Inquiry into Disciplinarity: Psychology as a Culture

Inquiry into Disciplinarity: Psychology as a Culture

Manuel Melendez
The University of Texas at El Paso
November 2014

Inquiry into Disciplinarity: Psychology as a Culture

Table of Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 3
Literature Review/Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Procedure/Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Results/Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Appendix A (1-4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 12
Appendix B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Appendix C (1-2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Appendix D (1-3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Inquiry into Disciplinarity: Psychology as a Culture

Introduction

This research was done during the fall semester of 2014 by Manuel Melendez, a freshman in the
discipline of psychology at the time who studies at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP).
Justin D. Stone, professor of the class Rhetoric and Writing Studies 1301 (RWS 1301), is the one
who has provided the help and knowledge necessary to do this research.

Object of Study:
The object of study for this research is the discipline of psychology. Psychology is the science
that studies behaviors and mental functions. This discipline is part of the college of Liberal Arts,
at least in the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), since other universities have psychology in
another college like Science. UTEPs department of psychology has 18 full-time faculty
members and 58 PhD candidates who participate in research with the faculty members and other
professors. UTEPs department of psychology is located near the Education building and
Heritage House, right in the middle of the construction for the centennial park.

Position and Investment with Object of Study:

I chose this discipline because its the one that interests me the most, I want to become part of
the discourse community of psychology, but since I dont know much about it, I cant be
considered to be an insider yet. One of the main purposes of this research is to create new
knowledge regarding this discipline and how an outsider can become involved in the discipline.

Right now my relationship to the context is just beginning, Im a freshman and I only have one
psychology course right now. Although Ive become more involved in the discipline recently due
to this research and my participation in psychology studies. As a current novice, I want and need
to know about the disciplinarity of psychology so that I can more easily become an insider in its
discourse community and culture and thus be a more successful student.

I chose an ethnography as my research methodology for my inquiry since it seems to be a really

effective. Not only using one research method, but four of them proves to be helpful to obtain
information from different sources: students, professors, documents, and the environment in
which insiders of the discipline spend their time working. Technically the correct term for my
ethnography is triangulation, this term must not be biased by its etymology, tri, meaning three;
triangulation is described as the use of two or more methods in a study. The research methods I
used are: interviews (See Appendix A), surveys (See Appendix B), site observations (See
Appendix C), and document analysis (See Appendix D).

Inquiry into Disciplinarity: Psychology as a Culture

For my inquiry, Ive developed some research questions that will help me with my research and
narrow each aspect from the discipline. I have a primary research question and three secondary
research questions. I believe these questions are appropriate for my inquiry since they ask about
several categories of analysis related to the discipline, and they ask for more than one category
instead of each asking just about one certain aspect, but of course they dont cover every single
aspect of the discipline, only the ones that I thought are the most important for my research.

Primary Research Question:

How can I become involved in the discourse community of Psychology and with it become a
better student of that discipline?

Secondary Research Questions:

What are the Customs/Habits of the discipline of Psychology, and how can I become more
familiar with these to become a more successful student in the discipline?
What kind of knowledge is necessary to obtain a certain status in the discourse community of
Psychology and how is it obtained?
How do professors and student relate in the discipline of Psychology and how does that help a
student to become more familiar with the values and traditions of this discourse community?

As previously stated, my research questions are the base of my whole research, without these
questions, my research would be too difficult to conduct. Another important aspect about them is
that they are useful in order to identify several aspects of the discipline, aspects we may usually
not notice or maybe we just dont think about them being important for the discourse
community.

Literature Review/Background

There are some explanations needed for the reader to fully comprehend this document. First of
all, this research is to learn about a discipline, which can be explained as the what-ness, the
disciplinarity is the how-ness, which is part of the discipline. My exigence, what stimulates my
engagement with the research and helps me promote a positive researcher ethos, is the desire to
create new knowledge and use it to become an insider of the discourse community of
psychology. The term discourse community can be thought of as a group of people who have
some particular trait in common, for example, this research is done by studying the discourse
community of psychology. My dissonance, which is located between what I know and what I
need to know, is precisely that, I know basically nothing about the discipline of psychology, but
that is one of the reasons why Im interested on making this project.

Inquiry into Disciplinarity: Psychology as a Culture

This project is associated with ideas such as inquiry, discourse communities, rhetoric, exigence,
dissonance, discipline, and disciplinarity. This project fits with all of these ideas because this is
an inquiry for which I will create knowledge about the discipline of psychology, which includes
its discourse community, Ethos, and disciplinarity. This knew knowledge is supported by my
findings from my research methods (See Appendices A-D).

The concepts of rhetoric and inquiry are the most important for this investigation since both of
them are basically about that. Rhetoric refers to the effective use of writing, which is one of the
main purposes of this research, to be effective, understandable, and state a solid argument about
the discourse community of psychology. Inquiry, which is the name of the research, is that, an
investigation, which in this case is about the discourse community of psychology.

