Posted: December 28th, 2021

Psychology – sleep deprivation and napping effects

Written Assessment
This assignment will be marked out of 50 and is worth 50% of the final unit mark
Due Date: Friday 9th October 2020, before 5:00pm WST
In order to complete the assignment you will need to download the following reading
from the unit reading list in Blackboard.
Dotto, L. (2000). Asleep in the fast lane. In D. N. Sattler & V. Shabatay (Eds.). Psychology in
context (2nd ed., pp. 50 – 54). New York: Houghton Mifflin.
Questions and mark allocation: Note that the questions are in bold font, with some notes
underneath each to assist in you in completing the question. Please also note that each
question has a particular referencing requirement – see the marking rubric for details.
1. a) What are the typical effects of short-term (i.e., for a few days at most) sleep
deprivation? (7 marks) Your answer should consider research into the effects of sleep
deprivation on various areas of functioning and should be sufficiently detailed to
consider whether sleep deprivation can impact people differently depending on the
context in which it occurs. For example, the length of time that the individual has been
deprived of sleep, or the situation/task they are engaged in. Do not refer to Dotto
(2000) in this answer.
b) Compare Dotto’s experiences to the typical effects (according to research) of
short-term sleep deprivation (4 marks). Were her experiences what you would
expect? Was there anything unusual about Dotto’s sleep deprivation experience? You
should refer to the research you cited in 1a when answering this question and use
examples from Dotto (2000) to illustrate – examples from “Julia” are also acceptable.
2. Dotto reported napping for approximately 2 hours. Were the effects of this nap
what you would expect them to be, based on research findings into napping? Use
examples from Dotto (2000) to illustrate. Would different length naps likely have
resulted in different effects? (11 marks)
In answering this question you should consider a wide range of research into napping
and explain how/why Dotto’s experience is consistent, or inconsistent, with these
research findings. You will need to consider the impact that napping can have on
various different aspects of functioning and also whether the effects of taking a nap can
vary depending on other factors such as the length of the nap or the type of task the
individual is completing. You should also consider whether there was anything
surprising or unusual about Dotto’s napping experience, compared to researched effects
of napping.
3. Weigh up the long-term pros and cons of regular napping in a particular
population, for example older adults, young children, FIFO workers, etc. You
should focus on the long-term consequences of regular napping, rather than shortterm consequences such as increased alertness (13 marks) When discussing this
topic you should refer to research into the long-term effects (positive and negative) of
regular/habitual napping for the population/group that you have chosen. This might be
things such as health implications, but it is up to you what to discuss. You need to
consider both sides of the argument and “weigh up” the evidence, coming to an overall
conclusion. Your answer should be sufficiently detailed to cover the topic in depth.
Please note that this question is not referring to the short-term effects of napping such
as Dotto experienced – we are interested in long-term outcomes.
4. Referencing (10 marks) Use in-text references for all material, paraphrase
appropriately, and include a complete reference list. In- text and end-text references
should be in APA (7th ed.) format. If quotes are used, they must be formatted
according to APA (7th ed.) guidelines. See the following guidelines available from the
Curtin library page. http://libguides.library.curtin.edu.au/referencing/apa
5. Formatting (5 marks)
All formatting requirements (see below) must be followed and the assignment must be written
consistently with APA 7th edition formatting. A cover page is not necessary.
Formatting Requirements
In order to ensure fairness, there are several formatting requirements to make sure all students
have the same amount of space available and the same opportunity to answer the questions.
 Include the relevant question numbers beside your answers (you do not need to use up
space re- typing the question before each answer, or waste space by writing an
introduction to each answer – go straight into answering the question).
 Times New Roman 12pt font
 2.5cm margins
 Maximum of FIVE (5) pages. This DOES NOT include the reference list
 Double line-spacing (i.e. set line spacing to 2.0 under Paragraph settings in Microsoft
Word). Please note that 5 pages of double-spaced text is equivalent to about 3.5 pages
of 1.5 spaced text or 2.5 pages of single spaced text.
To ensure fairness, any part of the assignment that exceeds the page limit will NOT be
marked. Do not attempt to gain extra space by using smaller text or smaller margins.
Submission Requirements
 This assignment is to be submitted online to Turnitin.
 If you use a Mac, make sure the file suffix is set to visible
o To submit your assignment, upload your saved document to the Written
Assessment 2020 submission point in Blackboard. This can be accessed
through the “Assessments” link. Please only submit your FINAL assignment
to this link. The copy of your assignment that is in Turnitin at 5.00pm on
Friday October 9 will be considered final and is the copy that will be marked.
o Please note that you have the option to submit draft copies of your assignment
to Turnitin through the Written Assessment 2020: Revision 1 submission
point. I recommend doing this in order to determine whether there are any
sections of your assignment that might need to be re-written to avoid being
overly similar to other sources – in other words, ensuring that you have
paraphrased appropriately.
o Students who have extensions will be able to submit drafts to the Written
Assessment: Revision 1 portal until the revised due date, but should only submit
their final assessment to the Written Assessment 2020 portal.
Referencing Requirements
 All statements of fact/evidence must be referenced.
 Make sure you select good quality reference sources for your assignment. You should
not use sources such as the lecture slides/iLecture, Wikipedia, or other Internet
sites as references. References should primarily be peer-reviewed journal articles and
the quality of work cited will be considered when marking the referencing section (e.g.,
if information is based on a website or lecture slides, marks will be lost).
 Do not reference sources that you have not actually read (unless you correctly cite
them as a secondary citation). Many students who have been penalised for plagiarism
have made the mistake of reading a source and copying references from this source
rather than actually reading those references themselves.
 Reference Dotto (2000) when you use information from the assigned reading, but note
that the Dotto (2000) reading is not an academic resource and should not be used as a
reference to support academic arguments.
 All referencing should follow APA 7th ed. style.
 Before you start, make sure you read: “Academic Integrity at Curtin—Student
guidelines for avoiding plagiarism.” If you do not yet have a copy of this booklet,
please download it from: http://academicintegrity.curtin.edu.au/global/studentbook.cfm
Using Quotes
Using a direct quote does not demonstrate that you understand the material. Quotes can be
effectively used to provide examples (e.g., from Dotto), but when explaining a concept/theory
you should use your own words – this demonstrates your understanding of the concept in
question and will be awarded more marks. If quotes are used (for instance, to illustrate an
example from the assigned reading), they must be appropriately formatted in APA (7th ed.)
style.
Tips
1) Carefully check the marking rubric in Blackboard – know what is required for each
answer in terms of the content of the response as well as the number of references required.
2) You should base the length of each response roughly on the amount of marks assigned for
that question, although note that the quality of a response is judged on much more than just the
length of that response.
3) You need to use appropriate in-text referencing throughout – you should research these
questions carefully. Note that you do not have to use completely different references for each
question.
4) The Dotto (2000) reading is not considered to be research in this case – it is the assigned
reading. It is not a scientific source, just somebody’s experience in an experiment. Therefore, if
a question requires you to conduct research, this means that you need to look for other sources,
using the library databases. Dotto (2000) does NOT count towards the referencing requirement
outlined in the marking guide for each question, neither does the textbook for this unit.
5) DO NOT use internet sites as references for your assignment – you should rely on peer
reviewed academic journal articles. Textbooks can also be used although these are secondary
sources and therefore not as strong as using journal articles.

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