Email is one of the most common ways college students contact their professors in between class or office hours. Unfortunately, many students write emails to professors like they write text messages to their friends. Needless to say, this is off-putting to many professors.

A basic understanding of email etiquette ensures that you will avoid common mistakes that can lead professors to form negative impressions of you. It can also help you present yourself in a positive manner in a variety of professional contexts. The good news is that appropriate email etiquette is simple to learn.

Here are some tips for college students to keep in mind when emailing a professor:

1. Before you start your email, make sure the answer to your question is not easily found in the course syllabus.
2. Send your email from your official university email account.
3. Use the subject line to describe the content of your email.
4. Never begin your message with the word "Hey" ("Hi" is fine).
5. Use an appropriate title followed by the professor's last name (e.g., Prof. Lastname, Dr. Lastname).
6. Identify yourself by name in the body of your message (e.g., "This is [Your name] from your [name or number of class] class").
7. Write formally, using standard punctuation, spelling, grammar, and capitalization. Always proofread and check your spelling before sending.
8. Avoid smiley faces, emoticons, and the sort of acronyms frequently used in text messages (e.g., LOL, u, idk).
9. Be polite, respectful, and think about what you are hoping to accomplish with your email.
10. Never send an email when you are angry.

These tips were assembled from the following sources, each of which provides additional information on the subject of email etiquette for college students:

• Re: Your Recent Email to Your Professor
• Wellesley College Project on Social Computing Netiquette Guidelines

Tags: student success

One commonly recommended tip for college students involves getting to know at least a few of their professors. This is good advice for all students because it makes it easier to seek help when one needs it, but it is especially important for students who may need faculty to write letters of recommendation for them. Graduate school applications typically require 3 letters of recommendation, and it is usually a good idea to make sure at least 2 of them come from professors who are able to write about one's potential for success in graduate school. Aside from taking their classes or working in one of their labs as a research assistant, how might a student get to know some of his or her professors?

The Counseling & Wellness Center at the University of Florida shared some great information on how students can approach a professor for help, and much of what they recommend is useful in the broader context of getting to know one's professors. They suggest breaking the process down into four simple steps:

1. Identifying Reasons for Seeking Help
2. Determining When to Meet
3. Organize Your Talk with Your Professor
4. Talk with Your Professor

With regard to Step 1, it is okay to seek out a professor to introduce yourself even if you do not need help at the moment. For example, you might stop by during a professor's office hours to introduce yourself, reminding them which of their classes you are taking and telling them that you are thinking about applying to graduate school in a particular area related to their field. Even a brief conversation like this will make it easier for you to request a letter of recommendation at a later date should you decide to do so.

It is also a good idea to heed the advice presented in Step 4 about knowing your professor's name and appropriate title. This is good advice not just for face-to-face meetings but for all contact with them, including phone calls and emails. Emails that begin with "Hey [Firstname]" are unlikely to be well-received, and "Dr. [Lastname]" or "Professor [Lastname]" are safer bets.

Tags: student success

Undergraduate students enrolled in the Honors College at the University of Southern Mississippi complete an honors thesis as part of their program requirements. Some theses involve the collection of original data, and others utilize archival data (i.e., data previously collected as part of another project). In the School of Psychology, a completed honors thesis typically looks like a manuscript-length paper of approximately 30 pages in length and formatted in APA style.

One of the first steps in the process of completing an honors thesis involves finding a thesis adviser. Dr. Dahlen is happy to serve as a thesis adviser to honors students; however, there are usually more interested students than there are openings in the Anger and Traffic Psychology Lab. That means we need to be selective about who we accept.

Here are some tips for undergraduate honors students interested in working with Dr. Dahlen and the Anger and Traffic Psychology Lab:

• We are most likely to accept students who are willing to complete projects in our areas of research.
• We almost always have ideas for specific projects that would be appropriate for honors theses, and we are far more likely to accept a student who is willing to complete one of these projects. For example, Dr. Dahlen is especially interested in working with students on projects designed to examine the relationship of peer victimization and bullying to college student mental health and academic success.
• We often encourage students to use archival data sets for their projects rather than collecting new data, as this makes it far more likely that they will be able to finish on time.
• Students who work with us will be encouraged to attend our weekly lab meetings, and preference will be given to those able to do so.

Tags: student success

When a new doctoral student joins the lab, the first big task he or she will face involves selecting a thesis or dissertation topic. Students entering with a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology who completed a thesis in their master’s program are encouraged to have me review it. If I can approve it as being equivalent to the sort of thesis a student would complete in our program, we can proceed directly to the student’s dissertation. If not or if the student did not complete a thesis, we will complete a master’s project before starting on the dissertation (a master’s project is similar to a thesis in many ways but does not require a graduate committee).

Even though a dissertation is more complicated than a thesis, most students find that selecting a dissertation topic is far easier than selecting a thesis topic because they know much more about research by that point. This post will focus on the doctoral student entering the program without a master’s degree and provide some tips on selecting a thesis topic.

