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

[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.