This is the course website for the Stanford Psychology Honors Program. The Honors Program in Psychology is designed for Psychology majors who wish to pursue a full year of intensive supervised independent research during their senior year. Students in the program will acquire a broad background in psychology as well as a deep background in their chosen area.

In the fall quarter, we will focus on career development, acquiring valuable research skills, and on discussing our research projects. In the winter quarter, we will focus on reading and discussing research papers that are relevant for our projects. In the spring quarter, we will focus on how to present our research in writing, as well as in poster and oral presentations.


Team

Ellen Markman Kayla Good Julie Cachia
Ellen Markman Kayla Good Julie Cachia
Role Instructor Teaching assistant Teaching assistant
Email (@stanford.edu) markman kagood jcachia
Office hours* By appointment Book appointment By appointment

* We warmly invite you to join us for office hours! You don’t have to have a specific question in advance - you can check in just to say hi if you want :) We’re also here in case you want help with project troubleshooting, planning for project updates, career advice, etc.


Where and when?

During fall quarter, the class meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:00-4:20pm in Encina Center 464.


Learning goals

In this course, we will:

  • Build community with your peers to support each other in your research and beyond.
  • Expand your horizon of research questions and methods in psychology through actively engaging with your peers.
  • Gain more insights into what the academic research path looks like through panel discussions with current PhD students and lab managers.
  • Learn about the tools necessary to contribute towards open and reproducible science.
  • Critically evaluate existing research and discuss strengths and weaknesses.
  • Improve your scientific communication skills through presentation, discussion, writing, and peer feedback.
  • Enable you to write an honors thesis that makes you proud.

Schedule

FALL QUARTER

You can click on the blue links in the Class column to get more information about each session.

Day Date Theme Class
1 Tuesday September 26 Welcome
2 Thursday September 28 Career 🎓 VPUE and CareerEd
3 Tuesday October 3 Career 🎓 About the NSF & Hume Writing Center
4 Thursday October 5 Skills 🤹 Organizing your work
5 Tuesday October 10 Career 🎓 NSF Panel
6 Thursday October 12 Presentation 🎬 Presentations: Project updates
7 Tuesday October 17 Presentation 🎬 Presentations: Project updates
8 Thursday October 19 Skills 🤹 Open Science and Ethics
9 Tuesday October 24 Career 🎓 Grad School Panel
10 Thursday October 26 Presentation 🎬 Presentations: Project updates
11 Tuesday October 31 Skills 🤹 Citation Management (Zotero)
12 Thursday November 2 Presentation 🎬 Presentations: Project updates
13 Tuesday November 7 No class
14 Thursday November 9 Presentation 🎬 Presentations: Project updates
15 Tuesday November 14 Career 🎓 Applying to be a lab manager
16 Thursday November 16 Presentation 🎬 Presentations: Project updates
17 Tuesday November 21 No class - Thanksgiving break
18 Thursday November 23 No class - Thanksgiving break
19 Tuesday November 28 Presentation 🎬 Presentations: Project updates
20 Thursday November 30 Skills 🤹 R Intro
21 Tuesday December 5 Skills 🤹 Visualizing Data in R
22 Thursday December 7 No class
Community 🙏 End of quarter social event

Detailed schedule

1. Tuesday, September 26: Welcome

We’ll do introductions and discuss the plan for the course, including class norms and learning goals.

2. Thursday, September 28: VPUE and CareerEd 🎓

Representatives from The Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education (VPUE) as well as Stanford Career Education (CareerEd) will join for a discussion about resources that are available to you here at Stanford.

3. Tuesday, October 3: About the NSF + Hume Writing Center 🎓

We’ll spend the first 30 minutes of class discussing the requirements for the (NSF GRFP).

Then, Chris Kamrath from the Hume Writing Center will be joining us to talk about the resources available to you as you write your NSF proposals (and your honors thesis later in the year).

4. Thursday, October 5: Organizing your work 🤹

We’ll discuss tips and strategies for staying organized as you work on your honors thesis.

5. Tuesday, October 10: NSF Panel 🎓

We’ll be hearing from recipients of NSF GRFP awards (as well as honorable mentions).

6. Thursday, October 12: Presentations: Project updates 🎬

Two students will share their project ideas with the rest of the class. Each student presents for 20 minutes, followed by a 20 minute discussion.

7. Tuesday, October 17: Presentations: Project updates 🎬

Two students will share their project ideas with the rest of the class. Each student presents for 20 minutes, followed by a 20 minute discussion.

8. Thursday, October 19: Open Science and Ethics 🤹

We’ll discuss open science, preregistration, replication, ethics/sampling (recruiting participants, informed consent).


Useful links

9. Tuesday, October 24: Grad School Panel 🎓

A discussion about how to apply for grad school. A panel of PhD students will join us for the discussion.

10. Thursday, October 26: Presentations: Project Updates 🎬

Two students will share their project ideas with the rest of the class. Each student presents for 20 minutes, followed by a 20 minute discussion.

