Coursework

So it’s that time of year and, well, a doctorate in psychology would be nice, so students all over the country are struggling for ideas for their A2 coursework. Coursework is a really important part of your course as it’s the only part that you can write over-and-over and make sure that it’s the best that you can do. If you write a good piece of coursework then it can be an excellent ‘safety net’ for your overall grade. This series of articles is going to address this, give you advice and point you in the right direction to get the best grades that you can.

As part of the OCR A2 coursework you have to complete two pieces of work: a research project and a written assignment. The research project is like Psychological Investigations on steroids. You have to complete an individual piece of research: come up with the idea; design the research; do it; statistically analyse it; evaluate it. For the assignment you have to find an article (newspaper, magazine etc… – although you can use other things like songs) from the last 2 years and apply psychology to it.

First of all there’s some external links that have things you might be interested in:

• The official 2543 Mark Scheme from OCR
• Holah on Coursework
• PsychBLOG Guide to Referencing

Over the next few pages I am going to write about each on of these individually and give you loads of links to sites that can help you.

Research Project

• Inspiration and Ideas
• Thinking ethically
• Finding a study that fits
• The structure
• Getting the best you can

Assignment

• The source
• The Rough Guide to Writing the Assignment
• Finding a study that fits
• Getting the best you can

The more effort that you put into your coursework the better it will be. Here are a few general tips that you should try to follow: don’t leave it until the last minute; make sure that you’ve proof read what you’ve written; do not copy off anyone; if you can type it up; don’t use silly fonts; don’t go over the word limit.

Tags: A2, coursework