Career Minded

The Path to Becoming a Research Psychologist

by Mitch Harden

Reading Groups

Participating in reading groups is another way to get noticed.

Published on February 5, 2009 by Mitch Harden, M.A. in Career Minded

Reading groups are a great activity whether you are an undergraduate looking for ways to pad your CV and get good letters of recommendation, or a graduate student wanting to be more involved in your program. Seeking out groups that read, discuss and critique peer-reviewed articles is also a great way to immerse yourself in the literature of your field. In this post I will discuss three of the reading groups that I have participated in, as well as suggest some ways to choose and participate in these types of reading groups.

The first reading group I was involved in at my current institution was called the Biological Basis of Behavior (BBoB), a multi-domain (Neuroscience, Clinical Psychology, Philosophy, and more) discussion group sponsored by the Behavioral Neuroscience division of the psychology department. The discussion leader sends out an article 1-2 weeks before the group meets, and discussants email in comments and questions about the article. Every three weeks during the 1 hour meeting the leader begins by summarizing the paper, and then attempts to address the comments of the group. There is a mix of mainly faculty, some graduate students and a few undergraduates present. The discussion leaders are generally faculty in the fall and graduate students in the spring. The most advantageous aspect of BBoB is the option to e-mail in comments, this allows students to contribute even if they don't have enough personality to compete with faculty in the actual meeting. It is also refreshing to see what papers students choose to present in the spring, and is a great opportunity for graduate students to advertise their interests to faculty. The disadvantage is the high proportion of faculty to students, which means that discussions can sometime revolve around minutiae of interest only to the most invested of readers, and domination of the discussion by faculty. Of course it is also worthwhile to hear faculty debate amongst themselves, and often quite entertaining.

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The second reading group I have been attending is the Animal Behavior Discussion Group (ABDG), sponsored by the biology department. This group is similar to BBoB, except that it meets every week, and has a much smaller faculty presence. While not always directly pertinent for my own studies, this discussion group has provided lots of valuable information on the perspectives of a field of science that is distinct but related to my own discipline. The big student presence means that discussions tend to focus on the methods and topics of the paper being presented, and often revolve around understanding the unique features and flaws of the science as published. It is also advantageous to network with students and faculty in related fields as they may be good choices for collaborators on future work.

The last reading group I've been involved with is a grant writing group that hasn't created an acronym yet. The goal of the group is to get students and faculty to help each other read and write grant proposals in an effort to secure more funding for the individuals and the institution. While this group has met irregularly and infrequently I have to say it has certainly been the most valuable. The grant writing process is both arcane and arduous, and having some guidance from those that have been through it has proven invaluable. So I would highly recommend any sort of skill-building group that can help you get an edge when entering unfamiliar territory.

While this post has been entirely biased by my personal experiences, I'm hoping that it will help you recognize the advantages of getting involved in reading groups at your school. It's a great way to become known by your professors and to learn about the recent events in psychology. If your school doesn't have a reading group, check nearby schools, or start your own!