For this poster project, you are required to self-reflect on how your culture is influencing your psychology. You will accomplish this by creating a poster (template provided Download template provided) that you will submit as a PDF file via Canvas before the the end of the term. You can submit it anytime before the course officially ends, but you can only submit it once. This is a virtual poster; it is NOT a presentation. You will upload a PDF of your poster. This assessment was partly designed because applying content to yourself is a very good way of learning (i.e., self-reference effect).
MORE DETAILS:
The poster should critically reflect on your own culture and how it influences your psychology. This is quite broad, so I have provided some (hopefully) useful pointers to help guide you. Keep in mind that this is not an essay. Your poster should not just be an essay written onto a poster, but a more creative way to demonstrate your knowledge. You can do this by including pictures, diagrams, graphs, and other means.
TIP: As you read through the content of the course, it would benefit you to think about how the content relates back to you, and then take notes so that you can include it in your poster. The interviews are also meant to help with this. Content might not always be directly relevant, but even seemingly less relevant concepts might be applied to yourself. Doing this will also help manage your time so that this project is rather easy (and fun) to put together.
Your mark will be based on the following (also see grading rubric):
Include you name and student number.
Use the same poster size and body font size as the template (you can change pretty much everything else).
Clearly describe your cultural background
Clearly present how your culture has influenced (and does influence) your psychology. You should draw on research, but you might speculate somewhat.
Draw on content from each of the modules of the course. You should demonstrate a breadth of knowledge, but also sufficient depth. You should show off your knowledge to demonstrate that you understand (assume your audience knows nothing of cultural psychology).
Cite the textbook when appropriate by simply saying “(Textbook, p. x)” where x is the relevant page number or range of pages where you found the information. Cite the slides and other course resources similarly. You do not need to cite the original authors or give the textbook/slides/videos in the references section. When you cite something that was not in the textbook or the course materials, you must use full APA referencing including in-text citations and complete references section. Failure to cite appropriately is plagiarism and can result in a mark of zero and being reported to the university as academic misconduct.
Here are some general suggestions to consider:
You can (and should) write in the first person because this is about you.
You can draw on research that is not directly relevant to you if necessary. For example, if you are from culture x, but there simply is no research on culture x, you can draw on research from culture y (which is kind of similar to your own).
You should try to demonstrate your knowledge in ways that fit a poster, but keep in mind that the bulk of your mark is on content. Being creative and informative is a very good combination for this project. Being creative for aesthetics alone isn’t.
You can use images, diagrams, etc.
You can write in full sentences or point form, but if you write in point form be sure that it is clear. You have limited space on your poster, so it is best to write concisely for most of the poster. Make sure you demonstrate your knowledge–do not assume we will read between the lines. Assume an audience that knows nothing of the content.
Make sure it is legible. Do not change the font to something tiny to fit more words in. Use the template as your guide.
Show both depth (e.g., superficial points aren’t ideal) and breadth (e.g., don’t focus on one module alone, and instead demonstrate knowledge by giving details, etc.)
You can arrange the poster however you like, but I have some suggestions below.
Organize by module (this is the easiest and by far the most common. If you aren’t sure, do it this way.):see attached files from lecture materials
Organize by your age：my age :20
Organize by logical flow (one topic might lead into another)
Organize by psychological topic (e.g., cognition)
POSTER TEMPLATE:
The poster template is there to help you. You can download it here Download here. It is a PPT (PowerPoint) file that makes the poster and font the appropriate sizes and includes reminders of the basic elements (e.g., name, student number). You can change the layout, colour, and other details (as long as it is still easy to read). However, the poster itself must remain the same size and the font of the body text must remain the same size. Everything else can be changed if you so please.
The poster is setup like how European posters are done (vertical orientation). If you go to a North American conference, posters tend to have a horizontal orientation (so you can always tell who the Europeans are by how they organize their posters!). Horizontal is more common here, but I find it is a bit more difficult to manage the space for beginners. Vertical is easier for students since it is very similar to how things are typically written on a page.
The poster will likely feel short on space. This is on purpose. You have enough space to do the assessment and receive a good mark, but it should also force you to consider whether the topics you include are worthwhile and to write concisely to demonstrate your knowledge.
Please remember my cultural background: I am a Chinese female and studied in Canada since I was 15. My parents and my younger brother live in Shanghai. Except for these, you could make up other stuff in order to finish this poster.
