Introduction to Cognitive Science

Winter Semester 2022/2023

Paper Guidelines

Paper

The learning outcome of the paper is the ability to search, read and critically review scientific literature and to write an interdiscilinary paper on a selected topic, with proper referencing. The paper will be written in two rounds: after submitting the paper, the student will receive two reviews. Then (s)he has a chance to improve the quality of the paper by incorporating suggestions from the reviews and submits the final version that will be then evaluated/graded by the teachers.

Deadlines and Rewards

1. Paper first version: deadline 10. 12. 2023 midnight. Submitting the first version is a NECESSARY requirement for getting points for the final version, so the late submission policy (see below) applies.
2. Review: 7. 1. 2024 midnight (10% of your grade). See late submission policy below.
3. Paper final version: 28. 1. 2024 midnight (30% of your grade). See late submission policy below.

All submissions are to be sent to both teachers via e-mail.

Late submission policy

Submissions received after the deadline will incur penalty in that maximum achievable points will linearly decrease by each overdue day, down to zero after 7 days after the deadline (for example, if the maximum points is 10, then this maximum is decreased by 10/7 = 1.43 points every day after the deadline). This holds for both the first and final version of the paper and the review. For the late review submission, points are subtracted from points for the review; for both paper submissions, points are subtracted from the points for the paper. If someone does not submit the final version, the first version will be considered final.

Review Process

Each student will receive one other's student paper to review. Papers and review forms will be distributed by e-mail on Dec 21st. The review process is double blind, i.e. papers and reviews are anonymous to students. Please provide an honest, critical and detailed feedback; you'll need one too. The teachers will review the papers too, so that each student will receive two reviews for her/his paper: one from a teacher and one from a student.

Form and format

doc, docx, or pdf

The paper should be written in English and should not exceed the limit of 1000 words (excluding references).

Important: In the first paper, don't write your name, to ensure double blind review process. The final version should not be anonymous.

Review guidelines and evaluation points

Your peer review as well as the final evaluation of your paper will be built around the following points:

1. Topic
   • is it related to cognitive science?
   • is it sufficiently scientific?
   • is it original and interesting?
2. Literature
   • are the referenced sources relevant?
   • are they of sufficient quality (scientific publications)?
   • are they up-to-date? are they diverse enough?
3. Content
   • is the topic elaboration of sufficient quality?
   • does it go deep enough?
   • is the text rich in information?
   • what is the theoretical/practical contribution of this paper in the topic area?
   • has the author also provided his/her own view?
4. Form
   • is the text understandable and readable?
   • is it suitably formatted?
   • if it contains pictures and/or graphs, are they clearly described?
5. References
   • are ideas, facts and works of other people properly cited?
   • does the author use a standard format of references?
   • is it clear in the text, where the author refers to other people's
   • work and where it is his/her own idea?

Overall quality recommendations

Try to provide an interdisciplinary view, cover the topic with info from relevant sources, add your own critical view if possible. The paper should have a proper form, namely:

• provide paper abstract at the beginning,
• divide the text into (sub)sections,
• number sections and pages,
• align text into blocks,
• clearly indicate when you quote or refer to other people's work
• use consistently one of standard reference formats, e.g. APA (author, year) or IEEE style [refnumber].
• check spelling, typos and grammatical errors

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is not tolerated in this assignment. Measures will be taken to discover texts that have been copied/adapted from literature without proper citation and implementation in the text. See:
What Constitutes Plagiarism? Harvard Guide to Using Sources
Avoid Plagiarism - Give Credit Where Credit is Due. UO Libraries
A nice plagiarism infographic - Emily Myers, University of Connecticut

Recommended reading

• Tim Kovacs and Peter Flach: How to write: Written communication, critical assessment, and avoiding plagiarism
• Citation Guides and Tools. UO Libraries
• Š. Kimlička: Príklady citovania podľa ISO 690 a ISO 690-2
• KIMLIČKA, Štefan. Ako citovať; a vytvárať; zoznamy bibliografických odkazov podľa noriem ISO 690 pre klasické aj elektronické zdroje. Bratislava : STIMUL, 2002. 82 s. ISBN 80-88982-57-X.
• MEŠKO, Dušan, KATUŠČÁK, Dušan, FINDRA, Ján a kolektív: Akademická príručka. Martin : Osveta, 2005. 496 s. ISBN 80-8063-200-6.