For the Term Paper….

q       Typed, Double-Spaced, Standard Margins

10 – 12 point font size

q       Please do not capitalize all the letters (very hard on the eyes!)

q       Please cover your paper with a title page giving the title of the paper, your name, the class and instructor name, the class hour, and the date the paper is submitted.

q       Reference all sources in APA style.

q       Your paper should be organized in the following manner: 

I.                     Write a plot summary identifying your chosen character.  What happened in the story?  Document the pertinent details.  DO NOT assume that I have read your book or seen the movie you have selected.  Include ALL RELAVANT details that will convince me you have made a sensible, workable, logical diagnosis; however, filling your paper with lots of extraneous information is not what I have in mind.

II.                   Describe the personal history of your chosen character.  It may be possible to combine this information in the plot summary.  You may have to speculate a bit here.  Some authors do not “fill in all the blanks” and leave some questions unanswered.  If this is the case, tell me what hunches you may have about the missing information.  If speculation is required, make sure you make it clear that you are doing so and provide justification as to why you felt a need to do so.

III.                 Describe the character’s presenting symptoms of maladaptive behavior.  In other words, what does that character do?  What syndrome(s) or other documentable clinical features are present in your character’s behavior? Document!

IV.                 Identify any causal factors you find. These may be biological, psychological, behavioral, or socio-cultural.  How did you determine that these were true causes for the character’s maladaptive behavior? Be sure to consider stress factors, biological factors, social factors and any premorbidity. Document!

V.                   Provide a multiaxial diagnoses using DSM IV labels and diagnostic numbers.  Be sure to consider comorbidity. Document! Justify!!!!

VI.                 Make recommendations regarding therapy/therapies.  What treatment plan do you have in mind for the character? Consider multiple approaches and perspectives when devising these treatment plans.  Why did you choose a particular approach vs. others? Document!

VII.               What is the prognosis for your character?  Can you make any therapeutic outcome predictions?  Is your character likely to recover? Fully? Partially? Does the information on the disorder lead you to believe that therapy is likely to fail? Document!

VIII.             Describe what this experience was like for you as a student.  What did you learn from doing this project? Can the experience be beneficial to you in a later professional or current personal way?  This is a very important part of the paper so give it some REAL thought.  Do not underestimate the value of your own insights to me as the instructor.  I am interested in what intrigued  and/or annoyed you in doing this.

IX.                Bibliography.  APA style.  A minimum of three references is required .

X.                  Presentation, presentation, presentation!  I will be grading not only on content, but also on organization, grammar, usage, and mechanics.  Put your best effort into producing a first-rate paper.

XI.               

q       Remember that topics are on a First-Come basis and are “going fast”!

q       Plagiarism constitutes Academic Dishonesty (see handbook, page 75-77) and will yield an “F” in this course.  Cite all quotes and borrowed ideas.  Enclose borrowed language in quotation marks.  Put summaries and paraphrases in YOUR OWN WORDS.

q       Late papers WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED!