Welcome to the online home of the Student Notebook, a column published in the APS Observer dedicated to issues of interest to graduate students in psychology. The Student Notebook features articles written by APS Student Caucus members on a variety of topics. Since 1990, the Student Notebook has served as a forum in which APSSC members can communicate their ideas, suggestions, and experiences to APS members.
Resources for Authors:
Communicating Psychological Science: Precision Is the Enemy of Understanding
Presenting Science: Best Practices for Making Data “Pop”
Publishing in Graduate School: Tips for New Graduate Students
Instructions for Authors:
The Student Notebook publishes articles intended for graduate students in the field of psychology. Past topics have ranged from advice for handling issues faced by graduate students, descriptions of authors’ unique research experiences, and discussions of important topics in the field of psychology. Members interested in writing for the Student Notebook are encouraged to review past articles to get an idea of the type and style of manuscripts that are printed.
Manuscripts should be 1,200 words (excluding title and references) in APA (6th edition) style. Abstracts are not necessary. References should be included when necessary but are usually limited to 5-10 sources. When applicable, lists of resources for further information are encouraged. Figures and tables may be included when necessary. The Student Notebook does not publish theoretical articles, literature reviews, or original research reports. Please include a 2-3 sentence author note/bio along with your submission.
All submissions and correspondence should be addressed to the Student Notebook Editor at apssc.sneditor@psychologicalscience.org.
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Student Notebook: Starting the Nonacademic Job Search After Graduate School
Menahal Latif shares the steps to begin the job search for students pursuing careers outside of academia.
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Student Notebook: How Sexual Boredom Turned Into a Good Thrill
Leonor de Oliveira discusses breaking new ground with her research into sexual boredom.
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Student Notebook: Emotion Processing in Bilinguals
The relationship between language and culture plays a vital role in what word is used to express a particular emotion.
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Student Notebook: Learning Through Exposure
Ellen Finch on what therapists in training can learn from exposure therapy during a pandemic.
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Student Notebook: Back Yourself
Sally Larsen encourages students preparing for careers outside academia to reimage the skill sets they’ve gained in graduate school.
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Student Notebook: A Cohort Conundrum
Elizabeth Quinn on how to avoid the trap of intra-lab competition.
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Student Notebook: To Work or Not to Work
Meghan Davenport explores how full-time work can set up budding psychological researchers for success in graduate school.
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Student Notebook: Taking Time to Connect Amid a Pandemic
Leah Choe suggests putting socially distanced time with your loved ones on your calendar as if they were as important as a job interview—because they are.
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Student Notebook: Five Tips for Working with Teaching Assistants in Online Classes
Sarah C. Turner suggests it’s best to follow the golden rule: Treat your TA’s time as you would your own.
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Student Notebook: Applying to Graduate School During a Global Pandemic
Student lifestyle in pandemic concept. Vector flat person illustration. Group of multi-ethnic young adult in face mask. Book, laptop, pen sign. Design for college banner, school web, infographic
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Student Notebook: Rethinking Psychology’s Attitudes About “Me Search”
Undervaluing self-relevant research may be harmful to both researchers and psychology as a field.
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Student Notebook: Opportunities for Pursuing a Passion in Psychology
Reading, volunteering, and getting involved with nonprofits in your community are amazing opportunities to grow as a future psychological scientist.
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Student Notebook: Police Brutality and Mental Health in the African-American Community
Repeated incidences of racial discrimination and violence have far reaching consequences for mental health.
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Student Notebook: Listen to Your Gut
Understanding the gut-brain axis can provide a much needed boost in well being.
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Student Notebook: Managing Productivity in the Time of COVID-19
Advice on how to shift gears and stay productive during graduate training.
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Student Notebook: Communicating Psychological Science—Why It Matters and How to Get Started
Psychological science, if communicated effectively, has a key role to play in addressing some of the most urgent problems of our time.
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Student Notebook: How Can We All Contribute to a More Diverse Psychological Science?
Diversity is central to the moral, educational, and civic mission of universities, and students have an important role to play in creating more inclusive institutions.