To my knowledge, I know there are other students who are involved in this project, but I do not
know about someone who also wants to obtain knowledge of the discipline of Psychology, and if
there is someone, I really doubt he/she will be exploring it exactly the way I am doing it. Each
researcher most probably have really different research questions, as well as different categories
of analysis for them. Hypothetically, even if a student had the same questions, the results would
still be very different.

Procedure/Methodology

Data methods selection:

The data collection methods used for this research are: site observations, interviews, surveys, and
document analysis. These methods are important for this project because with an ethnography
like this, I can obtain information from different points of view, not only one. For example, I
wouldnt be able to know more about the students of the discipline by doing a document
analysis. By using four research methods, theres a lot more information from different aspects,
which helps a lot for each of the categories of analysis used for my research questions.

Data collection:

Interviews (See Appendix A-4 for interview questions): Ive conducted 3 interviews, the
interviewees are: Skye Woestehoff (See Appendix A-1), PhD candidate and my
Introduction to Psychology professor, Dr. Wendy Francis (See Appendix A-3), professor
and researcher in the discourse community of psychology, and Karla (pseudonym) (See
Appendix A-2), professor and researcher in the discourse community of psychology. I
decided to interview Skye Woestehoff since shes my professor and she has always
demonstrated her knowledge regarding psychology. For my other interviewees, I was
really lucky because I just went to their offices and they were really friendly and accepted
to be interviewed right away.

Inquiry into Disciplinarity: Psychology as a Culture

The main reason to conduct interviews was because this is a major source of information
from a single source, in this case professors, who are already insiders of the discourse
community of psychology. They are a reliable source of information not only for their
knowledge, but also for their experiences since they were outsiders like me at one point,
they already went through all the process of becoming part of the discipline.

Surveys (See Appendix B for survey questions): Ive distributed a total of 50 surveys,
they were distributed on different days when I went to the psychology building and I
obtained some more when I went to an Advanced Statistics class. I just asked students
if they were a psychology major, if they answered yes, I asked them if they could fill the
survey. What is effective about having the surveys printed is that I can give them to the
students and collect them as soon as they finish. I collected every survey I distributed,
with one extraordinary exception where the student left for an appointment and said, Ill
give it back to you later. I could say that Im still waiting for it. I just surveyed students
since I think this is a great opportunity to know what they think about certain aspects, and
if I mixed different populations (professors or faculty members) the information would be
hard to organize and wouldnt be as effective as having only one kind of population.

Document Analysis: The documents I analyzed are: Introduction to Psychology syllabus

(See Appendix D-1 for the full document analyzis), used by Professor Skye Woestehoff,
Senior Thesis syllabus (See Appendix D-3 for the full document), and Social Cognition
Research syllabus (See Appendix D-2 for the full document), these last two used by Dr.
Michael Zarate. A syllabus is a document where the topics to be covered during the
course, as well as class policies and how the class will be graded. I chose this type of
document because I wanted to know how each professor structures their classes, with this
I can know the differences between classes (because professors who have several classes
may use totally different syllabi) and this can also give me information about the topics
covered in those courses.

Site Observations: I did three site observations inside the building of psychology, two
were done in the halls and one of those also included a research laboratory, and the third
site observation was done at Vinson Lab (See Appendix C-2), which is a computer
laboratory. My first two site observations were done at the same place and I got basically
the same information from both observations, which is why I only include one of them
for the appendices (See Appendix C-1). The psychology building is full of laboratories,
offices, and some classrooms, there are a lot of announcements on the walls, and it is
really well illuminated and smells nice. The research laboratory that I observed was also
a really comfortable place, it had several computers, couches, posters, a blackboard with
several drawings, a lot of papers, and they even had their own microwave. My
observations lasted about 45 minutes on average. About 80% of the people that I saw
were psychology majors, they were really friendly, I even talked to some of them after
asking them to complete my survey.

Inquiry into Disciplinarity: Psychology as a Culture

This research method was important because it let me be in the environment in which the
insiders of the discourse community usually are. I learned a lot that I couldnt by simply
asking people, I learned about the places and the people, specifically about their
behaviors and thoughts, which sometimes are difficult to simply describe.

Data Coding:
I coded the data I obtained from my surveys according to the answers provided, not by each
students academic classification (sophomore, junior, senior, or graduate). I think this is effective
because for some questions it doesnt matter if they already belong completely to the discourse
community of psychology or not, and some questions are obvious is they were answered by a
sophomore or a graduate student because of their knowledge and/or experience. This information
and the one I obtained from the other research methods were organized according to their
respective category of analysis.

