5010 Series Fieldwork

This is a faculty-supervised independent fieldwork course (i.e., an internship) with library research in an area of psychology. Students are required to write a report on the theoretical perspectives and empirical studies related to one or more aspects of the internship. Both the fieldwork and literature review topic(s) must be approved and supervised by a member of the Psychology Department faculty, with whom students will meet on a weekly basis to produce a final report that must be submitted to the department for each course section. No grade will be assigned for the course until a department-approved report is submitted and filed.

Eligibility Criteria

• Prerequisites: Introductory Psychology (PSYC 1000); Statistical Methods (PSYC 3400); a minimum of nine credits in advanced Psychology Department courses including PSYC 3400, and permission of the chair.
• 61 or more credits earned.
• An overall GPA of 3.00 or higher (not just in psychology courses).
• A faculty member agrees to serve as adviser/instructor.

Course Registration

In order to request permission to register for a fieldwork series course (PSYC 5011–5014), the course registrations form must be completed and arrangements made with a faculty member to sign off as your adviser. The signed form must be returned to the Psychology Department for approval from the chair prior to registration.

• 5010 Series Course Registration Form (pdf)

Course Requirements Clarifications

• Students will spend a minimum of nine hours per week at the fieldwork setting.
• Faculty mentors must have weekly meetings with their independent fieldwork students.
• Students will prepare a final paper that addresses a topic within the applied field in which they are carrying out their work. Papers typically present current research on a given topic, coupled with relevant case studies based on interviews with patients/clients/individuals with whom students interacted with at their placement.
• Honors Notation: As an honors course, the presumption is that students will conduct honors-level work. Nonetheless, the instructor may choose not to assign an honors designation if the level of performance is not achieved by the student.
• Graduating With Honors: Students must complete a sequence of at least two of the PSYC 500X series (5011–5014) courses and submit a written report (in APA format) to apply for consideration of departmental honors in psychology. In addition, students need to receive a grade with honors in these honors courses (to be noted by the instructor upon grade submission) in order for the course work to count toward eligibility and consideration to graduate with honors in psychology.

Report Types

The following are acceptable for fulfilling the requirements of the Independent Fieldwork (PSYC 5011–5014) courses:

Theoretical Report

A paper consisting of a thorough review and discussion of the research on an applied or clinically focused topic. The paper should consist of a systematic integrative synthesis of the literature with one or more of the following features:

• provides new and interesting connections or insights,
• evaluates a controversy in the field by considering the evidence for or against a particular theory or claim(s) that result in an informed conclusion, or
• makes a theoretical argument and/or presents a new theoretical model to account for a particular set of research findings.

In addition, the paper should incorporate case studies/vignettes based on interviews with patients/clients/individuals with whom students interacted at their fieldwork placement.

Other

An alternate type of paper may be acceptable. Describe it in detail (#3 on the application).

Report Formatting Requirements and Guidelines

The 5010-level independent fieldwork paper should be written in APA format and should contain, at a minimum, the following four sections:

• Title Page (one page),
• Abstract (one page),
• Body: introduction, review of literature, case studies, and general discussion (12 pages minimum), and
• References (minimum of 10 references).