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Student Notebook: Informal Laboratory Practices in Developmental Psychology
The informal laboratory practices that don’t make it into published papers can affect replication attempts.
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Student Notebook: Considering Life on the “Other Side”
User experience (UX) research and related careers in the tech industry represent one alternative to the traditional academic route.
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Student Notebook: Writing an NIH F31
Writing an F31 application — like writing any grant application — is a mental and emotional odyssey. Here's how to begin.
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Student Notebook: Meta-Analyses, To Do or Not to Do
Well-done meta-analyses are almost a guaranteed publication for students, but it can be a long process that requires extreme attention to detail.
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Student Notebook: Advice for Future Graduate Students
For psychology students who want to become clinicians or go into the academic realm of research and teaching, the next logical step is finding the ideal graduate program.
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Student Notebook: Why We Fall Into the Machine Zone and How to Get Out
Frequent phone use can be detrimental to our productivity and even our mental health.
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Naked Truths, Champions, and More
Students at every career stage took advantage of opportunities to chat with the “champs,” learn grad-school survival skills, network with peers, and more.
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Student Notebook: Avoiding the ‘Busy Trap’ in Graduate School
Resisting the urge to be busy for the sake of busyness can help students home in on what they actually want to accomplish and how best to accomplish it.
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Student Notebook: Diverse Opportunities for Students in Psychological Science
Although a high GPA is widely perceived as a determining factor for graduate school entrance, involvement on campus and with professional organizations can help a student's application stand out as well.
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Student Notebook: Making the Most of Academic Conventions
Going to an academic convention is an exciting opportunity to connect with colleagues and exchange stimulating ideas.
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Student Notebook: APS Student Caucus, Advancing Our Community of Students
Each fall, the APS Student Caucus (APSSC) Executive Board meets at APS headquarters in Washington, DC to discuss student engagement and convention programming. This annual meeting gives us a chance to reflect as a group
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Getting Involved On and Off Campus
For many people, the first few years of graduate school are pretty much alike: spending hours reading journal articles, taking classes, formulating research questions, doing the research, and writing papers. Aside from the occasional required
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Professional Networking as a Graduate Student
Getting your name out into the academic world may seem most relevant for students approaching graduation, but it is never too early to begin the networking process.
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Testing for Measurement Invariance: Does your measure mean the same thing for different participants?
From Beck’s Depression Inventory to the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), psychological scientists regularly use scales, schedules, and inventories in published empirical papers. But how can we be certain that these questionnaires actually measure the same construct across all respondents?
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Students Learn Naked Truths About Publishing, Jobs, and More
The APS Student Caucus (APSSC) organized several exciting and informative events for student members from across the globe at the 2018 APS Annual Convention in San Francisco. The events included networking opportunities, award addresses, and
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Emerging Identities of Graduate Students
Many students find the transition from undergraduate to graduate education a difficult one. After all, it might be the first time individuals live away from campus and their childhood homes, cook for themselves, do their
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Going Global With Your PhD
One way to take advantage of graduate school is to study abroad, where you can find new scientific perspectives and research methods as well as improve your career options.
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Studying Underrepresented Groups
Across disciplines, there has been renewed attention to the experiences of stigmatized group members within social, educational, healthcare, and law enforcement contexts.
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The Benefits of Engaging in Collaborative Research Relationships
Collaborative working relationships have many benefits to offer, regardless of whether your career focuses on research, teaching, clinical practice, consultation, or any of the myriad other opportunities available to psychological scientists.
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Reenvisioning Graduate School
Carolyn Davies envisions ways that graduate programs and students can improve graduate training and empower other students.
