U N I V E R S I T Y of " LUCIAN BLAGA " SIBIU
FACULTY OF SOCIAL AND HUMAN SCIENCES
UNDERGRADUATE – PSYCHOLOGY
PROFESSIONAL ESSAY
CANDITATE:
Mihaela FILIP
2016
Table of Contents
I. MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF SCIENCE 2
II. SOURCE OF INFORMATION RELIABILITY 4
III. MAIN SOURCES OF SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION IN PSYCHOLOGY 5
IV. PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS IN COMMUNICATION 5
1. General Document Guidelines 5
2. Main standards of document guidelines used in the professional field 5
3. Document Guidelines used in Psychology 6
WEBOGRAPHY 8
PLAGIARISM REPORT…………………………………………………………………………………………………..8
CHAPTER I
Main characteristics of Science
1. Science is only guided by natural law
Science has to be guided by the physical and chemical laws that run the universe.
2. Science has to be explained by referencing natural laws.
Scientific knowledge needs to explain what is witnessed by reference in nature. It cannot ask for explanations based on supernatural (angels, fairies, miracles, or magic). Science relies only on observable and testable evidence.
3. Scientific theories are testable and make falsifiable predictions.
Any statement must be able to be disproved. In science, a statement cannot be correct, if there is no possibility to be proved false. Science will seek out errors and correct them. Information is added and taken away on a daily basis, depending on new discoveries.
We need to be able to form and test hypotheses, for an observation. Science use observations and tests, to answer questions about the natural world and relies on observable, testable evidence, which is either supporting or not the hypotheses. Theories are used as a foundation, to gain further scientific knowledge, as well as inventing technology or curing diseases.
4. It relies on testable evidence. If people cannot make observations or experiments to gather information, then it is outside of science domain.
5. Things true or false in science, cannot be proven. It probability plays a role, as much as critical values do.
6. Correlation does not imply Causation. ‘Two events can correlate with each other, but not have any causal relationship between them.’ A concrete example could be: the statistical relationship between ‘whether or not, a depressed person receives psychotherapy, and the number of depressive symptoms he/she has reflects the fact that the psychotherapy causesthe reduction in symptoms.’
CHAPTER II
Source of Information Reliability
In order to evaluate a source, we need to consider the following:
Authority
‘ Who is the author? What is the author's educational background? Is he/she experienced in the area you are searching in?
‘ Where does the information coming from? Is the information valid and well-researched? Is there a list of references cited? What is the quality of the references?
‘ Is the content a first-hand?
‘ Check if the author appears in Databases by Title page.
Currency
‘ When was the source published?
‘ Is the source still evident for your topic?
Purpose
‘ What is the author’s intention?
‘ Is the author's point of view objective and impartial?
‘ Is the author repetitive?
Content
‘ What is the purpose of the provided information?
‘ Are sources cited?
‘ Are there any bibliographies included?
‘ Are research claims documented?
‘ Are conclusions based on real evidence?
(Evaluate the quality and credibility of your sources , 2016)
CHAPTER III
Main Sources of Scientific Information in Psychology
When searching for information on psychology and not only, it is important to understand the meaning of primary, secondary, and tertiary sources.
Primary sources are original materials that have not been filtered through interpretation or evaluation by a second party. Researchers can get as close as possible to original ideas, events, and empirical research as possible.
Secondary sources contain commentary on or a discussion about a primary source.
Tertiary sources provide overviews of topics by synthesizing information gathered from other resources. Tertiary resources often provide data in a convenient form or provide information with context by which to interpret it.
The distinctions between primary, secondary, and tertiary sources can be ambiguous. An individual document may be a primary source in one context and a secondary source in another. Encyclopedias are typically considered tertiary sources, but a study of how encyclopedias have changed on the Internet would use them as primary sources.
Primary sources examples
‘ Diaries
‘ Interviews
‘ Letters
‘ Original works of art
‘ Photographs
‘ Speeches
‘ Works of literature
‘ (Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sources , 2014).’
Example of internet sites of scientific information products and services.
