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Moderation in Psychology
(Last updated May 10, 2006)
Our moderation
boards typically consist of three members of the psychology faculty with preference
given to the second semester sophomore advisor, another member of the psychology
faculty with whom the student has had a course, and a member of the psychology
faculty who has not had the student in class. This serves to maintain consistent
standards across boards and, because we have an unwritten rule that a vote to
promote is an act of volunteering to serve as the Senior Project advisor, we
have very few "stranded seniors". Within the constraints of
balancing moderation work among all psychology faculty, we honor the student's
preference for board members. In order to minimize failures in moderation or
upper college work, we attempt to inform students of their progress in the courses
they take with us, about the field of academic psychology in general, and what
we expect of them.
You easily understand
your assignments for the moderation in psychology and the moderation itself
if you consider the moderation in psychology to be a program planning conference
with a board consisting of three faculty members. The task of the board is to
give you the best advice that we can with what we know of you and your work.
The first purpose of the moderation papers is to get you to confront planning
your academic future and second purpose is to give you the opportunity to give
us more information about your academic work.
You should prepare
four copies of your two short papers (your academic past and future). One copy
of each paper should be delivered to the registrar's office and to each of the
faculty members on your board by March 30, 2007.
As is traditional
in psychology, the third paper is to be a summary and critical evaluation of
an article taken from a psychology journal. In the interest of making the moderation
process reliable and efficient, we have a "Moderation Saturday" on March 24, 2007 during
which the moderating students write their papers in the Henderson Computer Resources
Center on IBM or Apple Macintosh computers with their choice of the available
word processing programs. It is your responsibility to be able to use without
help one of the word processing programs available at the Henderson Computer
Resources Center. You will receive a copy of a psychology journal article appropriate
to your background in psychology, and you are to write a paper of no more than
ten pages that summarizes and critically evaluates the article for someone who
has not read it. A member of the psychology faculty will be available to answer questions and to collect three copies of the papers at 9:00
P.M. The paper will serve as a sample of your reading and writing on matters
psychological. (Of course we realize that a paper written in one day cannot
represent your best work.)
The primary function
of the moderation in psychology is academic program planning. You should demonstrate
an interest, past and continuing, in general liberal arts courses. Normally,
you must have successfully completed, or be currently enrolled in, an introductory
course in basic psychology; have completed the statistics and research design
course (Psychology 203); be currently enrolled in the research methods course
(Psychology 204); and, be able to discuss the material covered in those courses
as well as the other courses you have taken. You should have a background in
social studies outside psychology and be able to establish relationships between
psychology, other social studies and/or other sciences. Finally, you should
have made progress in meeting the college's distribution requirements. The required
papers should help you and the board in the moderation process. The short papers
on your academic past and future should include an assessment of academic strengths
and weaknesses as well as specific curricular plans. The critical evaluation
of your college work to date should also include: "a description of the
work that has been most interesting to you and why; an estimate of the strong
and relatively weak points in your preparation; what your original objectives
were when you entered college and what they are at present". Your paper
on your future should include: "a description of your plans for Upper College
work and how these plans are related to your declared objectives; an indication
of subjects and special topics which you would like to investigate during the
remainder of your college course; proposed plans for your January intersession;
an indication of the work you would like to undertake for a Senior Project;
any information or problem that you wish to bring before the faculty...." You should distribute courses over the field of psychology to maintain a balance
between theory, methodology and area content. Obviously, you should take courses
and conferences that are particularly useful preparation for your Senior Project
before the Senior year, and you must complete course work necessary to prepare
you for independent work on the Senior Project prior to beginning it. In general,
it is best if you complete all of your course and seminar work in psychology
by the end of the Junior year. Overall, you should plan a liberal arts program
according to the spirit and rules that discourage over-specialization in only
one or a few areas of study.
- Moderations
will occur during the week of April 16th, 2007.
- You should
consult the Bard College Student Handbook concerning the general rules and
procedures of the moderation.
- N.B. You can
waive your right to Moderate by written notification to your advisor and the
Registrar. Read about this option in the Student Handbook.
- If you want
to Moderate at a date later than the mandatory one, you may get permission
by writing your advisor and the Chairperson of your Division requesting, and
giving specific reasons for, the postponement. If your request is approved,
you and the Registrar will receive written notification of the postponement
and the new expected time of moderation.
- Successful
moderation is unlikely for students who have not delivered all papers as scheduled.
Moderation Saturday
When you arrive
at the Henderson Computer Resources Center on Moderation Saturday (March 24, 2007 at 9:00am), you will
be given a reprint of a psychology journal article appropriate to your background
in psychology and you are to write a paper of no more than ten pages that summarizes
and critically evaluates the article for someone who has not read it. Three
stapled printouts of the paper are to be turned in no later than 9:00 p.m. to
the psychology faculty member available at that time.
You may bring
with you any notes, folders, and notebooks you wish as well as a dictionary
and paper writing manuals. However, all of the work is to be done in the Henderson
Computer Resources Center where you will have your choice of a Mac, IBM or your
own portable microcomputer. You may leave the Center for breaks at any time,
but you must leave all of your materials at the Center. Someone on the psychology
faculty will be available in case you have questions concerning
the assignment.
BRING TWO DISKETTES
FOR SAVING YOUR FILES! (We have had more than one program "crash" as late as 5:00 p.m. leaving the students who were without a backup in a very
distraught condition.)
The paper is to
be double spaced with all pages except the first numbered. You are expected
to make no spelling errors and are expected to use a spelling checker program.
Print the paper with a 1.5 inch left margin and 1 inch top, bottom and right
margins. You should have a cover sheet which includes the title of the article,
your name and the date. If the printer you are using does not print darkly enough,
move to a printer that has more toner.
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Guidelines for Short Moderation Papers
(Academic Past and Future)
The short papers are required for moderation college-wide. They are due in the registrar’s office on March 30, 2007. Please hand in your short papers on Moderation Saturday.
The following are meant to be guidelines only, not a rigid format. You should think of them as areas you should address. The format of the papers is up to you.
Academic Past
This paper should be an overview of your college education to date. It should include
- A discussion of your coursework to date, including how your interest in psychology has evolved, particular courses taken, etc. Also, a discussion of academic experiences outside of psychology would be welcome.
- A critical evaluation of your strengths and weaknesses as a student.
- A discussion of how your objectives have evolved since coming to college.
- Any other issues which are relevant to an understanding of your academic work.
Academic Future
This paper should be a discussion of your plans for your Upper College work and post-college plans. We understand that the first and especially second of these may not be completely formed. In any case, the paper should include
- Anticipated areas of study within psychology and outside of the field.
- Your ideas about work after college, including plans for graduate or professional school, career plans, summers, intersessions and so forth.
- An indication of what you might like to study for your Senior Project
Please bear in mind that the moderation is a concentrated advising experience. We want, therefore, to learn as much as we can about you as student.
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