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Appendix: Excerpt from a Sample Student Paper
My experience tutoring underprivileged children through the “Children Are Reason
Enough” (CARE) program exposed me to the problems of poor societies and the impact
of proactive social organizations in impeding the cyclic outcome of an impoverished
society. In addition, an understanding of various psychological studies was influential in
my understanding of social variables and personal perceptions.
My mindset throughout my first afternoon at CARE proved the influence of the
Fundamental Attribution Error. Having grown up in New Orleans, I had presupposed
ideas of what “type” of people to expect from public schools. My presumption undoubt-
edly guided me to pick out examples of what I expected and, throughout the afternoon,
I became increasingly peeved at children who would not try or who told me to do their
homework. I am ashamed to admit it, but I found myself thinking these children were
unmotivated and lazy. I continued making these personality assumptions until the end of
the session when I had a chance to talk to some of the volunteers not from New Orleans.
One said, “I wonder what goes on in that little girl’s home life.” At that point I realized
how biased I was to making generalities based on my assumptions. I also realized how
psychology class was going to fit into my service-learning experience by examining
situations as opposed to personalities.
My initial generalization of the students’ behavior was based on my opinion of their
personalities. I deemed the children unproductive because they were lazy and uncooperative.
In retrospect, I realize that by shifting my focus to the situation I was able to change my