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How to Get in: Applying to Psychology Grad School
So you think you want to be a psychological scientist? Well, the first step is applying to graduate school — a long, but exciting, process! To be a competitive applicant, you’ll want to have been
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A Slice of Student Activities at the APS Convention in Chicago
APS Student Caucus (APSSC) events at the 2016 APS Annual Convention in Chicago provided students with valuable learning opportunities on topics including how to succeed in graduate school and navigate the job market and how
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Mixed Methods Research
Traditionally, there are three branches of methodology: quantitative (numeric data), qualitative (observational or interview data), and mixed methods (using both types of data). Psychology relies heavily on quantitative-based data analyses but could benefit from incorporating
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What You Say Matters
Many graduate students fear public speaking, yet for many of us it is a pervasive aspect of graduate life. Standing in front of a group of people, whether for an in-class presentation, at a weekly
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Activate Active Learning
Take a moment to reflect on your educational experiences: How were you taught during your primary education years compared with your secondary education years and with your higher education experiences? When I ask my friends
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The Many Varieties of Mentors
It is hard to express the importance of the mentor–mentee relationship in a brief article. In my experience, this relationship is one of the most valuable in a graduate student’s life. Students should forge this
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The Science of Scientific Writing
If the reader is to grasp what the writer means, the writer must understand what the reader needs.” -Gopen and Swan (1990), The Science of Scientific Writing Graduate school is like a juggling performance. Successful
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Integrating Culture Into Psychological Research
The study of culture has gained a noticeable presence across research, training, and practice in American psychology (American Psychological Association, 2003; Cheung, 2012). As graduate students, we have all become familiar with certain phrases: cultural
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Student Caucus Brings Energy to New York City
The APS Student Caucus (APSSC) offered programming that drew students from Shanghai to southern California to New York City for the 2015 APS Annual Convention. The programming began with the “Naked Truth” panels providing perspectives
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Grad School Abroad
Are you considering pursuing a psychology graduate degree abroad? Have you been offered the chance to participate in an international exchange program? Studying in another country during graduate school offers many great opportunities for personal
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Careless Responding on Internet-Based Surveys
Campus Representative Program The Campus Representative Program is designed to increase communication between students and APS/APSSC. Serving as a Campus Rep is a great way to network with other students and directly connect your campus
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Off the Beaten Path
The road well traveled by psychological scientists has traditionally been academia, particularly for individuals interested in research and education. However, developments in our field, coupled with limited tenure-track opportunities, have led psychology graduates to stray
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Using Findings From Anxiety Research to Conquer Graduate School
Most graduate students in psychology are familiar with behaviors that reinforce anxiety — namely, avoidance, the use of safety behaviors, and reassurance seeking. Yet how many of us consciously apply our knowledge to help us
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Ten Tips for Developing a Programmatic Line of Research
“My research is about…” Many graduate students finish this sentence with a long, awkward pause and a deep sigh, followed by the admission that they have done a number of unrelated studies in order to
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Encouraging Diversity in Psychology
October 2014 Student Notebook Announcements Student Research. Are you in the initial development stages of your research? Apply for the APS Student Research Grant Competition. Applications are due by November 16. Research on diversity should
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Using Positive Psychology to Survive and Thrive in Grad School
Graduate school is a very stressful period for developing professionals in the field of psychological science. In any given week, students may attend classes, conduct research, teach classes, conduct therapy, write up grant and research
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Student Events at the 2014 APS Convention
The APS Student Caucus (APSSC) hosted a number of exciting events at the APS Annual Convention in San Francisco. Students enjoyed complimentary food and drinks at the APSSC Convention Kickoff and Student Social held at
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The Importance of Divergent Thinking for Research in Graduate School and Beyond
As undergraduates, we are generally encouraged to practice concrete thought. Our goal is to find the “right” answers. In the context of undergraduate education, our success is often determined by our ability to spit back
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Collecting Data in the Field
March 2014 Student Notebook Announcements Become an APSSC Campus Representative to promote psychological science on your campus. The APSSC Undergraduate Update, a biannual online publication intended for undergraduate student affiliates, is in need of students
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Tipping the Scale: Strategies for Research Productivity in Grad School
February 2014 Student Notebook Announcements Become an APSSC Campus Representative to promote psychological science on your campus. APSSC members may be eligible for travel grants to defray the cost of travel to the APS Annual
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The Many Benefits of an APS Student Membership
January 2014 Student Notebook Announcements The Student Notebook is seeking advanced graduate students to contribute articles on the following topics: (1) developing a programmatic line of research and (2) establishing a research lab. To find
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Seven Reasons to Pursue Advanced Quantitative Training
At the graduate level, quantitative methods are arguably the only common training across the subdisciplines of psychology; your first-year sequence of statistical training likely included biological, clinical, cognitive, developmental, personality, and social psychology students. While
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On External Research Opportunities
Spending the summer months garnering external lab experience as an intern or research assistant can be a valuable undertaking for undergraduates in pursuit of graduate school admission. Especially for students from smaller colleges and universities
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Fostering Collegiality in Psychology Departments
Academic departments that are well run have concrete goals and strategies — which are usually well articulated on paper — and generous resources to accomplish them. What most departments often take for granted is an “invisible
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Not So Lazy Days: Psychology Summer Institutes
This year I was fortunate to have the opportunity to participate in the Summer Institute in Social and Personality Psychology (SISPP), one of the many summer institutes in psychology that have emerged in recent years.
