My strengths going into this course was that in Psychology 317, I thrived. I very easily comprehended the material that was presented to me. Unfortunately, the chapters that I did struggle with were the same analysis, correlation and regression, that I used the most in Psychology 318. The second thing that I struggled with was not being thorough enough when writing my papers. I consistently got points taken away because the participants or methods or studies that I was describing did not have enough detail. Eventually, I began to see the pattern. At this point, I began breaking everything down that I was writing, so that I wouldn’t miss any crucial points. Luckily, this helped me get better grades on my papers.

I think that everything that I learned in this class will help me through the rest of my life. In other courses, I know now that I am better at being thorough. Similarly, this course was very intensive, with lots of due dates, assignments, and quizzes; 318 taught me how to juggle all of this, and I believe it will translate easily to my professional career. I also believe that 318 is a solid base for many psychology classes. As for in my college life, Research Methods gave me a great opportunity to build on previous knowledge. I am a rising junior, and in these past two years I have noticed how separate college courses can be. But this class, along with the Integrative Learning Community, showed me how to see the relationships between classes.

I very strongly recommend that when taking this class, any future students really, truly put their best efforts into it. This class provides an invaluable amount of knowledge that will help throughout your collegiate and professional career. Second, I would recommend that if you are struggling at all, you go to the Professor or your TA. Anything you don’t understand, assignments, concepts, or grades, they will be happy to help you; making things much clearer. Last, I personally found that writing an outline beforehand was instrumental in my getting better grades. Yes, it seemingly adds extra work. But in the long run, it prevents sloppy writing, writers block, and losing point because you missed part of the assignment. While taking this course, you should expect to know APA style very, very well. It may seem tricky at first, but what you learn in this course will translate into other courses, especially ones required for psychology majors. You may find that the writing assignments are brutal and taxing, but in the end, they are vital. Research Methods has provided me with knowledge that I know I will carry through life.