1. Special Experiences for Psychology Majors at IPFW
Dr. Blakemore

2. Organizations for Psychology Majors
Psychology Club
Open to any student interested in psychology
Psi Chi
The national honor society in Psychology
Advisors are Drs. Miller and DiClementi

3. Working as a Research Assistant
See the department web page at:
The faculty most likely to have a significant number of research assistants are: Lawton, Jackson, Miller, Drouin, DiClementi, Ross, Yoder, & Kaiser
A little less so: Hill, Lundy, Vartanian, and me
You can ask the others
Dr. Bendele is often involved in student’s own research: honors thesis (more later)
You should seek out the faculty member you are interested in working with
You will need to complete a form (basically a contract) when you work as a research assistant

4. What Do Research Assistants Do?
Collect data – run research participants – this is the most frequent activity
Enter and clean up data
Do library research and searches
Sometimes assist in the data analysis process
Assist in the research development process
Much less often, but on occasion, contribute to the writing of a paper or poster
Go to scientific meetings and present the paper with the faculty member (MPA is a very common such place)
Also less frequently, be an author on a research paper

5. Working as a Research Assistant: How Do Students Benefit?
Letters of recommendation for graduate school
Consideration for department honors and scholarships
Getting to know the department and faculty better
Learning about the research process

6. Working As A Research Assistant: How Do Faculty Benefit?
Huge benefit to have students collecting the data.
Students give new ideas or a new “take” on the research question.
It’s very rewarding to mentor students – especially those who go on to graduate school in psychology – but any students.

7. Presenting Posters and Papers
Students may be coauthors on faculty driven research
This can be presented at many meetings (see samples in the hallway)
There is funding to help students attend these meetings
And for other individual research activities, more later

8. Midwestern Psychological Association (MPA)
Look at last year’s program book
Linked on the lecture page
Always in Chicago in May
Search for IPFW faculty and see all the students attending to present the poster or paper with the faculty member

9. Psi Chi at MPA
There are many activities specifically for undergraduate students at MPA, hosted by the midwest regional Psi Chi group
When students do their own research (e.g., an honors thesis), they can submit it directly to Psi Chi, which hosts poster sessions for undergraduate research, and which also presents awards for the “best” undergraduate research

10. Attending MPA
Psi Chi and Psychology Club often take groups of students to Chicago for MPA
The department often assists this activity financially, and the clubs do fundraisers to help pay for the trip
Students don’t need to be presenting a paper or poster to attend MPA

11. Doing Your Own Research: An Honors Thesis
Once you have worked as a research assistant for a faculty member, and have taken research methods, and meet other requirements (number of hours, GPA, etc.), you may want to do your own research
Best to do in junior year, or with enough time to complete it and present it before applying to graduate school
Find more information at:
You may also want to complete the research certificate
You can even get a scholarship/grant to pay for your honors thesis credit
And additional financial support may be sought for your research

12. Presenting your Research at IPFW
Every Spring semester the university hosts an annual undergraduate research symposium for students in all disciplines
In 2014 it will be March 28th
You can present work you did as part of a faculty-driven team, or you can present your own honors thesis
There is also a similar symposium for the state of Indiana at IUPUI in the Fall, and students who presented at IPFW in Spring, sometimes go to IUPUI in Fall, but you can do one and not the other – they aren’t tied together

13. Other Valuable Special Experiences
PSY 480: Field Experience in Psychology
Two different configurations:
Dr. Young takes a group of students to Parkview Hospital’s Behavior Health unit each Summer I
He also supervises field placements in many different community settings every semester
PSY 490: Practicum in Psychotherapy
Dr. Young offers this course to 10 students every Spring semester

14. Advantages of Field Placement
If you are applying to clinical or counseling graduate programs, this is a very valuable undergraduate experience, and one clinical programs will look for (note, doctoral programs will want to see research a bit more than this, but there’s no reason you can’t do both)
Doing a field placement or internship is exceptionally valuable to students who want to work in human services fields with a bachelor’s degree – it’s reasonable to say that it’s an essential experience for this purpose
Also, being in mental health or applied setting can teach students whether they really like to do this kind of work – better to find out now!

15. Being an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant
Sometimes referred to as TA or UTA
Students usually enroll in PSY 392 (Undergraduate Teaching Assistant)
One configuration involves being a TA for PSY 120
The other configuration involves being a TA for one of the other larger courses that many nonmajors often take (e.g., PSY 235 or PSY 350), working individually with a particular faculty member

16. UTA for PSY 120 This is coordinated by Dr. Hill and Dr. Bendele
Students must see one of these faculty members to sign up
All TAs meet as a group once a week with Drs. Hill and Bendele
They have group activities and assignments related to the teaching of psychology, and PSY 120 in particular
Then, they are assigned to a particular PSY 120 instructor, with whom the meet individually, and for whom they do particular activities such as
Grade critical thinking assignments
Enter scores in a gradebook
Proctor exams
Show videos to the class when the instructor is out of town
Run study or review sessions
Have office hours and assist students by one-on-one tutoring