words, single space, 1 inch margin, 12 points Times New Roman)
Blink: The Power of Thinking without thinking (by Malcolm Gladwell, Back Bay Books)
Book report 2: read the following book carefully, and write a short report (no more than 200 words, single space, 1 inch margin, 12 points Times New Roman)
Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain (by David Eagleman, Vintage)
Book report 3: read the following book carefully, and write a short book report (no more than 200 words, single space, 1 inch margin, 12 points Times New Roman)
The power of habit: Why we do what we do in life and business (by Charles Duhigg; Random House)
Deadline and submission procedure
For the Deadline and submission procedure
Under the “Book Report” Module, you will find the instructions for all of the book report assignments, and the assignment submission pages for each book report. To submit your assignment, click on “Book Report #1”, click “Submit Assignment,” and scroll down to the bottom of the page to enter your report into the text box. The book report will be due at 11:59pm on the date on the syllabus.
How do I evaluate your essays?
(a)content; how original is your idea? Does your idea have intellectual merit? (30 %)
(b)clarity; is your writing clear and well organized? (50 %)
(c)integration; is your idea well integrated and supported by the topics you learned in this class (or other psychology classes), and is your discussion persuasive? (20 %)
What topics can you choose?
This is an open-ended assignment. It is up to you to decide what you want to write. But no matter what you do, I want you to present YOUR opinion in a coherent and persuasive manner. These are possible topics:
(1)Critiquing the book. Do you agree with what the authors said? If so, how so? If not, why not? In what aspect do you buy their ideas, and in what aspect is it difficult to swallow their ideas? How would you make the book better? What are the problems in their arguments? Why? What should be done?
(2)Applying. Given that you pretty much agree with their arguments, how do you apply their ideas in real-life situations? Is there any way to utilize their ideas to make things better? If so, how would you do it? You can think about your careers. If you want to be a stock broker, for example,
can you apply their ideas? How would you do it? If you want to be a
school counselor, how can you apply and extend their ideas? If you want to study neuroscience in a grad school, can you think about a way of testing their ideas?
(3)Extending. Ok, you read the book. Now, you think the book is quite interesting and you want to extend the ideas more. What would you do? What kinds of studies can deepen and widen these ideas? Could you propose psychological studies testing what was said? What would be an interesting direction to extend their studies?
(4)Interpreting and connecting. You learned sensation and perception this semester and you read the book. Well, can you integrate what you read and what you learned? How would you interpret the authors? ideas? Can you relate what they said to what you learned in this class (or any other psychology classes you took), and explain exactly what is happening in terms of sensation and perception?
How do you present your idea? You can adopt the following format:
(1)introduce your opinion clearly in the first few sentences (Winston Churchill said ?Please be good enough to put your conclusions and
recommendations on one sheet of paper at the very beginning of your report, so that I can even consider reading it.?)
(2)develop an argument to support your opinion. For example, you can assess pros and cons of your argument from many different angles. Cite other
studies, and / or present counter examples, etc.
(3)conclude (revisit your main point and summarize).
(4)If you want, you can include tables and figures.
(5)Write in simple, clear and plain language.
