Assignment 1: Professional Portfolio-Personal Statement/Cover Letter

For this assignment, you will submit the second document to be included in your Professional Portfolio: Your personal statement or a cover letter. As you near completion of your undergraduate education, you have probably been reflecting on your personal and professional development and goals. Summarizing so much personal information on paper is not easy, but it's important. Many employers complain that in interviews and job applications, students do not seem to know how to articulate the skills and strengths that they bring to the job.

In preparation for writing the personal statement/cover letter, review Dr. Margaret A. Lloyd's Web site at: http://www.psywww.com/careers/index.htm. Learn what you can do with your bachelor's degree in Psychology. Determine if you will pursue graduate school or employment upon graduation. Note choices that seem to apply to you and why. If more than one, rank these choices. Describe any concerns you might have regarding your interests. What level of education will you need to pursue? Have you taken any previous courses or trained in this area? These links in particular should be helpful:

Exploring your abilities, interest, skills, & values www.psywww.com/careers/explore.htm#top

Graduate School Options: www.psywww.com/careers/options.htm

Entry-Level Positions www.psywww.com/careers/entry.htm

For this assignment, find a graduate program (if you are preparing your Professional Portfolio with the Graduate School focus) or a job opening that you would like to apply to (if you are preparing your Professional Portfolio with the Employment focus). Look up the details for the application requirements, and tailor your personal statement/cover letter to these specific graduate school/job requirements.
Personal Statement (for those with the Graduate School focus)

This essay may be the single most influential component of a graduate school application. The statement you write for this portfolio gives you a forum for presenting yourself to the admissions committee, scholarship committee, and others who want to know something about you.

In preparation for writing the statement, read the document "Preparing Personal Statements" at: http://www.creighton.edu/soar/preparingapps/statements/. Here are a few of their suggestions:

find and use your voice
use concrete examples of what you've done
avoid generalizations, such as "I'm good with people"

proofread and edit (and ask others to proofread and make suggestions about) your statement to be sure it is free of grammatical and typographical errors, and informal language, "I'm okay with sciences but weak in math"

Cover Letter (for those with the Employment focus)

A cover letter is a way to introduce yourself to a potential employer. This letter should include details about yourself and why you feel you are qualified for the position. Summarize your undergraduate experiences, your strengths and weaknesses, the reasons you are applying and how they will help you meet your professional goals.

Write a cover letter to a prospective employer. The letter, which should accompany your resume, should summarize why you are interested in the job and what qualifications and skills make you an ideal candidate or match for the position. Limit your letter to one page.

Follow this link for advice on writing a cover letter: http://www.uwec.edu/ORSP/IRB/about/submit/Cover-Letter.htm.

Assignment 2: Review Paper-Draft of Literature Findings

Evaluate the evidence. Create a draft of the findings of the articles you have selected and how they contribute to our knowledge of this problem. Be sure to address each of the following items in your draft:

1. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each piece.

2. If the articles talk to each other (that is, if they support or contrast with one another), explain how and why.

3. What does the evidence tell us?

4. Is there another possible explanation you can think of? Based on what you have read, what is your hypothesis? In other words, what is your explanation for the findings?

5. How can you refine your question or topic even further, now that you have described the findings?

Your draft should be double-spaced and in 12 point, Times New Roman font with normal one-inch margins, written in APA style, and free of typographical and grammatical errors. It should include a title page with a running head and a reference page. The body of the paper should be at least 5-6 pages in length. Submit your paper to the M2: Assignment 3 Dropbox by Wednesday, September 21, 2016.

You will submit your Review Paper next week, so be sure to incorporate the feedback you receive from your instructor on this assignment into your final paper for next week. You may also want to review the following documents that are available in the Doc Sharing area of the course:

A sample literature review,

a PowerPoint document illustrating how to set up your word processor for APA style

a "Guide for Writing a Literature Review"

If you have any questions about your paper, contact your instructor by posting in the Questions for the Professor or Problems & Solutions areas of the course.