SCH150 – Drugs, Society, & Behavior Course Essays Instructions

Essay 1: Drug Education Autobiography-Due: by 11:59PM

Formatting and Style for Required Papers

Papers must be formatted using the guidelines established by APA 7.

• 1-inch margins on all sides (change default settings on word processing software if needed)

• 12-point Times New Roman font

• Running Header (appears at top of every page): For this class use – Name, SCH150, Date paper turned

in.

• Page number in footer on bottom right of page

• Double Spaced with Left Justification (the right side appears “ragged” and uneven)

• Indent first line of every paragraph ½ inch.

Formatting, grammar, and spelling are worth 10 points of paper grade!

Paper Content

• An educational autobiography focuses on the educational experiences and reflections of the writer.

• This paper will focus your education on psychoactive substances (alcohol, tobacco, legal and illegal

drugs) through direct and observational learning until adulthood before you took this class.

o Direct Learning: information is given directly to the person, e.g., parents to kids, friends to each

other, teachers to students, self-instruction.

o Observational Learning: information is acquired by watching other people’s behavior (and its

consequences) in real life (or simulations of real life, e.g., films)

o Discussion of personal substance use is not required and is not expected.

This essay #1 should be at least 3-4 pages.

Opening of paper (10 points): at two paragraphs

• Open with an in-depth discussion of why you took this course (e.g., required, suggested by an advisor,

liberal studies elective) and how well you think you have been educated, up until taking this course,

about psychoactive substances.

Main Body of paper (50 points): at least 2 pages

• Looking back, from past to present, discuss what you learned about psychoactive substances through

direct and observational learning. At least 2 of the following areas must be discussed.

• Home Education: Parents, caretakers, siblings, family

• Formal Education: Learning in school (not including this class) or from teachers/educators?

• Social Education: Through friends and others around you

• Media Education: Exposure to information through TV, movies, music videos, music, etc.

Closing of paper (30 points): At least 3 paragraphs

• Discuss what you think influenced your attitudes about psychoactive substances from past to present.

(What influenced you the most? What influenced you the least?)

• Describe how you have dealt with or plan to deal with the topics of topics of alcohol, tobacco, legal

and illegal drugs with your children or other young people in your family or friend’s families.

• Close with thoughts on writing this reflection (For example, “what you learned from this class up until

this point about psychoactive substances and knowledge about what you have learned outside the

class)

This is not a research paper. Do not cite any websites. Do not copy and paste any information from the

internet. Use your own words to describe anything you want to discuss from the films, supplemental

materials, textbook or lectures this semester.

Essay 2: Drug Education: Revisiting & Reflecting on What You've Learned- Due: by 11:59PM

Formatting and Style for Required Papers

Papers must be formatted using the guidelines established by APA 7.

• 1-inch margins on all sides (change default settings on word processing software if needed)

• 12-point Times New Roman font

• Running Header (appears at top of every page): For this class use – Name, SCH150, Date paper turned

in.

• Page number in footer on bottom right of page

• Double Spaced with Left Justification (the right side appears “ragged” and uneven)

• Indent first line of every paragraph ½ inch.

Formatting, grammar, and spelling errors are worth 10 points of paper grade!

In this paper, return back to the initial Drug Education Autobiography paper completed at the beginning of the

semester. Read through the contents of that paper and complete the following:

Now having completed the course, this paper aims to serve as a self-reflective activity to demonstrate ways in

which your knowledge and perspectives may have changed.

This paper will focus on your education in psychoactive substances (alcohol, tobacco, legal and illegal drugs)

through direct and observational learning since the taking this class.

• Direct Learning: information is given directly to the person (e.g., parents to kids, friends to each other,

teachers to students, self-instruction)

• Observational Learning: information is acquired by watching other people's behavior (and its

consequences) in real life (or simulation of real life, e.g., films)

• Discussion of personal substance use is not required and is not expected.

The final paper should be at least 5-7 pages (additional components have been added that extend beyond the

initial drug education autobiography assignment).

Opening of paper (10 points): 1-2 pages

• Open with a brief discussion

• restate why you initially took this course (e.g., required, suggested by an advisor,

liberal studies elective)

• reflect on what your initial sense of knowledge was about psychoactive substances

and how this may have changed since completing this course.

• discuss what you have learned about drug policy, prevention, and treatment

approaches – how are these different from what you knew before taking the class

Main Body of paper (30 points): 2 pages

• Looking over the semester, reflect on what you learned about psychoactive substances

through direct and observational learning. Often we begin to seek out new information,

gather information from new sources or from sources in different ways (e.g., perhaps since

learning of you taking this class family members have spoken to you about substance use,

education, prevention, and treatment). At least 2 of the following areas must be discussed:

• Home Education: Parents, caretakers, siblings, family

• Formal Education: Learning in school (not including this class) or from

teachers/educators?

• Social Education: Through friends and others around you

• Media Education: Exposure to information through TV, movies, music videos, music, etc.

______________________________________________________________________________

Closing of paper (50 points): 2-3 pages

• Since completing this class, discuss how your attitudes about psychoactive substances

may or may not have changed. What influenced you the most in the reassessing of your

attitudes? (Provide examples)

• Reflecting on the "advice"/"education" you initially mentioned you would or have

provided to others, has this now changed? Why or why not? If so, what advice would you

now give to a family member or friend?

• Thinking ahead, if you were to advocate for social change around substance use policy or

practices to your local city council member, the mayor, or other political figure, what

would you tell them to focus their efforts on as strategies to address potential concerns

around psychoactive substance use?

• Thinking back on our classes together, all the reflective writing assignments, film

reflections and readings, what has left the biggest impression? Pick four topics, from the

textbook, based off the lectures, and/or readings from this course that had a significant

impact on you, and demonstrate how your knowledge has grown and how your

perspective has changed. Or why you think your perspective may not have changed.

Clearly describe the four topics from the textbook to support your answers.

This is not a research paper. Do not cite any websites. Do not copy and paste any

information from the internet. Use your own words to describe anything you want to

discuss from the films, supplemental materials, textbook or lectures this semester.

Note: Artificial Intelligence (AI) software, such as ChatGP does not tend to write individualized papers. Also, AI writing

responses generally tend to sound unauthentic and do not sound like student papers. Papers that are suspected to have AI

generated material may result in point deduction, particularly if the prompts are not clearly addressed. Papers that are

flagged on SafeAssign for use of the internet or other sources will result in point deduction.