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Stepping Into the Mentor Role
The mentorship relationship that graduate students are usually most concerned with is the relationship with their own advisor. However, there is another mentorship relationship available in graduate school that many may not have thought about
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Students Chart a Career in Psychological Science
The APS Student Caucus (APSSC) held a host of events designed to get aspiring psychological scientists engaged and connected. It began with the Student Social held at Uptown Tap House in Washington, DC, during which
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Social Anxiety in the Age of Social Networks
The advent of the Internet has changed the way individuals and groups of individuals interact with one another and the world. In fact, an entire generation has been brought up with the idea that “socializing”
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Get a Life
For many students, graduate school may be characterized as a highly stressful experience. Indeed, juggling multiple work demands coupled with a less structured work schedule may make the pursuit of professional and personal goals difficult
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Untangling the Web
The difficulties we graduate students face when conducting research include an over-reliance on the psychology research pool for participants; inability to access a unique population; and having little money to compensate participants. Internet technology offers
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State of the APS Student Caucus
The coming year marks the 25th anniversary of the founding of APS. The year of APS’s founding, 1988, was also the year that 14 motivated individuals decided to come together to form a group devoted
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Identifying the Missing Pieces in the Study of Families
The study of families has largely focused on mothers and children despite assertions that more research on fathers is needed (Phares, 1992). One explanation is that mothers have traditionally performed the majority of care-giving duties
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Putting Pen to Paper
One key to surviving graduate school is writing. A recent analysis of job ads published in the APS Observer found that, on average, PhD students who go straight into a tenure-track position have six publications
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Ten Tips for Applying to the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program
The National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships (www.nsfgrfp.org) are a fabulous external funding source for graduate students in psychology. These fellowships provide generous funding for three years, are prestigious early career honors that can bolster
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How to Navigate a National Convention
There are three simple rules to remember when attending a national convention: Get organized. Get networking. Get involved. GET ORGANIZED Getting organized can be summed up in three words: KNOW the program-it is your “bible.”
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Allowing Your Creativity to Flourish
“Creativity lies at the heart of the scientific process … true progress requires an act of discovery.” -Langley & Jones, 1988 Today’s educational institutions are arguably not providing an atmosphere that fosters creativity. We are
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The Art of Collaboration
For me, choosing the right graduate school was about finding a department that not only allowed me to collaborate with other labs but encouraged it as well. At its best, collaboration is a collection of
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Teaching in Graduate School: Another Avenue for Research
In a recent Student Notebook article, Simpson and Varga (2011) stated, “As graduate students, we are indoctrinated to value those three little words: research, teaching, and service”. Wouldn’t it be great if you could combine
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Eating To Fit Into Your Genes
When was the last time you thought about what you eat? Although we rarely stop to think about our food, our dietary choices significantly influence our health, which is a necessary component of proper function
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Good for the Goose, Bad for the Gander? A Critical Look at the Traditional Graduate Training Paradigm
Welcome to graduate school! Now get to work and publish something, would you?” Although graduate students may have never heard this phrase explicitly, it is not difficult to infer this message from faculty members in
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Student Events at the 23rd Annual APS Convention
APS Student Caucus Convention Kickoff and Student Social The APSSC Convention Kickoff and Student Social, held at Buffalo Billiards, drew record crowds. Nearly 300 students enjoyed drinks and hors d’oeuvres while playing pool and chatting.
