Psychology Department Challenge:

As a student taking psychology at Southwestern, you may find many life questions left unanswered. We encourage you to ask those questions. In fact, we would love to hear your ideas and/or questions. Researchers have tackled some of these questions, but many times we are left telling students the academic world still does not know. This year we are extending student interest in psychology in the form of a contest. We are asking those of you who are interested to do a little research and write down your perplexing questions and/or ideas.   From the responses we get, we will be choosing one that we will highlight during spring terms SWOCC student awards. In turn, the lucky winner will walk away with an APA (American Psychological Association) student award and an APA Student membership for the year 2010-2011. 

The membership includes:

• Networking opportunities among other students and established psychologists
• Access to education and career information
• A web site dedicated to the needs of students in psychology
• Substantial discounts off nonmember rates for APA journals and online database products
• Discounts off APA books and videos
• Journal credit toward your APA subscription order total
• Online access to any journal subscriptions
• Free subscription to American Psychologist – APA's flagship monthly journal
• Free subscription to APA Monitor on Psychology – APA's monthly magazine
• Competitive rates for all of your insurance needs through the APA Insurance Trust
• Low APA Annual Convention registration fees
• And much more…go to www. APA.org

If you are the least bit interested in psychology, you just may find yourself a nice start to a senior project or graduate thesis. Whether you win this challenge or not, you will walk away with a good start into the world of academia.

Here are the 3 parameters for your essay:

1. Your question/ideas about some psychological phenomenon supported with at least 3 research based sources
2. 2 pages (double spaced)
3. APA style-no abstract necessary http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
   (writing center on campus is a helpful resource as well)

If you are unsure of how to start, please ask for guidance. We will gladly assist you.