Portfolio Contents and Instructions
The purpose of this written assignment is to better understand different structures of the brain and how they contribute to thought and behavior.
For this assignment, you will first write on TWO brain/nervous system structures. You must also find two planes (i.e., horizontal, coronal, or sagittal) of the brain structure you have selected. Only MRI, fMRI, or CAT scan images will be accepted; please do not submit drawn or illustrated images. Make sure the two brain/nervous system structure images you choose do not match with regards to the orientation plane (i.e., if one image is a horizontal view, the other image cannot also be a horizontal view; instead, the other image must be either a coronal or sagittal view).
Finally, you must describe what function(s) each of the brain/nervous system structures serve, and what happens when each structure is damaged or absent. Again, you must do all of this for each of the two brain/nervous system structures.
Summarize everything! Please write your assignment in your own words (with the exception of the brain/nervous system structure names).
This assignment should be no less than 4 pages and no more than 6 pages in length, not counting the title page and References page(s). Be sure to write a minimum of 2 FULL pages (or a maximum of 3 pages) for each brain/nervous system structure.
Finding brain/nervous system structures:
All brain/nervous system structures will be assigned to students by the instructor. A list of all student names and assigned structures will be presented at the Announcements section of the course. No brain/nervous system topic substitutions will be accepted.
Below are the requirements for this portfolio assignment:
Name each brain/nervous system structure you will write on
Include two images (i.e., no drawings) of each brain/nervous system structure, with the structure identified in the image (either by you or the creators of that image). Remember: each image must be of a different orientation plane (e.g., horizontal, coronal, sagittal).
Describe the function(s) of each brain/nervous system structure
Describe the behavioral and/or cognitive effects of damage to that brain/nervous system structure
This assignment MUST be written according to APA (American Psychological Association) writing & citation style. Please refer to the “Neuroanatomy Portfolio Essay Information” link at the Modules section of the course for documents on how to write citations within the paper and in the References page according to APA citation style.
If you are unfamiliar with APA writing style, please click and bookmark the following website: OWL Writing Center at PurdueLinks to an external site.
This assignment should be no less than 4 pages and no more than 6 pages in length, not counting the title page and References page(s). Be sure to write a minimum of 2 FULL pages (or a maximum of 3 pages) for each brain/nervous system structure. Also, each brain/nervous system structure should have at least 2 pages of information describing it. For instance, “Primary visual cortex is vision”, may be enticing to write as the “function it serves,” but that alone is not very informative and you will not pass this assignment. So, please elaborate on the information regarding each brain structure.
This assignment should be no less than 4 pages and no more than 6 pages in length, not counting the title page and References page(s). Each brain structure should have at least 2 paragraphs of information describing it. “Primary visual cortex is vision.” – may be enticing to write as the “function it serves,” but that alone is under-informative and you will not pass the assignment. So, please elaborate on the information regarding each brain structure.Links to an external site.Portfolio assignments must have each page numbered throughout, including the Title and References page. Placing the page number at the top right hand corner of the header is required. Please remember that no Abstract or Introduction sections should be included in this assignment; however, including a page header/running head is optional.
Portfolio assignments must be free of ALL quotations (i.e., assignments must contain paraphrasing only). Please address important psychological concepts in your own words. Portfolio assignments which contain quotations will be penalized with 3 points deducted for each quote.
Portfolio assignments must be free of plagiarism. Plagiarism is a serious offense in higher education! Examples of plagiarism include authors inserting material written by others without citing the source, or authors including “word-for-word” passages written by someone else in their own essays. Please see the link on Plagiarism at the “Portfolio Grading Rubric” document at the “Neuroanatomy Portfolio Essay Information” module for further information on plagiarism.
In order to encourage paraphrasing, please rely on a thesaurus when writing your portfolio (MS WORD contains a thesaurus under the “Tools” menu, or you can purchase a thesaurus at virtually any bookstore in the U.S.).
Portfolio assignments must be free of personal opinion. These assignments do not require students to state what they think or feel about a topic. Rather, these assignments require the student to gather facts and present them as a neutral outside party. Students must refrain from using all 1st person (e.g., I, me, we, etc.) and second person (e.g., you, ya’ll) language. Instead, please use third person language (e.g., he, she, it, they) if necessary.
