Psychology Major, The: Career Options and Strategies for Success

by Landrum, R. Eric; Davis, Stephen F.

• ISBN13: 9780130454331
• ISBN10: 0130454338
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-01-01
• Publisher: Prentice Hall

Summary

For undergraduate psychology or career counseling courses at any level.For students considering a career in psychology, this thorough overview of the discipline provides information on career options and opportunities for both the undergraduate and graduate psychology major, research and writing strategies, as well as study and test-taking tips.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
What Can I Do with a Degree in Psychology?	1	(16)
Going to College
Thoughts About the Psychology Major
Areas of Specialization within Psychology
The Importance of Advising
The American Psychological Association
Why the Psychology Major is a Good Choice
Exercise #1: Psychology Survey
Career Options with a B.A. or B.S. in Psychology	17	(18)
The Undergraduate Curriculum
Careers with an Associate's Degree
Careers with a Bachelor's Degree
Tips to Help You Find a Job
Exercise #2: Newspaper Ads
Graduate School Opportunities, Challenges, and Choices	35	(22)
Why Graduate Training?
Occupational Opportunities
How to Apply to Graduate School
Exercise #3: Letter of Recommendation Request Worksheet
Undergraduate Opportunities	57	(12)
Research and Teaching Assistantships
Field Experiences and Internships
Organizational Involvement
Exercise #4: Outside-of-Class Activities Plan
Locating Prior Research	69	(10)
Generating Research Ideas
The Literature Review
The Special Role of References
Library Research Strategies
Library Skills Psychology Majors Should Have
Exercise #5: PsycINFO Author Search
Publication Manual/Primer: Tips for APA Format	79	(16)
Writing Psychology Papers
The Parts: Introduction, Method, Results, and Discussion
Grammar and Vocabulary
Sample Paper
Exercise #6: Proofreading APA Format
Tips for Doing Well in Psychology Courses	95	(10)
General Study Tips
Developing Effective Study Habits
Improving Your Reading
Getting More Out of Lectures
Improving Test-taking Strategies
Math Anxiety
Behaviors to Avoid
Exercise #7: Locations for Studying
Ethical Issues for Undergraduate Psychology Students	105	(12)
The Ethics of Being a Student
The Ethics of Research
The Development and Use of APA Ethical Principles
The Role of Informed Consent and the Institutional Review Board
Principle Six of APA's Ethical Principles and Code of Conduct
Exercise #8: Ethics Scenarios
Majoring in Psychology and Other Options	117	(12)
The Psychology Major
Diversity in Psychology
Other Related Options
Self-Reflection and Self-Assessment
More Resources
Exercise #9: Attitudes and Options
References	129	(6)
Appendix A: More Vita Tips, with Sample Vitae from Senior-Level Psychology Majors	135	(14)
Author and Subject Index	149

Excerpts

We originally wrote this book because we saw a need for a resource in our classrooms, a resource that was not available elsewhere (demonstrating, once again, that necessity is the mother of invention). Our goal for this text was and continues to be to provide strategies for success that will allow students to achieve their career goals, whatever they may be. Also, we wanted to provide some fundamental tips and advice that can be useful toallstudents, but especially useful for psychology majors. So why did we revise this book? First, thanks to colleagues and students around the country, the book has been modestly successful, and thus there was an opportunity for second edition. Second, it gave us a chance to improve upon a solid foundation with tweaking and polishing. Third, we wanted to add new features that make the reading more engaging and the book more valuable to the students and for our colleagues using it in the classroom. Our basic approach to writing this book was to provide immediately useful and helpful information to students majoring in psychology or thinking about majoring in psychology. The approach of this book is both functional and applied- to provide students with practical, timely, up-to-date information that helps them. We think there are a number of benefits to be gained by using this text. First, it fulfills a need-to our knowledge no book exists that presents this mix of knowledge in such an easy-to-read and easy-to-use format. This text standardizes and catalogs much of the practical advice that professors often give to students on a one-to-one basis-this book does not replace that interaction, but it helps to supplement it. We provide tips on how to do well in all classes, how to find research ideas, and how to write papers in APA format. Also, the book contains up-to-date career information that professors might not normally have at their fingertips, including the latest salary figures for a number of psychology-related jobs and occupations. Other benefits include the coverage of ethics for undergraduate students, sections on self-reflection, and an overview of disciplines related to psychology. These features are important perspectives that may not often be shared with the new or prospective psychology major. We have worked hard on this revision of the textbook. In particular, you will find a number of new "value-added" features--at the same time, we deleted sections and kept the page count roughly the same, helping to keep the cost of the book to the lowest possible level. Below are some of the major changes and additions to the second edition; Each chapter ends with an interactive exercise that students can complete. These exercises are designed to involve the reader more in the text of the chapter. As usual, these are "hands-on" exercises that should improve the students' understanding of the chapter materials. In almost every chapter you'll find a section labeled "Success Stories." For the second edition, we solicited comments about various component of the book from well-respected and knowledgeable faculty members around the country. These faculty told us stories, sometimes about themselves and sometimes about their students, that lend a more personal perspective to the text material. We hope that this narrative approach engages the reader further in understanding why the chapter topics are important. Throughout the book, wherever available, we have updated the statistical information about jobs, salary, employment rates, etc. Unfortunately, these data are not published as often as would be helpful, but if there was up-to-date information available, we included it in this second edition. The section on writing tips has been updated to cover the fifth edition of thePublication Manual.This update includes a sample paper that demonstrates the new features, as well as showing the layout of fifth edition-style papers.