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Attention Undergraduate and Graduate Students
The Student Notebook is looking for authors! The Student Notebook wants to share your knowledge with its wide readership. Do you research fascinating topics? Summarize what you know. Have you gained some important experience and
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The Master Jugglers
As if graduate school was not challenging enough, add the additional responsibilities of children and you’ve become a master juggler. These demanding responsibilities may explain why “student parents,” as they are sometimes called, are few
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Student Notebook News ;-)
Experimental Participants Demand Fewer Rights, Insist on Being Called ‘Subjects’ In today’s changing world of experimental psychology, people who participate in research studies are provided with a bounty of privileges. They enjoy the benefits of
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Gaining Teaching Experience in Graduate School
As graduate students, we are indoctrinated to value those three little words: research, teaching, and service. Not the words you had in mind? Welcome to graduate school. Though most of us get plenty of research
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How To Be a Good Mentee
Mentoring relationships are the bedrock on which much of higher education is built. Mentoring reflects a relationship between an experienced senior colleague (mentor) and a less experienced junior colleague or student (mentee), in which the
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The State of the APS Student Caucus
The Executive Board of the APS Student Caucus (APSSC) met in Washington, DC for its annual Fall Meeting. We received the results of the annual member survey and discussed the progress and challenges affecting the many
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What We Didn’t Learn in Graduate School
After an exhausting and protracted application and interview process, I (the Fergusson half of the author team) had been matched to an outstanding predoctoral internship with supportive faculty, outstanding clinical experience, and many opportunities for
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A Survival Guide for Your First Review Process
Your initial first author experience in the review process is not unlike setting out to explore the wilderness without a travel guide; you are likely to get lost or, even worse, never return. Even if
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Psychologists Without Borders: A Graduate Student Perspective on Interdisciplinary Research
Psychology is emerging as a hub in a new intellectual world without borders (Cacioppo, 2007). This development is exciting on many counts, as it promises innovative cross-fertilization of ideas across disciplines to tackle complex human
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Playing Guitar Hero to Understand Statistics
One day in my statistics class, a fellow student asked, “Can we play Guitar Hero in class? I think we could use it to teach something in stats.” This pitch did not immediately sell Michelle
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Navigating the Potential Pitfalls of Online Visibility
“What am I going to do with these gold lamé booty shorts?” When this booty-related status message popped up under a student’s name in my Gmail* chat window, I felt unintentionally voyeuristic. Gmail is a
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New APSSC Board Members
Jeremy Ashton Houska President Jeremy Ashton Houska is a fifth-year doctoral student in experimental psychology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He conducts both basic and applied research in the areas of memory and
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The Difficulties of Scientific Writing
As an undergraduate, I typically spent one week or less on writing assignments, regardless of how much time my instructor gave me. It was my natural ability — or so I thought at the time
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In Search of Funding
It goes without saying that graduate school is a busy time for students. Research, training, and manuscript writing occupy many hours due to the emphasis that many programs place on producing original research. One activity
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2009 Student Research Award Winners
Please join APSSC in congratulating the winners of this year’s research award competition, who will be speaking at the upcoming APS 21st Annual Convention in San Francisco. We would like to thank all of the
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From Finding an Advisor to Creating Hypotheses: The Dos and Don’ts of Beginning a Thesis
As a student in a research-based program, completing a thesis was my number one priority when I started graduate school. At the time, I had no idea what beginning a thesis involved. I found myself
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Non-Academic Careers: Plan A, Plan B, or Simply Curious
Few graduate students have a clear idea of what an academic career entails before they enter their programs. Eventually, some decide that they do not enjoy the prospect of remaining on an academic path (Basalla
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Research Opportunities for Health Psychologists in Primary Care
