socosci

For current PhD students & postdocs

Guides related to professional development for grad students and postdocs.

Core research skills ⚡

  • The Good Research Code handbook
    For grad students, postdocs, & PIs who do a lot of programming as part of their research.

  • Experimentology
    A free book and guide to open science approaches in experimental psychology, describing each stage of the research process from from designing your first study to analyzing and communicating results.

  • R for Data Science
    Free online book on how to do data science with R. Learn how to get your data into R, get it into the most useful structure, visualize it, and analyze it.

  • Statistical Methods for Behavioral and Social Sciences
    Free online materials for a statistics course designed by Tobias Gerstenberg. Last updated 2024/08/16. Best used in combination with course notes.

  • Zettelkasten (“note box”) method
    Note-taking and knowledge organization method, helpful for those who jot things down and never look at them again. Works well with knowledge organization apps like Obsidian, which can be integrated with citation management apps like Zotero.

  • Zotero reference manager
    Open-source citation management app to organize your references and citaitons. Can use plugins to seamlessly integrate with MS Word and somewhat clunkily integrate with Google Sheets & Overleaf.

† See also our resources for Research and Writing

Academic job market 🏫

  • Materials from successful job searches
    Drafts of cover letters and research/teaching/diversity statements from successful candidates on the academic job market.

  • Panel discussions about the academic job market 🦉 | 2023 | 2024
    Zoom recordings of panel discussions with early-career faculty who found recent success on the academic job market (in psychology and cognitive science departments, business schools, SLACs). Organized by the Psych Postdoc DEI Committee at Princeton University.

  • Academic Jobs Wiki
    Up-to-date collection of job postings for academic (e.g., faculty, postdoc, predocs & lab manager) positions in Psychology and Cognitive Science. Also exists for other fields.

  • The Professor is In (Blog)
    Popular blog with advice for navigating a career in academia.

Mentorship 🙋

Modest advice ☝

Mental health & support 🧘🏿

  • Grad student slack
    Online community for grad students to support each other through the process of earning a PhD.

  • Health and wellness guide for PhD students
    Some reminders to build positive habits, find balance, create and maintain a strong support system, and live a healthy life as you make huge strides toward your career goals.

  • Mental health in grad school
    Article on common mental health concerns for grad students and advice about how to find help.

  • Marginalia Science
    A community committed to including, integrating, advocating for, and promoting members and their work, especially those who are female, non-gender-conforming, POC, LGBTQIA+, differently abled or in any other way not promoted by the status quo in academia.

  • Growing up in science
    Online and in-person talk series sharing the unofficial stories of people in science, with a focus on doubts, struggles, detours, and failures throughout all stages of their career.

  • SPSP online communities and discussion boards
    Open forums and shared-interest groups for members of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.

  • SPSP affinity groups and networking
    Affinity groups in the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, connecting people with shared identities and experiences while fostering professional growth.

  • Science’s Letters to young scientists

  • Character Lab
    Evidence-based playbooks to strengthen mental health.

  • Lego grad student
    Archived twitter meme account to help grad students cope.

Productivity 🎯

Worksheets 📒

Conferences 🗣️

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For undergrads & prospective grad students