I coded the data from my research methods in accordance to the categories of analysis from my
research questions, an advantage is that each method as certain categories as objective. I could
say I obtained a little from each method that helped me with several categories of analysis. In a
more general idea, I would say that I obtained more information in regard to Customs and Habits
with my surveys and site observations. Knowledge and Status came from my interviews, Values
and traditions from my site observations and document analysis, and relationships from surveys
and interviews. But as I just mentioned, this is just a generalized point of view, since I obtained
information for each category of analysis from almost each research method.

Results/Discussion

To become part of the discourse community of psychology, there are certain points that the
outsider must consider in order to become an insider and thus become a better student of the
discipline. These point include becoming familiar with the customs and habits of the discipline,
acquiring knowledge related to the culture in order to be an important part of it, and relationships
with professors, who will guide the student to become familiar with the values and traditions in
order to become a better student in the discipline of psychology.

Of course there were results for each of the categories of analysis included stated on my research
questions. This is the information obtained from the different research methods used for my
inquiry.

Customs:

Inquiry into Disciplinarity: Psychology as a Culture

Each professor evaluates differently, they do this depending on their classes and most
importantly, their students. Most psychology classes have exams, although not all of them have
mid-term and final exams. Laboratories are essential in the discourse community of psychology,
some professors prefer to have classes on laboratories than having a regular lecture so that
students apply their knowledge and understand it better.

80% of the students surveyed said that certain customs and/or habits are needed to become part
of the discourse community of psychology. These include: critical thinking, reading a lot,
dedicate a certain amount of time to study for each class, doing a lot of research, and several
more.

Habits:
Discussions are common in the culture of psychology, although some classes have a lot of
students and this become harder. Assignments may be different from one class to another, they
may include doing research, writing essays, analyzing the material covered in class for a
discussion, among many other types of assignments. Study groups are recommended for some
courses because this way students interact and they understand the topics easier.

Knowledge:
All of the professors interviewed stated that graduate school is recommended to obviously have
more knowledge about the discipline, but this also give students many more opportunities for
their careers. Publications are also very important, researchers have about 2 publications per
year, which give them certain positions in their respective organizations, and for a student, it
could be rewarded with a scholarship.

79% of the students who answered the survey said that they feel that they have acquired the
knowledge required to become part of the discourse community of psychology. Interesting
enough, some of the students from the remaining 21% are senior or graduate students.

Status:
Students involved in research get some privileges like having their own labs or gaining access to
special research documents. Every researcher may also be awarded for his/her work, the same
happens with students and their grades. Although there are two options in psychology: Bachelor
of Science (B.S.) and Bachelor of Arts (B.A.); both have certain aspects in common, but they
may differ in others that will lead them to different researches and/or positions in organizations.

Relationships:

Inquiry into Disciplinarity: Psychology as a Culture

Every student who completed the survey answered that relationships between students and
professors are really important. Some reasons include acquiring more knowledge, obtaining
letters of recommendation, and getting involved more in the discipline. Also the professors I
interviews stated how important relationships are, they said that this can have benefits such as
letters of recommendation, opportunities for research participations, or simply getting help with
the material seen in class.

Other kinds of relationships such as students with other students are also important since they are
needed in some of the research done. In one of my observations, I saw two graduate students
talking about their project, they seemed to be good friends, which made their work efficient.

Values:
Each course is different from another, not only because of its contents but also because each
professor teaches in a different way, some may prefer to have discussions while others prefer to
have more assignments; according to some students, introductory courses and advanced courses
are very different and that is why sometimes students have a hard time in their junior year..
There are several organizations in the discourse community of psychology, most of them are
research labs, which usually have to present some publications of their work.

Some students and professors told me about their experience while working, they say it may be
very variable, it may be difficult or not, it may be stressful or fun, it all depends on the type of
work they have and how it has to be done.

Traditions:
The degree plan for B.S. and B.A. in psychology have a lot of courses in common, but B.S.
focuses on research, math, and science, while B.A. focuses more on humanities and cognition.
Both degree plans include introductory courses and there are some other courses which are
electives, meaning that the student decides which classes he/she will take.

As mentioned before, each syllabus may be very different from another, even if the same
professor wrote them, this is because certain factors such as the class, policies, the students, and
the material to be covered.

All of this information says much about the discipline, with it we can draw conclusions regarding
certain aspects of the discipline, for example how important are relationships between professors
and students according to my surveys and interviews. If we connect the results from each of the
categories Ive analyzed, we can draw a metaphorical picture of how the discipline is.

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10

Conclusion

This research has created new knowledge about the discipline of psychology, not only by
obtaining information about certain aspects of the culture, but it helped me to analyze the
discipline from different point of view. I learned about the Logos of the discipline by watching
how professors teach, I learned about Ethos by having an introductory course and studying how
it obtains its credibility, and I also learned about its Pathos by interacting with different insiders
of the discipline.