Here are five things to keep in mind about selecting a topic for one’s master’s thesis:

1. Students are encouraged to select a thesis topic consistent with the work we are doing in the lab. Occasionally, a new student may have a great idea for how to extend our work in a new direction; however, topics with little relevance to our work are unlikely to be approved.
2. Once a broad potential topic area is identified (e.g., relational aggression among college students), narrowing it to identify the primary variables to be included and form tentative research questions will require the student to review the relevant literature. What are the current gaps in the literature on this topic? Where can one make a contribution by doing something different from what has been done before?
3. Statistically, theses tend to be much less complex than dissertations. Some may only have 3-4 primary variables. One of the more common approaches we have been using in a number of recent thesis projects involves testing moderation or mediation. If we know, for example, that a variable we are interested in is positively related to relational aggression, we might ask whether another variable might help us understand the nature of that relationship (e.g., what might strengthen or weaken it, whether it depends on an intermediate variable).
4. As important as the topic selected may seem, it is less important than being able to complete one’s thesis on time. Delays in doing so mean less time for completing a dissertation. Thus, topic selection must take feasibility into consideration. How large is the body of literature that will need to be reviewed? Can we recruit the participants we will need? Are psychometrically sound measures of the variables available?
5. There is no such thing as a perfect study because we will never be able to include all potentially relevant variables and will always have constraints. A thesis that is completed on time, leads to a conference presentation and manuscript submitted for publication, and informs a student’s dissertation is about as close to perfection as we are going to get.

The thesis process always seems to move faster than new students expect it to, and there is considerable pressure to identify a topic early in the Fall semester so we can review the literature, select variables, identify appropriate measures, and put together the written thesis proposal. Thus, it is often helpful for us to begin discussing possible thesis ideas during the summer before students begin the program.

Tags: admissions, student success

When it comes to providing research mentoring to graduate students, I describe my approach as collaborative, developmental, and individualized. What follows is a brief description of what this looks like in application.

My approach is collaborative in that I believe that the research process is most effective when a lab model is utilized. Graduate students receive support around their thesis and dissertation research while also providing support and assistance to others in the lab. Students who are making progress on their thesis/dissertation work often have the opportunity to participate in collaborative team projects.

My mentoring approach is developmental in that I recognize that every graduate student enters the program with a unique background, comfort level, and skill set around research. Some have already had considerable research experience working in a variety of faculty labs; others have not. Thus, it is important that research training goals take students' previous research experiences into account and build on student strengths.

Finally, my approach is individualized around students' career goals. For example, a doctoral student hoping to pursue an academic career will need a different set of experiences than a master's student aiming to pursue licensure as a professional counselor. Thus, an important part of mentoring involves recognizing that each student will have somewhat different needs.

At the Anger and Traffic Psychology Lab, we utilize a lab model where I meet regularly with all students throughout the Fall and Spring academic semesters. These lab meetings allow students to be involved in idea development, strategizing research design, planning statistical analyses, troubleshooting problems, and dissemination. Senior graduate students are expected to take on a peer mentoring role to assist more junior graduate students, and some graduate students (especially those seeking academic careers) will be encouraged to train and mentor undergraduate research assistants.

Student success is a top priority and is critical to lab productivity. I strive to set clear expectations and challenge students to develop their research competencies and critical thinking skills. Similarly, I challenge myself to provide meaningful support and timely feedback. The guiding principle is that we work better when we work together and support one another.

Tags: admissions, student success

Undergraduate students thinking about applying to graduate programs in Psychology are often advised to obtain research experience to strengthen their applications. This is good advice, especially if the student does not wait until his or her last year of college to do so. Most graduate programs in Psychology find research experience to be desirable for their applicants, and working as an undergraduate research assistant (RA) is one of the most effective things students can do to strengthen their applications.

Believe it or not, working as an RA in a Psychology research lab can be valuable for a number of other reasons too. Here are just a few examples that come to mind:

• Some students do not discover their passion for research until they have the opportunity to be part of a research lab.
• Obtaining research experience allows students to develop the sort of portfolio of skills many employers are seeking (e.g., knowledge of the research process, interpersonal awareness, the ability to contribute to a team, effective problem solving, organization and time management).
• By working as an RA, a student provides a faculty member with the opportunity to get to know him or her in a meaningful way, and this often results in a more relevant letter of recommendation (i.e., the professor is able to address the student’s potential to succeed in the research-related aspects of graduate training and/or address many of the job-relevant skills noted above).
• Being part of a research lab often gives students a clearer understanding of the research process, and this can translate into improved performance in Psychology courses.
• Working as an RA in a lab that includes graduate students provides undergraduates with an accurate idea of what it is like to be a graduate student, what to expect from graduate training, and additional opportunities for mentoring.
• Students can sometimes opt to earn elective course credit by working as an RA in a lab.

In short, gaining research experience as an undergraduate by working as a research assistant in a faculty member’s lab can be valuable for many reasons.

Undergraduate students enrolled at the University of Southern Mississippi’s Hattiesburg campus can learn more about joining the lab.

Tags: admissions, student success