‘ http://www.sciencedirect.com/
‘ https://www.elsevier.com/
‘ http://link.springer.com/
CHAPTER IV
Professional Standards in Communication
1. General Document Guidelines
Structure of the professional essay
a. Cover
b. The title page
c. The table of contents of the document
d. List of abbreviations
e. The content of the page (in strict compliance with document’s table of contents)
f. Document content – Introduction, Chapters, Concluzions
g. Annex (if appropriate)
h. Bibliographic references
2. Professional Main Standards of Document Guidelines
a) It is recomended to use Microsoft Office Word for editing.
b) The format of the document A4 containing 5-10 pages.
c) The edges of the page ‘ Left: 3cm; Right: 2cm; Top:2cm; Bottom: 2cm
d) Spacing between rows ‘ 1,5 lines
e) The alignment of the text within the framework of the paragraphs- between the right and left edges numbering (justified). Except titles of the chapters which may be aligned centered.
f) Font-Time News Roman with the size 12 points and style regularly.
g) The bibliographical references shall be entered automatically in the basement of each page and not at the end of the document. Their numbering shall be done in accordance with Arabic figures, starting on each page with the number 1. For the footnote shall be used font Time News Roman, style regularly, size 11, Line Spacing Single, Alignment Justified.
3. Document Guidelines used in Psychology
The documents for Psychology field, are written using style rules of the American Psychological Association (APA Style). APA style is used both in terms of the rules of citation in the text and the achievement of the list of references. In terms of size, overall appearance and formatting of text, the document will meet a number of requirements listed below:
a. Titles and subtitles
Chapters begin on a new page. The title of Chapter: – Font Times New Roman 14, centered, uppercase, line spacing 1.5, mentioning CHAPTER [chapter number in Roman numerals or Arabic] distance 30 points before, 18 after.
b. Subtitle
Times New Roman 14, centered, bold, line spacing 1.5, distance 30 points before, 18 after.
Numbering [the chapter]. [Subtitle level number 2].
c. Paragraph
Font Times New Roman, 12, left aligned, paragraph first line starts at 0.5- 0.7 cm. (Approx. 5-7 spaces) line spacing 1.5.
d. The quotation type block of text
– A quote that contains more than 40 words shall be placed in the form of a block of text.
– The quotation block will be written in Times New Roman by 12.
– Alignment shall be made to the left.
– The paragraph has no paragraph.
– The whole paragraph begins from left to 0,5-0.7 cm; the spacing is made at 1 row.
– Before and after subparagraph shall leave 12 points. If the quote has more than one paragraph, the first line of the second subparagraph shall begin to 0,5-0.7 inch of the edge of the set for the quotation block.
– The quote the Block Type cannot be determined between the inverted commas " ".
e. Table of contents
The table of contents is written last. It will be placed on the first page after the title page. It must contain the structure of the paper, indicating: the title of each chapter and sub-chapter (pages between which it is located), appendices and bibliography. The contents will keep the writing style of the document.
f. Document edges
Left = 3 cm; Right = 2.5 cm; Up = 2,5Cm ; Down = 2,5 cm format of the page: A4 (210 x 297 mm) shall be kept the same format of the page and the same edges for the entire document including the cover and the title page.
g. Bibliographical references
Rules of citation are appropriate to the format of citation APA, of the (American Psychology Association) in the last version. These rules may be consulted for summoning in English and for other special cases than those mentioned below on the following web pages:
http://www.lib.usm.edu/help/style_guides/apa.html http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/research/apaintext.html
http://guides.is.uwa.edu.au/apa
http://www.msubillings.edu/asc/resources/writing/PDF-WritingLab/APA%20Intext%20Citations.pdf
Bibliographical references will be mentioned in the reference list at the end of the document, in their order alphabetical order, starting with the first letter through which is indicated each power source and for works that have the same author or authors, they will pass in the ascending order of their years of publication. The first row of each of the sources quoted will be indented.
Webography
Internet sources
1. http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/nature_06, 02.11.2016 10:23 (the site of Understanding Evolution)
2. http://library.ucsc.edu/help/research/evaluate-the-quality-and-credibility-of-your-sources (the site of University of California santa Cruiz)
3. http://www.lib.vt.edu/help/research/primary-secondary-tertiary.html ( the site of Virginia Tech)
4. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/ (the site of Online Writing Lab)
5. http://www.vanguard.edu/psychology/faculty/douglas-degelman/apa-style/ (the site of Vanguard University)
6. http://www.sciencedirect.com/
7. https://www.elsevier.com/
8. http://link.springer.com/
9. http://www.lib.usm.edu/help/style_guides/apa.html
10. http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/research/apaintext.html
11. http://guides.is.uwa.edu.au/apa
12. http://www.msubillings.edu/asc/resources/writing/PDF-WritingLab/APA%20Intext%20Citations.pdf
13. http://web.library.emory.edu/