You have two options for the essay. Option one is to read a book and write an essay comparing the book to material learned
You have two options for the essay. Option one is to read a book and write an essay comparing the book to material learned
Essay
You have two options for the essay. Option one is to read a book and write an essay comparing the book to material learned in a class lecture. The other is to write more of a term paper style essay about a particular topic in cognitive science.
It is against the rules to use text created with text-generation software (such as Chat GPT) on either assignment.
Essay Option One: Book Comparison
To write the essay you will need to read one of the books listed below. They are available in the campus bookstore. Students can either opt for curbside pick-up or order from our website (www.carletonshop.ca) and you will receive it within two business days.
- The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat by Oliver Sacks
- The Marshmallow Test by Walter Mischel
- Being the Person Your Dog Thinks You Are: The Science of a Better You by Jim Davies
What your essay should be like: This is not a book report! The essay will either a) explain something mentioned in one of the lectures and readings with reference to information in the book or b) explain something mentioned in the book with reference to information from the lectures and readings. The rubric is on the next page. To understand it, know that what you are trying to understand better is the target example and what you are using to understand it is the base example. You should emphasize what is not clearly understood about the target example, and how you will use the base example to fill this gap in our understanding of the target example. So, for example, you might read in Riveted that primarily doctrinal religions take advantage of semantic memory and imagistic religions use episodic memory (the target example). In your essay, you describe in more detail how religious thought is represented differently in episodic versus semantic memory (what you learned in class in this case would be the base example). Or you might read The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and discuss how the description of perception used in the lecture (base example) can help explain a particular perceptual problem described in the book (the target example).
The target example is a concept that you’re interested in and the base example is the information helps you to understand the target example. The target example can come from either the book or the lecture, but the base example has to come from the other source.
Crucially, the base example gives you more information on the target example. Ideally, you should be able to identify a few main ways of how the base example explains the target.
Using the sample essay on Riveted, the target example was temporal discounting from the lecture (“greater value placed on the present when compared to the future”) . The base example was temporal discounting from the book, which provides more information beyond the definition of the concept: 1.) “people do not see the future clearly” 2.) “why people think about the future the way that they do” 3.) “how people see their future selves as different people”. Note that these 3 points are each the main ideas of the subsequent paragraphs.
Your essay must be between 800 and 1200 words long (in Microsoft Word, under “tools” you can find “word count.”) If you cite sources try to use APA style, but because you’re basically pasting your text into Brightspace, don’t worry too much about formatting–but the citations and references are included in your word count. You do not need to cite the lectures nor the book you’re reading, just additional sources. Do not go over the word count. The books are long and complicated. You do not have to summarize the book, only pick one idea from it, and one idea from the lectures to write your essay. You can actually use the terms base example and target example if you wish; in fact, I encourage this. It makes it easier as a TA grading your papers to see that you actually understand what it is you are trying to convey in your paper. It is important that you also clearly emphasize what it is that is not particularly clear about your target example, and how you are going to use the information provided by the base concept to fill this knowledge gap. As you can see from the rubric, you are not dinged massively for grammatical errors etc. That being said, if your writing is riddled with mistakes, it makes it extremely difficult to understand the points you are trying to convey. If you fall into this category, I would recommend taking your work to the writing centre (https://carleton.ca/csas/writing-services/ ). Make sure you leave yourself enough time to do this before your due date.
There are examples of good essays in the shared dropbox. Please read them to get an idea of how they should be written.
Essay due dates: These books are of different lengths. The due date of the essay depends on the length of the book. See the schedule for due dates.
Need help? You can get help with your essay from the Writing Tutorial Service on campus. It’s located on the 4th floor of the library Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9am-4:30pm, and Tuesday and Thursday from 9am-6pm.Http://carleton.ca/sasc/writing-tutorial-service/
You can also arrange a time with one of the TAs.
How to turn in the essay: You will paste the essay directly into Brightspace. We have too many essays to grade to have time to open attachments.
Essay advice
(1) Do not assume that a reader will know what you mean if you do not explicitly state it.
(2) Do state and define clearly any term, concept or issue that is important in helping the reader understand your essay.
Note: For this particular essay, we will mark only what we read in your essay. We are grading your understanding and knowledge, based on what you write in your essay. Even if you have fully grasped a concept, we can’t grade what you know if this has not been explicitly stated.
(3) Do have an overall “take home” message(s) that you are trying to communicate in your essay, and plan your essay accordingly. The result of not doing either of these is an essay that tends to ramble aimlessly
(4) Do not include anything that is not important in helping your reader understand your essay, regardless of how impressive sounding it seems. This will be confusing.
(5) Do understand the difference being providing a definition and providing an example. Ask if you have difficulty differentiating between the two.
