Your comprehension of the lecture, discussion, and reading material will be assessed through three exams, two partial, one comprehensive final. Each exam will consist of some objective items and several essay questions. There are no make-up exams. Absences from exams must be before the examination and for medical reasons only. Please obtain permission to reschedule an exam from the Dean of students in the form of an excuse (not an explanation) and present it to me before the day of the exam.

For better or worse the notion of addiction has taken a firm hold in our culture. Whereas the term was originally used to describe a problem relating to the abuse of legal and illegal substances (alcohol, nicotine, heroin, cocaine), the use of the term today is much looser. It is not uncommon to see news paper or magazine articles reporting the discovery of the "alcoholism gene" or describing things like internet addiction, or addiction to video games. However, it is often not entirely clear where the evidence for these claims came from or whether the reporter accurately represented what the research, if there was any, suggested. In the end it is possible that many of these articles do little more than create confusion.

Your responsibility for this first term paper is to locate an article or news report from the popular media, such as a news paper or a magazine (i.e. The New York Times, Time Magazine, People Magazine, etc), which in one way or another has something to do with addiction. Your task after briefly summarizing the article is to determine the accuracy and veracity of the information presented. One way to do this is to locate the source or sources used by the reporter to back up the story. Good reporters provide the necessary information so that this will be a relatively easy thing to do. In other cases you might have to be more creative in order to obtain the appropriate sources. Alternatively, if it is not readily apparent which sources were used, or if it is just not feasible to obtain them you can pursue the matter any way. Just go to the library and consult professional data-bases such as PsycINFO, Medline, and Academic ASAP to obtain information on the latest research on the topic.

Ultimately your goal is to critically evaluate the pop-media article you selected. Is the information presented correct? Is the author presenting the argument fairly and completely? Were the conclusions reached by the reporter valid in light of the design of the study? Was the original research of good quality? Was the design experimental or correlational? In other words: was the article any good?

This should be a 5-page (double-spaced) paper (please use Times New Roman 12 as the font and one-inch margins all around). You must use at least two sources (beyond the pop-media article itself) for this assignment, both of which should be original, professional, empirical peer-reviewed reports. If you are unsure as to whether any particular article is appropriate for this assignment PLEASE consult with me as soon as possible.

The paper is due on Wednesday, March 21th by the end of lecture.

This paper is designed to allow you to explore a topic related to addiction and the use and abuse of legal substances in much more depth. The choice is open within those parameters but you are required to consult with me before you decide in the final topic you select. I encourage you to think in broad terms in selecting your topic. For example, you could review issues of public policy which somehow bear upon substance use in the United States (tobacco legislation, the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes, the legalization or decriminalization of currently illegal substances, the effectiveness of the war on drugs) or abroad (treatment of addiction is other countries, different approaches to regulating the use of controlled substances). You could also write your literature review on the empirical evidence on addictions to specific drugs or behaviors (alcohol, heroin, cocaine, gambling, exercise, sex, love, shopping, TV, internet, video games) or on the consequences of addiction (fetal alcohol syndrome, crack babies, disease transmission, drunk driving, family violence, sexual aggression). This is, of course, not meant to be an exhaustive list but a brief sample of potential topics for your paper.

Ultimately your goal is to review the current empirical work in a particular area with the intent of organizing that material in a logical manner. You should also make sure you reach a conclusion as to the state of affairs in the area of choice and point out potential directions for future research.

This is a 5 to 7 page (double-spaced) assignment (please use Times New Roman 12 as the font and one-inch margins all around). You are required to use no fewer than 10 original sources, preferably from the professional peer-reviewed literature (sorry, no web sites allowed for the count).

This paper is due on Wednesday, May 9th by the end of lecture.

There is something you should keep in mind when looking for empirical reports on original research. Our libraries don't carry most of the journals on the topic of addictions. This means that you will often have to rely on inter library loan to obtain materials for your papers. You need to plan ahead for this eventuality. Just about any article you could ever want or need will be available this way so the fact that our library does not carry article on a given topic will not be an acceptable excuse for not reviewing important work related to your topic.

Late papers and assignments will be downgraded 10% for each day they are late, including weekends and holidays, without an official Dean's excuse.

I attempted to make this schedule as accurate as possible, but I have learned from experience that minor adjustments to assignments, lecture topics, and reading assignments are inevitably needed during the course of the semester. I reserve the right to make such adjustments and will inform you of such changes, as they become necessary.

It is my belief that learning involves more than just going to class, taking notes, reading assignments, and taking exams. I know that you are all capable of recalling information, it is my goal to help you understand it. You will be responsible for a large amount of material in this course. Assigned readings, including those from the textbook may not be covered in class but it is important that you cover this material yourself. Similarly, you are responsible for all material covered in lectures and discussions, whether or not it is also covered in the readings.