I know this research had some limitations, for example, it didnt analyze every category of
analysis, but it helped me to learn a lot more from the discipline I chose as my major. This
research helped me to know the essential aspects of psychology and Im sure Ill learn a lot more
as I progress as a psychology student.

Through this research I learned a lot from the discipline of psychology, not only when I wrote
this research paper, but through the experience of doing the research. I interacted with students
like me who are also still becoming insiders, with experienced students and professors, I saw
how their classes are structured, and many more things. I am grateful that I had this experience
and I am sure that it will help me a lot in the future as I now know what to expect from the
discipline. With this information I would say I have an advantage, which is that I now know
about the discipline, compared to those who are like me before doing this research.

I know that this research will help other students who are also interested in the discipline of
psychology, it really helped me a lot. I dont know if any other audience would benefit from this
research, but Im sure it will help high school students or even freshmen student who still dont
know exactly which discipline they want to choose. Another thing that might help students or
people interested in the discipline is to do their own inquiry if they are interested enough, as it
helps a lot in comparison to just read the findings of another researcher, which can also be very
helpful, but I think some aspects are understood better when we obtain that information by our
own methods.

Inquiry into Disciplinarity: Psychology as a Culture

Appendices

11

Inquiry into Disciplinarity: Psychology as a Culture

Appendix A-1
Interviews:

12

Inquiry into Disciplinarity: Psychology as a Culture

Appendix A-2

13

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Appendix A-3

14

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15

Appendix A-4
Interview Questions:

1. How do you structure an introductory course and an advanced course?

2. What are your goals as a professor?
3. What are the bases needed for a student to become part of the discourse community of psychology?
4. What is the best environment for students to learn in your classes?
5. What is your teaching philosophy?
6. If you could change anything from the department of psychology, what would it be?
7. How important are the relationships between students and professors?
8. What are some examples of traditions and values in the discourse community of psychology?
9. What is the importance of having customs like researches and labs instead of only having regular
classes?
10. What kind of habits do psychology students have and if they have, why are they important?
11. What are the factors that help students become more familiar with the discipline and becoming
better students?
12. What are the main differences between a student who doesnt relate to professors and one who do
relate with them?
13. What are the characteristics of someone who already belongs to the discourse community of
psychology?

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Appendix B
Surveys:

Discipline of psychology survey

My name is Manuel Melendez, I am a freshman who is interested in becoming part of the discourse
community of psychology. The purpose of this survey is to acquire information for a research which has
the discipline of psychology as main topic. I am firmly committed to maintaining the confidentiality of
individual respondents data obtained through this survey. If you want to obtain the results of this
research, please provide your e-mail:
____________________________________________________________________
1. What is you academic classification?
Sophomore
Junior

Senior

Graduate

2. Have you acquired certain customs/habits which, in your opinion, are fundamental to become
part of the discipline of psychology?
Yes
No
If you agree, provide an example:
__________________________________________________________________________________
3. Do you feel that you have obtained the knowledge required to become part of the discourse
community of psychology?
Strongly Agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
4. Are relationships between students and professors important to become a successful student in
the discipline of psychology?
Strongly Agree
Disagree

Agree
Strongly Disagree

5. Which year has been the hardest for you?

Freshmen
Why?

Sophomore

Junior

Senior

Graduate

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17

_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
6. Has any professor of your discipline has shown a lack of knowledge or interest regarding his/her
class (es)?
Strongly Agree
Agree
Disagree

Strongly Disagree

7. Are certain attitudes/behaviors displayed by students in the discourse community of

psychology?
Yes
No
If you agree, provide an example:
_____________________________________________________________________________________
8. Do you consider the department of psychology should be changed in certain aspect(s) to
become a better place for students of the discipline?
Yes
No
If yes, what change(s) do you consider necessary?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_______________
9. Do you feel that you are part the of the discourse community of psychology?
Strongly Agree
Agree
Disagree

Strongly Disagree

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Appendix C-1
Site Observations:
Site Observation #_1_

Date

10/21/2014

Begin Time

11:00 am

End Time

12:00 pm

# People at Site
(demographic info.)

20-30 (without counting the

ones who were in a classroom)

Place

Psychology Building

All the floors look basically the same, there are a lot of announcements on the walls, there are some clocks, benches, fountains,
it is well illuminated, the main entrance is blocked because of the construction, it smells nice (at least in my opinion).
It was very quiet at that time, there are just some few students sitting on the benches, others were just walking (most probably
to their classes), some were just sitting on the floor reading their books or doing something on their laptops, others were just
talking. Most of them seemed really relaxed, there were a few exceptions that seemed to be worried about something.
I could see some doors were open and I could barely see some students in class, in some they were just reading, other were just
talking about the class with their professors, there were some empty classrooms where students were just talking or playing
videogames.
That day I went to participate in an investigation, so I saw how they work on these. There were three graduate students who
were taking notes and discussing about participants results. They were really friendly, they talked properly but still made some
jokes (most probably to make us feel comfortable).
The place where the research was being done was a little dark, there were computers and a lot of papers, and they also had
food. The students seemed to have a good time while doing this investigation.
Most offices were closed, most probably because professors were in class or maybe they were just busy.
Reflections