11. Tuesday, October 31: Citation Management (Zotero) 🤹

A tutorial on how to use Zotero to organize papers and generate APA-style references.

12. Thursday, November 2: Presentations: Project ideas 🎬

Two students will share their project ideas with the rest of the class. Each student presents for 20 minutes, followed by a 20 minute discussion.

13. Tuesday, November 7: No class

Democracy day!

14. Thursday, November 9: Presentations: Project updates 🎬

Two students will share their project ideas with the rest of the class. Each student presents for 20 minutes, followed by a 20 minute discussion.

15. Tuesday, November 14: Applying to be a lab manager 🎓

A discussion about how to apply for lab manager positions. A panel of current PhD students who were lab managers in the past will join us for the discussion.

16. Thursday, November 16: Presentations: Project updates 🎬

Two students will share their project ideas with the rest of the class. Each student presents for 20 minutes, followed by a 20 minute discussion.

17. Tuesday, November 21: No class - Thanksgiving break

Enjoy your break!

18. Thursday, November 23: No class - Thanksgiving break

Enjoy your break!

19. Tuesday, November 28: Presentations: Project updates 🎬

Two students will share their project ideas with the rest of the class. Each student presents for 20 minutes, followed by a 20 minute discussion.

20. Thursday, November 30: R Intro 🤹

We’ll go over the basics of R, including importing and wrangling data.

21. Tuesday, December 5: Visualizing Data in R 🤹

We’ll go over the basics of visualizing data in R.

22. Thursday, December 7: No class

Two students will share their project ideas with the rest of the class. Each student presents for 20 minutes, followed by a 20 minute discussion.

End of quarter social event 🙏

We’ll have a pizza dinner together at Treehouse :)

General information


Attendance policy

We expect that you attend each of our course meetings on Tuesdays and Thursdays in person. However, if something comes up, please let us know and we can make arrangements for you to make up your absence. Unfortunately, we can’t offer remote attendance via Zoom this quarter, but we are happy to send you a class recap (and we will of course post all relevant materials and slides on Canvas).

And of course, your health is the top priority, so if you are sick or have ANY potential symptoms of COVID-19, flu, RSV, a cold, etc., please email us (when you can) and stay home and rest!


Grading & assignments

Our primary focus is to make this course useful for all of you. Thus, this fall, the honors seminar will be offered as pass/fail or for a grade.


Here is the breakdown of what we expect from all of you:


  • Attendance (30%): Attendance is required to benefit from the panel discussions and from the presentation and demonstrations of a range of research skills, and from getting feedback from your peers. And most importantly, attendance is essential for creating and sustaining a culture in class that is supportive, informative, constructive, and provides a safe space for troubleshooting issues together.
  • Active Participation (30%): Active participation encourages dynamic learning and enhances communication skills. Moreover, both individually and as a group, we benefit from hearing everyone’s perspectives. Therefore, we encourage you to actively participate in class discussions, including presentations of your work, asking and posting questions and engaging in discussion during panels, peer presentations, and skill development sessions.
  • Final NSF Proposal (20%): Knowing how to write an effective grant proposal is an important skill in research. Writing this NSF proposal is an opportunity for you to crystallize your thinking in terms of the background and significance of your honors project and to think through the methods you’ll use, how you’ll analyze the data, and the conclusions you might draw from your work. This can then serve as an initial draft that you can refer to as you write your final thesis. Your NSF proposal will be due at the end of the quarter.
  • Peer Feedback (20%): Providing constructive peer feedback fosters collaboration, hones your critical evaluation skills, and promotes a supportive classroom environment. Therefore, in addition to providing constructive feedback throughout the entire course, we’ll be asking you to provide written feedback to a peer on their NSF proposal.


Class norms

Being respectful of each other: - Focus on giving constructive and uplifting feedback. - Try to avoid providing demoralizing feedback. - Be critical of ideas, not people. - Consider presenter’s preferences for questions and interruptions.

Actively listening when others are speaking: - Minimize phones and other screens so as to not distract others. - At the same time, recognize that paying attention can look different for different people.

Open-mindedness and inclusivity: - Be receptive to feedback when you receive it. - Understanding that everyone’s coming from a different background. - Clarify field-specific jargon when necessary. - Having a shared understanding that there are no silly questions.


Support

Students who may need an academic accommodation based on the impact of a disability should initiate the request with the Office of Accessible Education (OAE). Professional staff will evaluate the request with required documentation, recommend reasonable accommodations, and prepare an Accommodation Letter for faculty dated in the current quarter in which the request is being made. Students should contact the OAE as soon as possible since timely notice is needed to coordinate accommodations. The OAE is located at 563 Salvatierra Walk (phone: 723-1066, URL: http://oae.stanford.edu).

Stanford offers several services that might be of help:


Feedback

We welcome feedback regarding the course at any point. Please feel free to email us directly, or leave anonymous feedback for the teaching team by using this form.