Note: Generally you are allowed to refer to textbooks and references to provide definitions and concepts. If you use text from another source, use quotation marks and a citation. However, you need to provide the relevant citations and reference. For this particular essay, I suggest not quoting more than one sentence from the same reference. You are encouraged to come up with your own examples. You do not need to formally cite the book or the lectures, just mention them in text and refer to page numbers if you quote from the book. Facts not from either need to be cited. Use APA formatting.
(6) Do keep to word limits (800 to 1200 words for this essay)
(7) Do be attentive of what you are writing; especially if you have not mastered using definitions or concepts, otherwise one of the following is likely to happen
– Words in a sentence will make sense, but not the sentence itself.
– Sentences in a paragraph will make sense, but not the paragraph itself.
(8) Do proofread your work, as many times as needed, but at least once before you press “submit”. There is an obvious difference in quality between an essay that has been checked and one that has not been checked.
(9) We do not require a certain number of paragraphs, or define what you need in each paragraph.What you might have learned in high school (the three-point essay, for example) was a structure to help you become a better writer. Now that you are in university, you need to be able to create your own structure that makes sense.
(10) This is not a “personal” essay. We are training you to do scientific writing. Avoid talking about yourself and your experiences. Stick to the subject matter.
(11) Try not to quote directly. In science we rarely quote people. Rather than quoting, summarize in your own words and cite it.
Frequently Asked Questions about the Essay
1. Please make sure you submit your essay in the TEXTBOX, not the comment section, of the assignment. If you submit it in the comment section it will not register as a submitted
assignment and the TAs will not see it so it will not be graded. Give yourself time before the due date to ensure your essay is submitted properly.
2. There are no late submissions permitted unless a deferral has been granted (See syllabus for deferral information if needed). This means that TAs will not give grade deductions for late essays because we will not accept late essays at all. If you fail to submit this essay without a valid reason, prepare to write the second or third essay on time.
3. There are over 1000 students in this course and only 9 TAs, please be patient when it comes to getting your grades back. We strive to have your essays graded within TWO WEEKS of the submission date. GRADES WILL ONLY BE RELEASED ONCE ALL THE ESSAYS HAVE BEEN MARKED. Please do not email TAs or Professor Davies asking when you will receive your grade, we will not answer these emails. If your course grade book says “graded” beside your essay but you can’t find your grade, this means the grades have not been released. Please do not email TAs asking why/where you can find your grade. Your grade will appear once the grades have been released.
4. The TAs are here to help you. If you would like help with your essay, you can provide us with outlines to help with ideas. We do not have enough scheduled time to sit down with you and correct your whole essay. Please use other classmates, friends, family or writing services in the library for spell check and things of that nature.
6. You do not need to formally reference the course lectures or the course book but you do need to reference ALL outside sources that you use. Please pick one referencing style (for example APA, MLA) and stick to it throughout your entire essay.
7. If you have any questions regarding the submission of your paper, formatting and things like that, please look at your syllabus or the course discussion board before emailing the TAs and Professor Davies. 9 times out of 10 the information you are looking for can be found there.
How the essay will be graded
On the next page is the grading rubric. This is how it works. A teaching assistant will read your essay and evaluate it according to the rows in the table on the next page. For each category, for example, “structure and transitions,” he or she will decide how many points, out of 25, you get per row. There are four rows, so your grade will range from between 0 and 100. If you have questions about the rubric, please talk to a TA.
Rubric for book essay
| 25 points | 20 points | 15 points | 10 points | 5 points | |
| The description of the base concept, the target concept, and what is lacking in our understanding of the target | Described in sufficient detail and accuracy. Each is explicitly identified in the text | The examples are well described, but the reader has to figure out which is which. | Missing information from target example is not identified, or target and base are described vaguely | Target and base are poorly described | The base and target are missing completely |
| Transfer of knowledge from base to target | Essay clearly describes what knowledge from the base is used to understand the target, and the target is better understood with that knowledge. | The transfer is described in some detail, but could use more. | The transfer is not clear to the reader, or only vaguely refers to one concept helping to understand another. | It is not clear how the base knowledge helps us understand the target. Almost no information is discussed as being transferred. | The transfer is not referred to at all. |
| Structure and transitions | The essay is easy to understand and communicates clearly | Structure is understandable with a bit of work on the part of the reader. | The organization is mediocre. The points are made poorly or in a poorly structured way. | Essay is difficult to follow at both the paragraph and overall structure levels. | The essay is almost impossible to understand because of poor organization. |
| Grammar, spelling, and citation | Few or no errors | Several errors. | Unsupported claims, poor grammar, or many errors | Poor citation, very bad grammar, or very poor spelling | Errors make essay hard to read. |
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