Most students are in class at this time, maybe its a little earlier or later when it becomes crowded.
Psychology students seem more relaxed than students from other disciplines.
It really helped the fact that I went to participate at the research, to know how they interact with an outsider.
Theres a balance between rooms (classrooms, offices, laboratories) that were being used or not, there are a lot of classes at
this time, but not all psychology courses are in this building.

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19

From what I barely saw, classrooms vary, some are really big, some have just one big table in the middle, others are just like
regular classrooms, and some seem more like a lab (which they probably are).
It was really quiet, the only exceptions were some classrooms.
Its interesting the quantity of windows, compared to other buildings, there is not a single room (I havent explored the whole
building so there may be exceptions) without at least a window.

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Appendix C-2
Site Observation #_3_

Date

11/20/2014

Begin Time

9:00 am

# People at Site
(demographic info.)

End Time

10:20 pm

27

Place

Psychology Building, Vinson Lab

I went to the class Advanced Statistics a senior level course. This course is imparted in a computed laboratory,
something which I find interesting since I thought psychology had almost no relation with computers.
During the class, the professor asked made some questions, and it was incredible how everybody wanted to
participate, also students actually asked when they had questions! (compared to a lot of classes Ive had)
Students use a special program for statistics in this class, although I couldnt understand anything, it seemed really
interesting, and even more because students seemed to enjoy it.
Their homework is basically to do some research on the topics they see in class and some exercises also related to
the content of the class.
I heard that the exams are done with the computer, I guess their exams may consist only of exercises and not theory.
Everyone talked a lot in this class, but they were all discussing things about the class, thats why even the professor
didnt care, because she knew they are interested in the class.
The professor explained everything really well and asked if anyone had questions, and if someone had a problem,
she explained again until the student understood.
Reflections

The students I met in this class were very friendly, some even tried to explain me some of the things they were doing in class,
but I still didnt understood.
I think this is a big computer lab, everyone had a lot of space and there were even extra chairs in a corner.
Its interesting how some people were like yeah, this class is really easy and fun, while other seemed to be worried because
they didnt understand a think (like me). This could be because the last ones dont pay attention or because it is naturally easier
for other students since they use a lot of math.
It may be obvious but students dont need any kind of book or notebook for this class, sometimes they print texts or exercises,
but about 95% of the class is using the computer.

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21

This is a room with a really good view of the school, it has a really big window in the left wall (assuming that were at the door)
I like how this room has a carpet floor, it feels relaxing, although it could be dangerous if there was an electrical problem with
the computers.

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22

Appendix D-1
Document Analysis:

Introduction to Psychology Syllabus

1. Purpose
Analysis: I think this document was written mainly to inform about all the basic information about the
course. Information such as who is the instructor, his/her information, if there are required texts, course
overview, and how students will be evaluated. The primary audience for which this document was
written is students who are going to take this course because this syllabus will affect them positively by
giving them the information they will need to take the course in an effective way. By following this
document, it will be easier for students to become part of the discourse community of psychology.
Maybe a possible secondary audience could be someone who is thinking about studying psychology, this
document could help someone to get the idea of how is a basic psychology class and if they would really
like to take that course or not.
Evaluation: In my opinion, this document is redacted in a really clear and descriptive way, it informs
about all the main aspects in a detailed way, this way students (primary audience) really know how the
course will be. Theres information that could even help secondary audiences, information such as
quotes from former students and a detailed description of the assignments, exams, researches, and
class policies.
2. Writing roles
Analysis: I think the roles intended for this document are teaching and researching.

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23

Evaluation: These roles support the purpose of the document because it gives you the knowledge you
need to know since the first class, if you follow this guide you will learn how to become a successful
student in this class. And the research role is supported because there is a section in which shows the
results from an investigation in which it explains the Stages of Academic Development, which is not
only useful by the information but also to know that this is some research done in the field of
psychology, this proves how a research in the discourse community of psychology obtains its Ethos.
Being a syllabus, this document expresses a lot of information, maybe more compared to other classes
syllabi, I think it included the exact roles it needed to accomplish its purpose.
3. Types of arguments
Analysis: The arguments attempted in this document are mainly facts and policies. This syllabus explains
how the class will be; it is a fact that the things stated on the syllabus will be done: researches, exams,
assignments, and classwork, all of those things are things that are going to be done during the course
because it is written in the syllabus. It also describes how each activity will be evaluated and certain
class policies such as how to speak with your professor if you disagree with a grade. Another example is
where it explains how students are supposed to participate in research studies, and policies like if you
dont attend to one that you were supposed to, you will receive a negative credit.
The overall argument of the document is fact, because it mainly describes the course and how it will be,
and it gives enough reasons, like clearly describing the course and how it will be for sure, to support this
claims.
Evaluation: The writer made an effective argument, it provided enough logic assertions, and it has a
coherent overall argument. There is enough evidence in this document to support its claims. I believe
any audience who reads this document will find these arguments compelling and effective because it
has a good structure, examples, and it is easy to understand.

