Write an essay at least 10 pages. You may select a topic from the following list or suggest your own. If you want to write on a topic not listed here, get your instructor's approval first.

You may pick whatever topic that you think you could NAIL!

Use APA style subheadings, double-spacing, 12-point font, one-inch margins (left, right, top, and bottom), page numbering, and logical flow from topic to topic.

Information and/or quotes from other sources should be relevant and thoughtfully placed. Consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, sixth edition, for proper form of citations and references. You may use sources from the Web, your textbook or other books, and scientific journals. Magazines and newspapers are generally not acceptable. For instance, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology is acceptable, but Psychology Today is not. If you are not sure, ask your instructor.

The following criteria will be considered in the evaluation of your paper:

1. Accuracy-Are your stated facts or ideas correct?

2. Clarity-Is your essay clear and easy to follow? You may want to read your essay out loud to yourself. This will help you catch incomplete sentences or lapses in logic.

3. Depth-Are the issues and implications well thought out and explored?

4. Originality-What is your thesis (the main point of your essay)? Have you stated your own views and articulated them well? Use your own words. Do not copy material directly from your text or other sources without quotation marks. If you want to use the author's exact words, put them in quotation marks and cite the page number from your text or other source material. Don't forget to express your own opinion.

5. Supporting evidence-Are your ideas supported with empirical evidence? This is a crucial part of any well-written essay. You may support your ideas with theories, previously conducted research, or other information you encounter in the text and other sources (journal articles and so forth). You may also use personal experiences as supporting evidence when appropriate.

6. References-Did you use appropriate references to support the main points of your paper? You may find references in the textbook bibliography that support your ideas. Be sure you have these references-that is, that you have the articles on hand if you used them, and make sure that your references relate to the point you are making or support your inferences.

7. Form, composition, spelling, and so forth-Isyour paper neat and error-free? It helps to run spellcheck before submitting your work and to have a colleague or friend read over your work.

8. APA style-Did you follow the formatting rules of the American Psychological Association (APA)? Use your APA publication manual. You may also want to visit the APA Web site, the APA Tutorial in the PSYC Learning Tools in the Course Content Area of your WebTycho classroom the UMUC Guide to Writing and Research, and/or UMUC's library Web page.

Purpose: The purpose of this assignment is to observe human behavior in a natural setting.

Directions: You will conduct an observation of human interactions in a public place (i.e., a supermarket or nightclub), not a private area (i.e., a bathroom or bedroom). The location of the observation should be posted in the Location of Observation conference. You may ask questions or comment on another student's location in this conference. You may select a site similar to that chosen by another student.

Your site need not specifically be one where there are sexual interactions.

The location that I chose for this assignment was at the mall in Waldorf MD. Use your imagination to create scenarios in your head in order to be able to write this paper.

There is wide variation with regard to the content of your observation report, but here is the basic format:

o Background-Include the information your reader needs to put the observation in context. Briefly describe the setting, the emotional climate, the demographic makeup of the participants, and so on, along with any other information you think is pertinent.

o Behavioral Results-Describe in sufficient detail specific behaviors you observed. This component of the paper should answer the question, "What happened in this observation?" and should focus on the factual and visible aspects. You may want to identify the unwritten rules in the setting. For example, in a bar setting, one of the unwritten rules may be that two people pair off and dance on the dance floor. Also, you may want to characterize the behavior of the participants with labels such as "The Flirt" or "1970s Hairstyle." This material will form the basis for any conclusions you draw in the final section of the paper.

o Conclusions-Draw conclusions based on what you saw during the observation. This section will demonstrate what you learned during the observation. It should connect to the course materials and answer the question, "What can be concluded from what happened in this observation?" Include your opinion of what happened.

Spend no less than one hour and no more than three hours in your observation setting. The entire observation may be completed in one sitting or several.

This paper should be at least 7 pages.