Behavioral healthcare is being integrated into primary care all over the country in a variety of ways. Various models are being used within primary care settings to address the psychosocial, psychoeducational, and mental health needs
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APSSC State of the Caucus
The 2008-09 APS Student Caucus (APSSC) Executive Board (APSSC) began their term in Chicago with two overarching goals for the coming year: (1) the revamping of the Campus Representatives and RiSE-UP programs and (2) modernizing
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Beyond the t-test and F-test
For many psychology researchers and students, finding an appropriate statistical tool for analyzing data can be challenging. Moreover, dealing with issues such as outliers and nonnormal distribution can be frustrating. Methods taught in statistic classes
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“Show Me the Money”: Grant Writing Tips for Graduate Students
Grant writing is an integral part of graduate training, especially for students planning to pursue a career in academia. However, psychology graduate students are too often unprepared for this task, as the majority of doctoral
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On Becoming a Theorist in Psychology
Theory construction is essential to any field of science. Within psychology, theory is at the center of the scientific method. Research is conducted on the basis of theory, and it is the results of that
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Adherence to Exercise and the Older Adult
I always knew I wanted to work in the health field. The medical field was fascinating, but I wanted a closer relationship with patients than most doctors have. The fitness industry was also appealing to
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To Avoid “ABD,” Follow Steps 1, 2, and 3: How to Complete Your Dissertation Before a Clinical Internship
Finishing your dissertation before you leave for your internship has many benefits. First, there is the peace of mind that comes with knowing that you have successfully jumped through the biggest hoop of your graduate
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Educational Psychology: Looking Through a Different Window
On the first day of class, a clinical psychology classmate expressed surprise that an educational psychology student would be taking Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM). Our professor asked, “Is there some kind of rivalry that I
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The Reality of Forensic Psychology
Forensic psychology has gained recognition as a result of the entertainment media’s fascination with the intersection of psychology and law. In crime dramas, the forensic psychologist is often portrayed as the omnipotent seer with the
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Mentoring: Long-Distance Relationships are Worth the Trouble
There are many ways for students to acquire and maintain mentoring relationships that foster research, clinical, and other professional development. The rationale for mentoring is clear. Students benefit from the wisdom of mentors’ education and
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Understanding Media Psychology
When I first enrolled in a media psychology program, I had a limited concept of the field. I had stumbled across the distributed learning program online, and the combination of media and psychology fascinated me.
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What My Students Taught Me: Early Teaching Experiences
The first time I stepped into my classroom, I thought: “I am going to faint.” I had already given a few lectures in some of my professors’ classes, but this time the floor was all
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Getting Involved With OHP
A Student’s Perspective Attention to Occupational Health Psychology (OHP) — which covers issues of health and safety for workers and organizations — has been increasing since these issues were formally acknowledged with the Occupational Safety
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Passion and Strategy: Necessary Ingredients for Choosing a Thesis Topic
One of the most valuable pieces of advice I have gleaned from my mentor over the past three years is the need to get “mileage” out of what I write. With this in mind, I’d
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Champions of Psychology: Elizabeth Loftus
In an ongoing series in which the APS Student Caucus talks with highly recognized professors, Elizabeth Loftus recently shared her advice for facing challenges in graduate school and achieving professional success. Loftus is a Distinguished
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Fortuitous Opportunities: Taking Advantage of Student Competitions
“Louis Pasteur once said, ‘Chance favors the prepared mind.’ Take advantage of fortuity by getting involved in a lot of activities.” – Albert Bandura At the APS 16th Annual Convention, I learned the importance of
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Champions of Psychology: Robert Zajonc
In an ongoing series in which the APS Student Caucus talks with highly recognized professors, Robert Zajonc recently shared his advice for success and challenges facing graduate students. Zajonc is a professor of psychology at
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The Student Notebook
