Graduate Lounge - March 2009

The NERA Researcher
Vol. 47, Issue 1, p. 16
March 2009

The Graduate Lounge

For this issue of the Graduate Lounge, the GSIC has compiled a list of resources that we have found to be helpful and/or informative as we work toward our degrees. We hope you find these resources helpful as well.

Suggestion from GSIC member Asil Özdoğru:

Among those rows of theoretical and technical articles and books, one might find it relaxing and enjoying to have a comic book not about super heroes but about us, graduate students, some of whom might have extraordinary talents to be classified as superheroes. Jorge Cham's acclaimed series of cartoons Piled Higher and Deeper (PHD) are published in 3 volumes for a modest price to not to hurt fragile graduate student budgets. Cham's Web site http://www.phdcomics.com/ offers a rich archive of his cartoons as well as an online store to purchase the books or other souvenir items.

Suggestions from GSIC member Marisa Cohen:

Pintrich, P.R., & Schunk, D. H. (2002). Motivation in education: Theory, research, and applications (2nd ed.). New Jersey: Person Education Incorporated.

This is a wonderful textbook that ties the theories of motivation to their use in the classroom. It examines how students’ cognitions, affect, and values come into play in everyday classroom situations, as well as discuses how to improve upon students’ motivation. The theories discussed are broken down into the influence of personal and environmental factors, developmental and group differences, as well as gender and ethnic differences, giving the reader complete coverage of the subject.

Zimmerman, B.J., Bonner, S., & Kovach, R. (2006). Developing self-regulated learners: Beyond achievement to self-efficacy. Washington DC: American Psychological Association Press.

This is a wonderful manual for educators. It explains self-regulatory principles, as well as ways to incorporate them in the classroom. Six goals are outlined for teachers, ranging from understanding the principles of self-regulated learning to developing skills such as classroom note-taking. At the end of each chapter is a group of self-directed questions to help the teacher think about his/her classroom and the way in which it is structured. Examples of students’ work, as well as useful forms to enable teachers to implement the principles are provided.

Suggestion from GSIC member Megan France:

Bem, D. J. (2003). Writing the empirical journal article. In Darley, J. M., Zanna, M. P., & Roediger III, H. L. (Eds.). The compleat academic: A career guide. (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Press.

Writing skills are crucial for success in any graduate program. One resource I have continually found to be helpful is Bem’s chapter titled “Writing the empirical journal article”. I have referred to it many times when preparing manuscripts. Bem provides clear advice for writing each section of a journal article (e.g., introduction, methods, results, discussion). I have found his section on rewriting and polishing your article to be especially helpful.

Suggestion from GSIC member Carol Barry:

Ree, M. J., & Carretta, T.H. The role of measurement error in familiar statistics. Organizational Research Methods, 9, 99-112.

Many of the statistics used in educational research make the assumption that our variables are measured without error. Given that nearly all variables in educational research are measured with less than perfect reliability, how are the statistics we use and the interpretations we make based on those statistics impacted by this? This easy-to-read article clearly outlines the impact of measurement error and helps reinforce the fact that good measurement is crucial to all areas of research.