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4. Structure/Organization
Analysis: This document is structured in parts, and in each part there are topics. It starts with the class
information, including the instructors information, required text, and course overview. Then it explains
how the class is evaluated, it shows how the exams will be, theres a description of the research
participation students must do, as well as the assignments. Finally, it explains certain policies such as
late assignments, grading scale, and relevant information for this section.
Evaluation: The information is structured effectively, it is easy to understand and know what the writer
wants the reader to learn through this text. It is also written with vocabulary that most audiences would
easily understand. This document shows many rhetorical appeals like how the writer combines its
arguments with its research results to prove a logic and credibility to its arguments.
5. Function
Analysis: The writer wants the reader to learn about the course in general, choose between participating
in research studies and writing articles, and archive the document for reference because it states
important dates like when the assignments are due or when are the exams. Of course this is linked to
the rhetorical situation, which would be the class, the writer explains all of this in a certain way that
students will comprehend and accept this terms with the help of rhetorical appeals such as Logos, by
providing enough information which create an effective argument, and Ethos, which is the overall
credibility that is created from the argument and its structure.
6. Document Design
Analysis: The writer considered this document should be read at least once on the first week of classes,
but maybe student will need it for reference to identify things such as how much the assignments are

Inquiry into Disciplinarity: Psychology as a Culture

25

worth or when are they due. This document reflects the effort done by the writer in a lot of aspects, so
the readers could comprehend and accept everything that is stated in this document.
Evaluation: I think the design is completely appropriate for the intended audience, which are students,
as well as the other aspects such as its purpose, writing roles, types of argument, structure/organization,
and function.

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Appendix D-2
Other documents analyzed:

Social Cognition Lab Undergraduate Guidelines

Your participation in a research laboratory will allow you the opportunity to gain experience in research
protocol and to sharpen your research skills. This means getting involved with the design and execution
of pre-existing projects, and will often lead to the development of your own research ideas. This
experience, while intellectually demanding, will be professionally useful for you- especially if you intend
on going to graduate school.

If this is the first time you have participated in the primary, empirical research process, you will receive a
great deal of guidance from Dr. Zrate and the graduate students in the lab. However, as your familiarity
with the research process increases, you will be encouraged to work more independently. It is entirely
appropriate and even encouraged to be involved in this research lab for multiple semesters. The
following are guidelines and requirements that will ensure that you have a substantive experience
working in this lab.

Guidelines:

1. We ask all of our undergraduate research assistants to provide us with unofficial transcripts so
we can have an idea of your previous academic performance and a one-paragraph statement as
to why you are interested in doing research. Be sure to include a short statement regarding
your career plans. If you have already developed a curriculum vita (CV), provide us with a copy
of that as well. If you have not yet developed a CV, the members of the lab will be happy to
help you do so.
2. You will find it extremely helpful to have taken an Introductory Statistics class and an
Experimental Methods class before working in this lab or at the same time as working with us.
This is not, however, a requirement.
3. Before committing to doing research in the Social Cognition lab, speak with Dr. Zrate and the
graduate students in the lab about the research that we do to ensure that your interests are

Inquiry into Disciplinarity: Psychology as a Culture

27

aligned with the research taking place in the lab. If you find your interests lies elsewhere, we
will be happy to help you find another mentor within the department.
4. After you have decided which program of research you are more interested in, choose a
graduate student adviser. You will be expected to meet with that graduate student adviser at
least once a week to ensure that you are actively involved in the work of the lab.
5. To keep on top of the activities of the lab, it is in your interest to attend weekly lab meetings.
6. The lab has two types of undergraduate assistants volunteers and students enrolled in
research applications. We ask our lab volunteers to spend a minimum of 6 hours per week in
the lab, and those taking research applications to spend 9 hours/week in the lab. This is the
bare minimum to ensure that you are fully integrated in the research process and you are
invited to commit to more time if you have the time and interest. We also need you to be
reliable in terms of the hours you can work. You can spend that time reading articles, collecting,
coding, or analyzing data. Also, running subjects for other students, graduate student adviser
meetings, lab meetings, and meetings with Dr. Zrate can be included in that time requirement.
7. Depending on your level of involvement in the lab, you may be asked to give a presentation at
lab meetings.
8. This is an extremely collaborative lab. You will be trained in the protocol of all the labs
current projects and will be asked to assist the other members in the lab with their projects at
times.
9. You will be asked to read journal articles in the lab. These articles may pertain to your research,
your graduate student advisers research, or another member of the labs research.
10. Read your email. You will receive several emails about research activities every week and you
will fall behind if you dont check your mail daily.
Final Notes:

