Psych 56L/ Ling 51: Assignments

Homework

There will be three homeworks throughout the quarter, based on the material covered in class. You can download them by clicking on the relevant link in the schedule page. These are due after we have covered the material in class, and are usually available more than a week beforehand so you can be working on them as we discuss the relevant material in class. Homework assignments must be turned in during class the day they are due for full credit, unless prior arrangements are made with the instructor through email.

Late assignments will be accepted, but will lose 10% of the total score possible on the assignment for every class session late (not every day late). This is to encourage you to do the assignments, as it is far preferable to work through the material late than never. Moreover, homework comprises a hefty portion of your grade, so please do it - even if it's late. Late assignments may be emailed to the TA and Prof. Pearl (in .doc, .docx, or .pdf format).

You should feel free to work together on homework (and in fact this is encouraged), and you can turn in one assignment per homework group. If you work in a group and turn in a single assignment, please make sure to include the name of everyone that worked on the assignment. There will be one grade given per homework assignment, and everyone whose name is on a given assignment will receive the same grade as everyone else whose name is on that assignment.

Midterm

There will be a midterm in class on 2/03/11. This will cover the material up until that point. The midterm questions will come from the review questions posted on the website for the topics covered, as well as the homework questions.

The midterm is open-note (including your book, the lecture notes, and any notes of your own you wish to bring), but it is non-collaborative (no group efforts, please). If you are caught collaborating during the midterm, you will all receive a 0 for the midterm.

In addition, there will no makeup for the midterm unless you have an emergency (family, medical, etc.) that day, at which point you should contact the instructor as soon as possible afterwards and make arrangements. A doctor's note or some other form of "proof of emergency" will be expected in that situation. If you know ahead of time that you cannot take the midterm that day, you should contact the instructor beforehand to make arrangements to take it at some other time.

Final

There will be a final in class on 3/17/11. This will cover the material presented throughout the quarter, with a focus on the material presented after the midterm. The final questions will come from the review questions posted on the website for all the topics covered, as well as the homework questions.

The final is open-note (including your book, the lecture notes, and any notes of your own you wish to bring), but it is non-collaborative (no group efforts, please). If you are caught collaborating during the final, you will all receive a 0 for the final.

In addition, there will no makeup for the final unless you have an emergency (family, medical, etc.) that day, at which point you should contact the instructor as soon as possible afterwards and make arrangements. A doctor's note or some other form of "proof of emergency" will be expected in that situation. If you know ahead of time that you cannot take the final that day, you should contact the instructor beforehand to make arrangements to take it at some other time. Please note that having more than 2 finals on that day is a valid reason to schedule the final for another time (most likely sometime earlier in the week).

Extra credit

You may earn up to a total of 3 extra credit points by volunteering to participate in laboratory experiments. As subjects in experiments, you have the opportunity to learn how experimental research in psychology is conducted today, and you help provide the necessary subjects for the School's extensive research program. You will receive 0.5 points for each half hour that you participate, with your maximum participation limited to 3 hours (i.e., 3 points).

Procedure: Sign up online using this link to the scheduling program called experimetrix

https://experimetrix2.com/uci

Contract: When signing up to participate in research through Experimetrix as a way to earn extra course credit, please be aware of the Human Subject Lab's policy:

1. Be sure that you meet the eligibility criteria for the research study before signing up.
2. Arrive on time since many studies begin exactly at the scheduled time.
3. If you need to cancel your appointment, do so no later than one hour before your scheduled appointment by either clicking on the "cancel" button next to your name in Experimetrix or by calling the researcher for the study or the lab manager (949-824-8083).

Students who do not comply with the above policy statements will not earn the extra credit points. Moreover, students who fail to follow the above policies twice during a quarter will not be permitted to use the Human Subjects lab as a means to earn extra course credit for the remainder of that quarter.

Your attendance at the experiment will be recorded by the laboratory assistant. Also, the experimenters may run out of experiments before the end of the quarter, so early participation is the safest way to ensure that you don't miss out on this easy way to accumulate points. In addition, please note that you will need to allocate your earned credits to your selected classes before the end of the quarter if you want your credits to show up for this class (and all other classes you allocate them to).

Note: Instead of volunteering to participate in experiments, you may volunteer to write a 4-page (double-space typewritten) paper for up to 3 points of extra credit. You must get approval from Prof. Pearl for the topic of the paper, and she will then grade the paper and decide, based on its quality, how many points of extra credit it receives. Papers are due by the end of class on Thursday, March 10. Late papers receive no credit.