Your Vision As a Critically Thinking Practitioner-Scholar

PREPARATION:

As you begin to write this assessment, consider the following:

• Purpose: The purpose of the assessment is to consider the role that critical thinking will play in your work as a practitioner-scholar and how this contributes to your specialized field in psychology.
• Sources: Locate at least three relevant professional and scholarly sources. These should be credible professional sources, such as textbooks and scholarly articles. Avoid using popular online websites (for example Simply Psychology, Verywell Mind, and similar sources). The sources need to be published sources and not information generated from artificial intelligence. Others must be able to access your sources. You will cite and reference these to support your ideas.
• Writing your paper: Be sure to comply with the requirements stated below. Your writing in this assessment should not just be a collection of notes, lists, or questions and answers. Instead, it should be a well-organized discussion that flows logically from one idea to the next.

INSTRUCTIONS:

In your assessment, address the following, supporting the discussion with professional and scholarly information as you go:

• Describe the role in which you foresee yourself and the population that the role would serve or impact. Describe the setting where you envision working as you serve this population.
• Describe the role that critical thinking and ethics in research play for students as they assess the value of the research in academic work.
• Explain the role of critical thinking for a practitioner-scholar. Provide at least one specific example where critical thinking is important for a practitioner.
• Describe how critical thinking is an ongoing part of guiding professional development.
• Explain how the practitioner-scholar model serves to guide professional development.

Complete the following in the template:

Introduction

Use this space and information from the media activity to create an introduction to your paper that addresses the following:

• Explain your passion and interest in psychology and how these relate to your previous personal and professional experiences.
• Describe the setting in which you foresee yourself working and the population that you would serve or impact in your role.

Critical Thinking and Ethics in Research

In this section, discuss how you assessed the value of the resources you read and used when writing this paper. Make sure to address the following:

• What role does critical thinking and ethics play when conducting research?
• Discuss how critical thinking and ethics are involved when determining the value of research articles that you use in your papers.

Role of Critical Thinking As a Practitioner-Scholar

In this section, reflect on the information you read regarding critical thinking and on the practitioner-scholar and scholar-practitioner models to answer the following:

• Discuss critical thinking in relation to your role as a practitioner-scholar.

The Practitioner-Scholar Model in Guiding Professional Development

In this section, explain what it will mean to you to be a practitioner-scholar and how the practitioner-scholar model can help guide you in developing the knowledge, skills, and competencies you will need to reach your professional vision and goals.

• Explain how the practitioner-scholar or scholar-practitioner model can serve a role in guiding professional development. How can a practitioner use information from it to continue to guide them in their professional development?

Conclusion

Use this section to explain the benefits of achieving your future career vision and becoming a critically thinking practitioner-scholar in the field of psychology and the importance and relevance of professional development in your goals and professional aspirations. Think of this paragraph as a summary of important and relevant elements that you made throughout the content of the paper. Reference any supporting documents that helped you clarify or describe these elements.

Your completed assessment should include the following:

• Title page.
• Abstract: A concise summary of every main point in the paper.
• Introduction: A concise overview of the paper’s content.
• Body of paper:
  • Introduction.
  • Critical Thinking and Ethics in Research / Assessing the Value of Research.
  • Role of Critical Thinking As a Practitioner-Scholar.
  • Role of the Practitioner-Scholar Model in Guiding Professional Development.
  • Conclusion: A concise summary of important points of the paper, explaining the benefits of achieving your future career vision and becoming an effective critically thinking practitioner-scholar in the field of psychology.
• References.

Before You Submit

To maximize your scoring potential, be sure you fully address all assessment requirements and meet the criteria in the scoring guide that will be used to grade your assessment. It is helpful to self-score your paper using the scoring guide before submitting to be sure you are meeting the criteria for the grade you want to earn.