THIS LAB IS YOUR LAB! We encourage you to come here and use the resources and equipment
in this lab for your studies. If you need to come in during your off time to work, type up or print
out a paper, heat up your lunch, etc. feel free to do so. Undergraduate research assistants are
very valued members of our lab and we are happy to have you. If you need guidance through
the application process for graduate school or academic assistance in any other way we are here
to help. Never be afraid to ask if you need help.

Inquiry into Disciplinarity: Psychology as a Culture

28

It is never OK to stand up participants in your research! If you need to cancel an experiment

ahead of time, it is appropriate to do so through Experimetrix. If you have an emergency,
contact the members of the lab to substitute for you or meet with (who will give you their
phone numbers and email addresses) the participants to get their information so you can give
them credit. It is never acceptable to simply not show up. This is Dr. Zrates biggest rule and a
question of ethics and respect to our participants.

Even if you are not currently testing your own ideas in the lab, it is always a good idea to begin
to formulate your own research ideas as you work in the Social Cognition lab. These ideas may
eventually end up being a Senior Honors Thesis or will help you determine where you should go
to graduate school.

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Appendix D-3

Social Cognition Lab Senior Honors Thesis Syllabus

Completing a Senior Honors Thesis will be an extremely valuable experience for you, especially if you
are considering the possibility of going to graduate school. It will lay the foundation for a future career
as an independent researcher, will be considered an asset by graduate schools everywhere, and may
allow you the opportunity to be first author on a conference presentation at a professional conference
or be included in a publication in a professional journal.

Senior Honors Theses involve creating a research idea, designing a study, executing that study,
analyzing the results, and writing up a manuscript describing that study. You are responsible for seeing
that the study is completed from beginning to end. While the graduate students in this laboratory are
more than happy to guide you through that process and assist you to the best of their ability, you are
the one responsible for taking the necessary steps to see that the project is completed. In this
syllabus, you will find general guidelines and a few specific deadlines for creating a Senior Honors
project. These guidelines will help you stay on track in completing this project, but will also determine
your grade at the end of the project.

Guidelines:
1. We ask that all of our undergraduate research assistants to provide us with unofficial
transcripts so we can have an idea of your previous academic performance and a oneparagraph statement as to why you are interested in doing research. Be sure to include a
short statement regarding your career plans. If you have already developed a curriculum vita
(CV), provide us with a copy of that as well. If you have not yet developed a CV, the members of
the lab will be happy to help you do so, but you should plan on having a working vitae before
the end of your first semester of Research Applications.
2. Everyone who completes a Senior Honors Thesis in this lab must be in a position to dedicate at
least two semesters to the project. In most cases, it is better to be involved in the lab for at
least a semester or summer as a volunteer or for Research Applications credit before
committing to a Senior Honors Thesis.
One semester is not enough time to complete a Senior Honors Thesis.
3. Before starting a Senior Honors thesis, you must have successfully completed Introductory
Statistics class, Experimental Methods, and have a GPA of 3.0 or better. This is nonnegotiable. These courses will help you immensely in executing your project.
4. Ensure that your research ideas are at least loosely related to research already being conducted
in the lab. This way Dr. Zrate and the graduate students will be better able to guide you

Inquiry into Disciplinarity: Psychology as a Culture

5.

