Being motivated to do a good job at whatever we are doing (job, sports, family,

Being motivated to do a good job at whatever we are doing (job, sports, family, personal goals, etc.) is very important, because if we aren’t motivated, whatever we are doing will probably not be done particularly well.
For this paper, reflect on your own experiences with motivation, and situations where you may have been highly motivated and performed well, and other situations where you had low motivation that has negatively impacted your performance. (Hopefully this class won’t be one of those experiences.) In particular think about work settings, but if your participation on some particular team (or with some coach) is highly illustrative of how your level of motivation impacted your performance, this experience could also be used in writing the paper.
The focus of this paper should be on analyzing how perhaps 2-3 theories of motivation effectively describe how you are (or have been) highly motivated, or poorly motivated, in a current (or previous) experience. You may find it helpful to do a little more research on the theories, and understand them a bit more fully than described in just a few sentences in your textbook. One of the goals in assigning this paper is to provide an opportunity for self-reflection, and perhaps help identify what future opportunities may be ones where you will be highly motivated (or may be unlikely to be). Clearly different people are motivated by different things, and understanding this about yourself can be very valuable. The point of this paper is to show linkages between the theories and your own experiences with motivation.
This paper should be around 1500-2500 words, with proper referencing of all sources used. I recommend using the APA format for the paper and references, although I am not a stickler for following every detail of the official formatting guidelines. The library or the writing center can provide assistance if you have any questions. There are also a number of sources of information regarding this standard, including https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/tutorials-webinars and https://libguides.csun.edu/research-strategies/apa. As described in some detail in the academic integrity section of the syllabus, it is very important that all sources of information used receive proper attribution in papers. When referring to a theory of motivation, it is important that you cite the specific source(s) that you used to learn about the theory (including the section and/or page number of the textbook).
It is recommended that papers be turned in a day or two early, because life can get complicated, computers can crash, or other things can all of a sudden “demand” your attention in the last 24 hours before the paper is due. As noted in the syllabus, late papers are not accepted.
Blackboard is set up for two attempts to upload a paper. Occasionally, someone clicks on the wrong thing to upload. Or sometimes just after it has been uploaded, someone remembers they didn’t include something important. Mistakes happen. If a second document is uploaded within 24 hours of the first, only the second attempt will be graded (and the first one will be ignored). If a paper is turned in early, I will typically wait at least 24 hours before grading it, just in case a student decides to make some change. Once the first attempt of a paper is graded, a second attempt will not be graded. Papers are typically graded in the order received, and I will start grading papers prior to the deadline.
Once you upload your paper and see it in the viewer, sometimes the pagination changes, or there ends up being a blank page in the middle, or margins shift. Don’t worry about that – the actual paper you submitted retains the original margins and pagination. It is just that Blackboard’s viewer (for some reason) has trouble displaying it. I look at the underlying document, so any changes you see in the viewer won’t impact your grade.
Submit the paper in Blackboard using the .doc, .docx, or .rtf format. If you submit in any other format, you will lose points.