A minimum of three (3) peer-reviewed (research) articles MUST be cited in the References page and in the text of the paper. No books can be cited in this assignment.
When submitting your portfolio assignment through the Modules link, it will automatically be sent to “Turnitin.com”. “Turnitin.com” is a website which reviews essays and reports for possible plagiarism. Do not submit your portfolio assignment to any Turnitin site other than the one found in the Modules section of the course.
Formatting for this assignment:
1” margins throughout (left, right, top, and bottom of each page)
12 pt Times New Roman font
Double-spaced
Title page: Must include your name, course number and section (Psych 2 ….) and the words “Neuroanatomical Portfolio assignment”
The brain images in the portfolio shouldn’t be too big; only a few inches in length. Your two images should not take up more than half a page.
Please submit your assignment as a PDF document through Turnitin at the Modules section of the course.
EXAMPLE OF A BRAIN IMAGE:
Hippocampus (found in the temporal lobe)
(Both images include arrows pointing to the Hippocampus in each brain hemisphere)
Again, each image MUST include the brain structure you are writing about, and the brain structure must be identified by arrows, lines, and/or names. You can label the brain structure in the image yourself, or you can use any arrows or labels that are part of the image already.
IMPORTANT: Lastly, students cannot make use of any artificial intelligence (AI) site or webpage when researching or writing this assignment. This includes, but is not limited to, ChatGPT, Google Bard, GPT-4, Azure, or any other AI chatbot/site. If a student violates this rule, they will earn an automatic F on this assignment PLUS be referred to the Dean of Instruction for possible disciplinary action.
Submission Guidelines
Please follow these instructions when submitting your portfolio assignment:
Be sure to click the “Submit paper” button to upload your portfolio assignment to Turnitin.
Click the scroll button next to “Author” to find your name. Click your name, so that your First and Last name appear under the appropriate titles. If a student cannot find their name listed, then he or she is not enrolled in the course, and must contact the instructor immediately.
Please type a title (such as Neuroanatomy Portfolio assignment) under “Submission title”.
Click the “Browse” button to upload your portfolio assignment into Turnitin. I recommend keeping your portfolio document on your desktop so that it will be easy to locate. When found, click “Upload”.
You will be taken to another window where you should be able to see your document. If so, then click “Submit”. If you cannot see your document, repeat step 4.
After submitting your portfolio, please check to insure that your assignment was submitted properly by clicking the document image found under the “File” column at Turnitin. By clicking and downloading the portfolio assignment, students can make sure it was submitted with proper formatting (page numbers in the right hand header, References page on a separate page, etc.). Remember, this is the version the instructor will grade. If the assignment appears improper in any way, students should make changes to the portfolio assignment and resubmit it before the deadline stated at the Course Schedule.
Originality Report
After submitting the essay, an Originality report depicted with a colored dot will be available for viewing at the Turnitin.com website within 30 minutes. Each color represents a percentage of your essay assignment that is suspected of being plagiarized. Colors blue and green are considered low percentages of possible plagiarism, whereas yellow, orange and red are considered high percentages of possible plagiarism (with red representing 100% confidence the document is plagiarized). ONLY PORTFOLIOS WITH ORIGINALITY REPORTS WITH BLUE OR GREEN DOTS WILL BE GRADED BY THE INSTRUCTOR (NO EXCEPTIONS).
If the Originality report colored dot is yellow, orange, or red: The student can modify and resubmit their assignment to Turnitin until they achieve an acceptable report up until the deadline stated at the Course Schedule (be sure to correct those portions of the portfolio which are highlighted in different colors in the Originality report before resubmission). Be aware that if an assignment is resubmitted a second or third time, it may take up to 24 hours before Turnitin will generate another Originality report. Please keep this in mind when attempting to meet the deadline.
PLEASE NOTE: If you are repeating this course, and have submitted this same assignment to Turnitin previously, your present assignment MAY be marked as plagiarized. Be aware that it is possible to plagiarize yourself! Therefore, it is highly recommended that students re-write much, if not all, of an assignment submitted to Turnitin during a previous academic term.
VERY IMPORTANT: The student is responsible for downloading and keeping EACH Originality report. This means that if a student submits their portfolio assignment to Turnitin twice, (s)he should have downloaded two different Originality reports to keep. Nevertheless, students are not required to submit Originality reports to the instructor unless they are requested.
