PURPOSE:

Select an article in the news, identify the question which the psychological issue involved and locate one library, newspaper or internet source that helps answer the question posed by the article.

METHOD:

Select one article. The NYTimes.com, especially the health or Tuesday science section, is a good source of current issues under research or review. You may also go to the library or current professional periodicals. Reputable sources may be accessed via the SUNY learning network. No Wikis, encyclopedias, religious sites or anything obviously biased (like a site titled “Antipsychiatry”), please.

Students preparing to enter the field of human services should begin identifying and examining the journals specific to their studies. For instance, you may imagine a nurse’s primary focus is on medical issues, but a certain percentage of patients have mental disorders that will affect good nursing practice and some nurses will work on mental health services and substance abuse units. Others will work in schools or with the elderly and need specialized knowledge concerning those populations’ physical and psychological needs. A human service professional must meet a client where the client presently is, not where we would prefer the client to be. You can use these assignments as an opportunity to learn how your profession approaches different clients and handles a variety of problems.

Read the article and identify what psychological issue is involved. You may define psychology broadly enough to include medications for psychological disorders, applied psychology in the factory, workplace, advertising, etc. One friend’s father worked with Grumman for years, organizing airplane instrumentation to make it safer and easier for pilots to read.

After you identify the issue, I would like for you to look for one source that adds information to what you already have. Do not use an encyclopedia or popular source such as Psychology Today. This is college level work, and you have access through the RCC library to professional publications.

I do not consider Wikipedia a satisfactory resource, because there is no qualtiy control of the articles. Similary problems with dictionaries which are not professinal psychology sources. Material in a professionally edited journal has been peer-reviewed and therefore carries a “seal of approval” by reputable professionals which is important until you become thoroughly familiar with the subject and can make your own determinations about reliability. Therefore, I do NOT wish to see references to Wikipedia, at all, at all.

Write a 250 word summary of the article, including the source of the article and the material you researched.