6.
7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

30

through the process. If your research interests do not match those of the Social Cognition Lab,
notify the graduate students and they will be able to help you find another mentor in the
Psychology Department.
After you have decided which program of research you are more interested in, choose a
graduate student adviser. You will be expected to meet with that graduate student adviser at
least once a week to ensure that you are progressing on your project. Remember, this is your
project and it is up to you to see that it is completed in a timely fashion. Dr. Zrate will consult
your graduate student adviser at the end of the semester to determine your grade, so it is in
your interest to maintain contact with that person.
Unless you have an arrangement with the lab manager and your graduate student adviser to
stay abreast of the research in the lab, you must attend weekly lab meetings.
Senior Honors Thesis students are required to spend a minimum of 9-12 hours per week in the
lab. It is preferable that you choose specific days and times and notify the lab manager and your
graduate student adviser of when to expect you in the lab. Nonetheless, if you have a variable
schedule for work reasons, these times can be negotiated. You can spend that time reading
articles, writing up your research, or collecting data according to what phase of your project you
are in. Also, running subjects for other students, graduate student adviser meetings, lab
meetings, and meetings with Dr. Zrate can be included in that time requirement
While your primary purpose in the lab will be to complete your thesis, this is an extremely
collaborative lab. You will be trained in the protocol of all the labs current projects and will be
asked to assist the other members in the lab with their projects. You will be asked to choose
both a primary project (your thesis) and a secondary project (another project of interest) to
participate in. This is true for everyone, including graduate students.
You will be asked to give at least two presentations to the lab over the course of your project.
The first will come when you and your graduate student adviser have worked out an idea for
your thesis and you will get feedback from the lab on that idea. The second will be when you
complete the project and you discuss your findings with the lab.
You will be required to read roughly one journal article per week. These articles may pertain to
your research, your graduate student advisers research, or another member of the labs
research. There will be times when you are reading more (e.g. when you are conducting your
literature search) and less (during the data collection phase). However, if you have gone several
weeks without reading an article, alert your graduate student adviser or the lab manager.
Read your email. You will receive several emails about research activities every week and you
will fall behind if you dont check your mail daily.

Timeline:

Semester 1 (Optional)

Get involved in a pre-existing project in the lab to get accustomed to doing research and
experimental protocol.

Semester 2

31

Inquiry into Disciplinarity: Psychology as a Culture

Week 1- Decide which pre-existing program of research you want to be involved in and identify
a graduate student mentor.
Weeks 2-3- Conduct a search of a relevant body of research and formulate 3 possible research
ideas and report these ideas back to your graduate student adviser.
Week 4- Have a workable, relevant, and realistic research idea identified with a rough outline of
the theoretical foundation of the research, your hypotheses, and the methodology you intend to
use.
Week 6-7- Complete and submit an Internal Review Board (IRB) proposal to the Office of
Research and Sponsored Projects.

****Note- This is something your graduate student adviser will help you with a lot. Most
likely you will be presented with a template for this proposal
and your graduate student
adviser will review it before it is submitted.
Also, the IRB approval process can take as much
as one month to six
weeks to approve a project. It is important that you continue to be
engaged in the lab while you are awaiting approval.

While you are waiting for IRB Approval- Continue to refine the methods (stimuli, manipulations, and measures) of
experiment.
- Write a rough draft of the introduction and methods section of your Senior

your
Honors Thesis

- Continue to assist other members of the lab with their projects.

When you get IRB approval- Begin data collection.

****Data collection will most likely continue until the end of the semester,
except in specific circumstances. If it looks like you will complete the data
collection phase of your experiment before the end of the semester, you
are welcome to continue to the Semester 3 timeline. This is something
that should be discussed with you graduate student adviser.

Semester 3

Continue data collection until it is complete.

When the data collection phase is completed, you will statistically analyze the data and write
the results and discussion sections of your thesis. This should be turned into your graduate
student adviser and Dr. Zrate a month before the semester is over to give them time to review
it for revisions.
At the end of your third semester, you will be asked to present your final project to, at the very
least, the lab. Depending on the project, you may be asked to also present your findings to the
department or at a professional conference.

Sample grading guidelines:

____Met weekly with graduate student adviser.

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32

____Attended weekly lab meetings.

____Completed weekly readings.
____Gave feedback presentations (first presentation).
____Gave final presentation.
____Spent 9-12 hours in the lab weekly.
____Assisted at least one other member of the lab on another project.
____Was conscientious about research ethics (e.g. showing up on time for data collection, etc.)
____Completed the steps of the research project in a timely fashion (literature search, design, data
collection, write-up, etc.)
Final Notes:

THIS LAB IS YOUR LAB! We encourage you to come here and use the resources and equipment
in this lab for your studies. If you need to come in during your off time to work, type up or print
out a paper, heat up your lunch, etc. feel free to do so. Undergraduate research assistants are
very valued members of our lab and we are happy to have you. If you need guidance through
the application process for graduate school or academic assistance in any other way we are here
to help.
It is never OK to stand up participants in your research! If you need to cancel an experiment
ahead of time, it is appropriate to do so through experimetrix. If you have an emergency,
contact the members of the lab to substitute for you or meet with (who will give you their
phone numbers and email addresses) the participants to get their information so you can give
them credit. It is never acceptable to simply not show up. This is Dr. Zrates biggest rule and a
question of ethics and respect.
Some projects are more demanding and time consuming than others. While it is important to
be realistic about your goals, it is not uncommon to accept an incomplete if the project is
waylaid for some reason or another. If that is the case, you will just finish the project after the
semester is over and will be given a retroactive grade upon completion. However, granting of
incompletes is left to Dr. Zrates discretion and simply not doing your work may not lead to an
incomplete, but to a low grade for your Senior Honors Thesis Credit.