Applying Personality Theory to Superheroes: An Essay

Objectives and Outcomes

Objectives and Outcomes Examine a personality theory in-depth. Apply concepts that you have learned in the course materials. Acquire knowledge about a specific topic or issue related to personality theories that is of interest to you. Analyze and synthesize information about your chosen topic. Practise writing an essay using APA style. Instructions Your second assignment is to choose a *different* theory from the one you chose from Essay 1 and write about how it relates to the personality of the superhero that you wrote about in Essay 1. Your treatment of your topic must reflect the purpose of the course; that is, your essay must address the psychological theories of the major personality theorists and apply the ideas presented in the research literature to the superhero’s personality. For this paper, you must use three to four academic (scholarly) sources. These may include original research articles published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, and secondary sources—that is, books or articles written by someone with appropriate academic credentials that criticize a piece of original research or that compare several pieces of research on a single issue. Remember the supplementary materials lists that you can find on our course homepage, although you are not limited to using the resources in them. All of your sources should have been published within the past five to ten years. The only online sources that you may use are electronically published scholarly journals, such as those that you will find in AU Library’s journal database collection. Wikipedia, the Internet, newspapers, and popular magazines are not acceptable sources. Use of the textbook should be minimal. At least one of your sources should be a research report of an empirical study. You can read a brief description of empirical studies in Empirical Research in the Social Sciences and Education, from the Penn State University Library. To learn more about how to search for and access material from AU Library, use the navigation bar—particularly “Get Help” and “Find Resources”—at the top of the Library and Scholarly Resources home page. You will, of course, acknowledge all of your sources in a scholarly way throughout your paper. Please review the Essays page in the Course Information manual, particularly the sections on “Format,” “Citing and Referencing,” and “The References List.” Structure Introduction The introduction to your paper should address these questions in a scholarly way: What do you intend to do? What issue(s) will you discuss, and from what point of view? What approach to your topic will you take? What will be the limitations of your research and your discussion? This section should define what you will and will not cover. The most important part of your introduction is the thesis statement. St. Cloud State University’s Literacy Education Online has a clear and simple outline of what a Thesis Statement is and is not, and The University of Toronto’s Writing Advice provides information about Using Thesis Statements. Both resources are succinct and provide clear examples. Body In the body of your paper, you should follow through on what you said you would do in the introduction. Make sure that your interpretation of the superhero’s character is clear, and make sure that the theories, concepts, and research findings that you use to support it are directly relevant to the personality theory that you have chosen. It is important that you organize the paper in a meaningful way, that you express yourself clearly, and that you argue and document your ideas. You are encouraged to use quotations from the movie relevant to your character, but please use paraphrasing for the rest of the paper. Any ideas attributable to someone else must be acknowledged with proper in-text citations, and listed in proper APA reference format at the end of the paper. The Form of the Essay Your paper should be written so that your ideas flow logically, there are connections between your ideas, and you use new paragraphs for new sub-topics. Grammar, spelling, punctuation, and typing errors will be taken into account in the assessment, as will your careful use of APA style in your paper in general, and in your in-text citations and your references list in particular. Refer to the Citing and Referencing section in the Course Information manual for several sources of information on APA style. Before you complete this assignment, please read the section on Plagiarism on AU’s Write Site. Marking Key Introduction Concisely states the rationale, purpose, and structure. Describes background of the personality theory chosen. Includes clear thesis statement.  A wordy or sketchy statement of the rationale, purpose, and structure. Includes information either unnecessary or better placed later in the essay. Thesis statement clearly describes either what the paper is about or what point you are trying to make, but not both. A well-written, interesting rationale or background statement, which includes either the purpose or the structure. Unclear or inadequate thesis statement. 15–16 A well-written, interesting rationale or background statement in which neither purpose nor structure is described. Unclear or inadequate thesis statement. Poorly written with neither purpose nor structure described. No thesis statement. No introduction. 0–10 Review of the Literature Accurately discusses and integrates the main findings of scholarly articles. Demonstrates a clear understanding of concepts, theory, and relevant research; demonstrates insight into personality theories. Well-organized, planned, and integrated material. 40 Does not include recommended number of resources and/or some of these are non-academic sources. Demonstrates understanding of a small range of concepts, theory, and research evidence, but these may not be fully explained.Does not include recommended number of resources. A number of sources are non-academic. Basic understanding is evident in some aspects of the issues, but discussion is confused or sketchy.  Incomplete, inaccurate discussion of secondary sources. No articles summarized 0 Application of Theory to Superhero and Discussion of How Well Superhero’s Behaviours Illustrate this Application Excellent, thorough, and integrated discussion of how the theory relates to superhero personality. Includes examples of specific behaviours that illustrate the concepts. Thorough discussion of how well this theory explains (or does not explain) the superhero’s personality. 5 Discussion of application of theory to superhero personality, but lacks depth. Confused or superficial discussion of application of theory to superhero personality No discussion of application of theory to superhero personality. 0 Form Consistent use of current APA style in title page, body of the essay, citations, and reference list. Excellent organization, grammar, spelling, and punctuation. (A well-organized essay will use headings and/or clear, logical transitions to shift from one section to the next.)