ARTICLE SUMMARY ASSIGNMENT

Assigned reading:

Flett, G. L., Blankstein, K. R., Hewitt, P. L., & Koledin, S. (1992). Components of perfectionism and procrastination in college students. Social Behavior and Personality, 20(2), 85-94.

Note: This is an individual assignment. You should complete the work independently. If you have questions, you may ask me.

IMAGINE THIS:

Imagine that you are writing an introduction to an empirical paper.  Your hypothesis is that students will produce better work, and be more likely to turn it in on time, if professors preface assignments with a section on "Learning Goals."  You predict that reading about the Learning Goals for an assignment will lead students to be intrinsically motivated when working on the assignment.  One faculty member has agreed to put "Learning Goals" on their next assignment for half of the students in the class, and to leave those goals off the assignment for the other half of the class.  She will then provide you with assignment scores and timeliness information for both groups.

You have gathered a nice set of book chapters and journal articles that define instrinsic motivation, and discuss factors that encourage it.  You read the Flett et al. (1992) article and would like to use it in your paper to point out obstacles to intrinsic motivation, and characteristics of individual students who may be susceptible to such obstacles.  You think that Learning Goals might be especially useful for students with socially prescribed perfectionism.

YOUR ASSIGNMENT:

Your assignment now is to write a paragraph summarizing the Flett et al. (1992) article.  Rudimentary summaries regurgitate, in shorter form, everything the original source contains. You should aim for a more sophisticated summary in which you highlight information especially relevant to the point you want the article to make for your paper (see "Imagine This"). Don't feel tied to the original source's organization or emphasis. Your job is to create a summary specifically useful to the imaginary paper I described above. Be sure to avoid inappropriate paraphrasing (it is typically just fine to repeat names of theories, models or frequently used "jargon").

Note - despite giving you these specific goals, I do not want you to refer to the imaginary paper or "Learning Goals" in this paragraph. The paragraph should focus exclusively on the Flett et al. (1992) article. The challenge here is to decide what information to include and what to leave out.  You make your choice based on what information will best set the stage for the point described above under "Imagine This."

Your work should be typed, double-spaced, Times New Roman 12 point font with 1 inch margins on all sides.  Be sure to proof-read and spell-check (do both). Review the APA Manual sections related to Clarity of Expression and practice those skills. Turn in your completed  work to Blackboard - look under "Assignments" and "Click here to Turn in Assignments via Blackboard."  Be sure to read the instructions carefully. Your work will be counted late if it is not submitted properly.