REQUIREMENTS:

Your assessment should also meet the following requirements:

• Template: Use the template to format your paper.
• Length: 45 typed, double-spaced content pages. The title page, abstract, and reference list are not included in this length.
• Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.
• References: Include a minimum of three references. For this assessment, you may use the resources and articles from the Resources area of this assessment. All references need to be cited in-text, according to current APA standards. Remember that citations are to support your thoughts, not take the place of them!
• Communication: Must be clear, with correct spelling, grammar, and syntax, and with good organization.
• Writing style: APA expectations for scholarly writing include the use of third-person narrative, unless it is awkward to do so. It the section where you discuss your future career and setting, it is appropriate to use first person in that section.
• APA formatting: References and citations should be formatted according to current APA style and format

SOURCES:

Scholar-Practitioner Model

In this course, you will experience the scholar-practitioner model in action. Capella uses this model as the foundation for our educational philosophy. As a master’s student, you will work toward becoming a practitioner-scholar. This learning model will guide your professional development, encouraging you to investigate and critically evaluate relevant theory and research to determine effective best practices that you will use in the profession. It will help you establish a lifelong commitment to continuously building relevant knowledge and skill in your areas of interest and specialization in psychology.

To familiarize yourself with this model, read the following resources:

• .
• • This resource provides an overview of Capella University’s expectations for students at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels. Note: This document provides examples related to discussions, which may not be relevant in this course.

Practitioner-Scholar in Action

To prepare for this assessment and future assessments as a master’s student, refine and expand your vision of a career in psychology in light of the practitioner-scholar model.

• Consider how this learning model can guide your professional development, encouraging you to investigate and critically evaluate relevant theory and research to determine effective best practices that you will use on the job.
• Think about how it will help you establish a lifelong commitment to continuously building relevant knowledge and skill in your areas of interest and specialization in psychology.
• This assessment provides the opportunity for you to reflect upon the implications of the model for your program, your career, and your plan for how you will realize your goals.

A key concentration of this course is exploring your passions and interests in psychology and starting to focus on a path to transforming your passions into practice. To start this work, complete the following:

• reading list.
• .
  • Reflect on how you want to make an impact in your life and in a specialized field of psychology.
• Review the following program learning outcomes for the Master of Science in Psychology to familiarize yourself with the skills and competencies you will gain from your program and to start making connections to your purpose:
  • Determine the scientific merit of the professional literature.
  • Apply theoretical and research findings from the discipline of psychology to professional and academic activities.
  • Apply ethical principles and standards of psychology to academic and professional activities.
  • Embrace, respect, and respond to individual differences and diversity in the practice of psychology.
  • Communicate psychological concepts effectively using the professional standards of the discipline.
• .
  • View this presentation for an overview of the master’s program as well as information about the various specialization paths that you could take during your degree journey.

  • Career Goals

    • .
      • Review this resource for psychology specializations that interest you. Note any opportunities that relate to your interests.
    • .
      • This resource explores the relationships between goals, education, and careers.
    • .
      • This resource discusses ways to be strategic about planning for and achieving career success.

    Succeeding As a Scholar and Professional

    • .
      • This resource provides some insight into what it will take to succeed as a practitioner-scholar and as a psychology professional.

      As you are beginning your academic journey, establishing good time management skills and habits is essential. One method for getting things done in a timely manner with a complex schedule is to make a list each day of what needs to be done, prioritizing the list, and then doing the most important items on the list first.

      • Go to your Campus page to review the resources that are available to you.
      • Complete the media activity to assess your personal time management skills, including:
        • Identifying your priorities.
        • Goal setting.
        • Planning and scheduling.
        • Addressing challenges and finding support.

      After you have completed the action plan activity, put it into practice:

      • Make a list of everything you are planning to or need to do in the next two days. Be sure to include your Capella obligations.
      • Identify the top five things on that list.
      • Consider your reasons for naming each of your top five priorities and how long you think it will take to complete each one.
      • Look for ways to incorporate at least one idea from the Time Management Campus resource into your time management plan.

GRADING COMPETENCIES:

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and scoring guide criteria:

• Competency 1: Analyze the role of the practitioner-scholar model in guiding professional development.
  • Analyze the role of the practitioner-scholar model in guiding professional development.
• Competency 2: Analyze the quality of sources and research in psychological literature.
  • Describe the role critical thinking and ethics in research play when assessing the value of research used in academic papers.
• Competency 3: Analyze the functions, responsibilities, and ethics required of a psychology professional.
  • Describe a desired role and the individuals that the role would impact/serve, and describe a desired setting in which to practice psychology.
• Competency 4: Apply critical thinking and effective decision making.
  • Discuss critical thinking in relation to the role of a practitioner-scholar.
• Competency 5: Write in accordance with the academic and professional requirements of the discipline, ensuring appropriate structure, grammar, usage, and style.
  • Address assessment purpose in a well-organized text with grammatically sound sentences.
  • Apply APA formatting to in-text citations and references with few errors.

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