FACULTY MENTOR:  Daniel Messinger, Ph.D.
Email: [email protected]
Phone:  305-284-8443
Office: Flipse, 5665 Ponce de Leon, Room 308
Office Hours: Tuesdays 12:30 - 2:00, and by appointment.

PEER ADVISOR: Andrew Mudreac ([email protected])  
Office Hours:  Tuesdays 8:30-11:00; Wednesdays 1:15-4:30; Thursdays 1:45-3:00  

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course will provide an orientation to research in psychology and opportunities for research in the Department with an emphasis on social, emotional, neural, genetic, psychopathological, and other components of development.  Career opportunities in the field of psychology will also be discussed.  Students, faculty, and support staff will discuss original journal articles selected from the psychological literature.  This course is the second part of a two semester sequence (FACT FORUM) designed to provide orientation, advising, and mentoring to psychology and neuroscience majors in order to facilitate their integration into the community of scholars at the University of Miami

COURSE REQUIREMENTS: Credit:  Upon completion of this course, students will earn 1 credit hour applicable to the total number of credits to graduate from UM.  This credit will not apply to the Psychology major or minor.

Attendance:   Attendance is mandatory.  Students missing more than 3 classes will not pass.  Exceptions will be made for documented medical or legal reasons or University sponsored events (ex. participation on a sports team or musical performance).   This is a participation class.  Grades will be assigned according to the student’s knowledge of the material as demonstrated in weekly papers and contributions in class.

Readings:   Weekly readings are listed on this website (below).  Students are expected to come to class prepared to participate in discussion of the weekly readings.

Papers:  A total of 10 short papers will be required.  These papers will require approximately 2 paragraphs – one consisting of a summary of the reading for the day, and another giving your comments and on the topic.  At the end of each paper, you should also include a question that has come to you as a result of the reading.  The papers must be type-written, single-spaced, and fit on one page. 

There are 11 opportunities to write papers (one is a special two paragraph assignment; see below), so you have only one paper you can miss. Please bring the paper to class and submit on BlackBoard’s SafeAssign. 

For each of the required 10 papers and the special assignment, if the paper is not handed in by the beginning of class, you will lose one third of a letter grade (e.g., B+-->B). If the paper is not handed in by the next week, you will lose two thirds of a letter grade (e.g., B+-->B-). If the paper is not handed in within two weeks, the paper will no longer be accepted and you will lose a full letter grade (e.g., B+-->C+). The goal is to come to class with the reading and your paper done ready to discuss and participate. In addition, please give a rating to each article we read from 1 (Terrible) to 5 (Excellent).

Quizzes:  Extra credit pop quizzes may be given from time to time to assess student preparation for the class.

HONOR CODE: You will be required to abide by the University of Miami honor code pledge on each assignment.  This pledge states: “On my honor, I have neither given nor received any aid on this exam/paper/etc.”  Cheating and/or plagiarism will be considered sufficient reason to assign a failing grade for the course. Please review the undergraduate honor code here