Psychology is so cool.

[jedusor]

The problem with studying things I'm actually interested in is that I can't just do what I'm supposed to do. I do a search for journal articles on one topic for a paper and end up absorbed in articles that are completely irrelevant to the project. I hear a professor mention a neat study in lecture and spend way too much time reading up on it (I could spend weeks just on Milgram). I get through half a page of the textbook I'm supposed to be reading before I find a reference to another book I have to read, and then another one, and then those have more--I'm in the middle of four psychology books right now that aren't required for any of my classes, and the waiting list is growing exponentially. I want to start subscribing to journals, but then I would never have a chance to do any homework at all.

I mean, I'm not complaining. This is exactly what I want to be doing. It's just that I wish I had more time.

Comments

[bookishfellow.livejournal.com]

Sounds to me like you've jumped directly from undergrad to postdoc mode. May you wear it in good health!

[otherwise-nyc.livejournal.com]

Remember that you are in a marathon and not a sprint! Nothing bad will happen if you don't follow up all those leads to interesting things you keep finding to read. What you're describing doing right now is much more what one does in grad school than in first-semester college classes -- that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it, just that there isn't a penalty for *not* doing it.

Also, you shouldn't *have* to subscribe to any journals -- that's one of the perks of going to a school with its own subscriptions to stuff. You should be able to get anything you want from your library. When you join your professional organization (probably the American Psychological Association, http://www.apa.org/membership/students.html) then you'll probably start getting some journal subscriptions as part of that, but other journals you can read online.

Everyone wants more time. :)

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

No, I am not saying that I feel like I should be reading everything psychological I can get my hands on, I am saying that I can't stop myself. It's not "I need to get ahead in classes," it's "OOH! SHINY!" :P

The library has a shit-ton of journals, yeah, and I always look at them longingly when I'm in there. Maybe one of these days I'll have a homework break long enough to flip through a few.

Eep. I will think about joining the APA when I am old and tenured and have paid off my student loans. If it's over $200/year for a student affiliate membership, I am not even going to look at the regular dues.

[otherwise-nyc.livejournal.com]

Oh, I totally got the "Ooh, SHINY!" tone. I just wanted to be reassuring.

Flipping through journals? Huh. On the page for your school's library: http://www.clarku.edu/libraries.cfm it says that you've got 50 subject databases and 1,500 subscriptions -- my guess is that most of those are online. A librarian will be delighted to help you learn to use the databases. From there you can get .pdfs of journal articles; if there are journal articles you want/need that Clark doesn't have, your library will get them for you through document delivery (you'll get a photocopy of the article sent to you at the library).

Looks like student affiliate membership for the APA is $27 a year and if you became a member now it would be good through the end of 2009.

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

I use the article databases constantly; I couldn't have gotten through a week here without them. But it's harder for me to focus on reading for long periods online. If I want to really read an article from the databases, I have to print it out. (Which I do quite often, but the ooh-shiny feeling is definitely evoked by the physical journals in the library too.)

Ah, I see--I clicked on the link for dues and didn't scroll down to the affiliate section. That's a possibility, then.

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

(Also, I am not first-semester. I transferred in as a junior, so I'm technically starting in the third year of the curriculum.)

[otherwise-nyc.livejournal.com]

Oh, sorry. I'll leave you to it, then.

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

Heh--no, I know that undergraduate work is all the same from a grad's perspective. I didn't mean to sound rude. :)