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Publishing a Psychology dissertation?

Just wondering if anyone has experience of, or knows someone who has, managed to get an undergraduate psychology dissertation published? I understand it is very competitive and can be time consuming, but I have a while before my full-time job starts and am up for the challenge.

My agreed mark on my dissertation was 85 and I feel that it was quite original, though like any piece of work I appreciate there is room for improvement.

Any ideas on what steps I could take to see if it's publishable? British Psychological Society would be the ultimate aim, but how likely is this for an undergraduate piece of work?
Yes. It is entirely possible to publish a dissertation and many do get into journals. Your supervisor would be the first port of call and you should be discussing this with them. It will need to be cut down to journal specification and it will need to be edited to fit the journal style.

British Psycholgy Society isn't a journal though. It does publish several though under it's umbrella, ranging from the prestigious academic types (like British Jouranal of Clincal Psychology) to the more informal low impact magazines like The Psychologist or clinical psychology forum.
Reply 2
Just out of curiosity, what was your research about? And did you formulate the hypothesis by yourself, or did you discuss it with your supervisor and formulate it through talks with them? Would love to get into research one day, just curious as to how one would come up with an original research proposal. I assume one way would to look at the limitations of previous studies and go from there. Or maybe connect pieces of information from seperate areas of study and have more of a eureka moment haha, sorry if it's not really an answer to your question just incredibly interested! and trying to learn as much as possible.
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by jackbw6
Just out of curiosity, what was your research about? And did you formulate the hypothesis by yourself, or did you discuss it with your supervisor and formulate it through talks with them? Would love to get into research one day, just curious as to how one would come up with an original research proposal. I assume one way would to look at the limitations of previous studies and go from there. Or maybe connect pieces of information from seperate areas of study and have more of a eureka moment haha, sorry if it's not really an answer to your question just incredibly interested! and trying to learn as much as possible.


Its fairly normal to be given a selection of projects that are mostly planned to do for your undergrad dissertation. The bad way to go about it (and lots of people on TSR seem to do this) is to say: well I am interested in bullying/health/whatever, and plan some sort of focus group or survey without reading any prior research on the topic. Ideally, you want to plan dissertation which builds on previous research (and is also something which would be fairly quick/easy to do). 99% of research articles aren't particularly amazing or novel, I wouldn't worry about doing this for your dissertation. It's fine to replicate a previous study, and add something slightly novel (e.g. a new measure, a slight change to the protocol, etc.) which you can talk about. Addressing a previous limitation of a study would be really good. A good thing to do is approach potential supervisors early and work for them over the summer after your second year, although for most people this isn't an option.
Reply 4
Original post by iammichealjackson
Its fairly normal to be given a selection of projects that are mostly planned to do for your undergrad dissertation. The bad way to go about it (and lots of people on TSR seem to do this) is to say: well I am interested in bullying/health/whatever, and plan some sort of focus group or survey without reading any prior research on the topic. Ideally, you want to plan dissertation which builds on previous research (and is also something which would be fairly quick/easy to do). 99% of research articles aren't particularly amazing or novel, I wouldn't worry about doing this for your dissertation. It's fine to replicate a previous study, and add something slightly novel (e.g. a new measure, a slight change to the protocol, etc.) which you can talk about. Addressing a previous limitation of a study would be really good. A good thing to do is approach potential supervisors early and work for them over the summer after your second year, although for most people this isn't an option.


Yeah, that makes sense, pretty much how i saw it going in regards to building on previous research. One of the guys I want to work under does alot of research on the BOLD response and associated fields, so I would hope if I express my interest in doing something in this area, I would be able to look at alot of the previous research fairly easily and come up with a novel approach/ address the limitations of a previous study, which doesnt seem too hard. And using fMRI would look good for any future endeavours I might undertake, although it may be a little advanced for undergraduate level! At my university we aren't allowed to pick any specific supervisors we would like to work with, rather we have to fill out a form specifying our research interests, and are then provided with a list of potential supervisors to choose from, as far as I understand it. Only starting second year in September, so maybe a little early to think about it, but then again maybe not as I suppose it's never too early to think about! Definitely sounds like a good idea, working for a potential supervisor over the summer, but as you said may not be possible as my University is in Sheffield whereas I am based in London outside of term time!
Original post by jackbw6
Yeah, that makes sense, pretty much how i saw it going in regards to building on previous research. One of the guys I want to work under does alot of research on the BOLD response and associated fields, so I would hope if I express my interest in doing something in this area, I would be able to look at alot of the previous research fairly easily and come up with a novel approach/ address the limitations of a previous study, which doesnt seem too hard. And using fMRI would look good for any future endeavours I might undertake, although it may be a little advanced for undergraduate level! At my university we aren't allowed to pick any specific supervisors we would like to work with, rather we have to fill out a form specifying our research interests, and are then provided with a list of potential supervisors to choose from, as far as I understand it. Only starting second year in September, so maybe a little early to think about it, but then again maybe not as I suppose it's never too early to think about! Definitely sounds like a good idea, working for a potential supervisor over the summer, but as you said may not be possible as my University is in Sheffield whereas I am based in London outside of term time!


Yeah i really doubt you would have time to learn the required skills to do a fMRI study unless your working on as part of a wider project. Being able to start learning the skills for a complex project over the summer would also be helpful. I'm sure if you develop a relationship with a particular supervisor (I dont mean romantically! Just meet up to discuss potential projects) then you'd find a way to get them to supervise you.
Reply 6
Original post by iammichealjackson
Yeah i really doubt you would have time to learn the required skills to do a fMRI study unless your working on as part of a wider project. Being able to start learning the skills for a complex project over the summer would also be helpful. I'm sure if you develop a relationship with a particular supervisor (I dont mean romantically! Just meet up to discuss potential projects) then you'd find a way to get them to supervise you.


Yeah that's definitely true, and I was hoping to work as part of a wider project, just to be exposed to the sort of research that would be otherwise inaccessible at undergraduate level. Yeah I was thinking the same thing, and actually found a program on offer at my university which allows you to participate in a research project over the summer, while choosing a supervisor in the same manner as in your third year project. So hopefully I could ask the potential supervisor I've identified for my dissertation if they'd be interested, and then build a relationship with them that way. Or failing that, yeah, start up an e-mail correspondence, at the very least.
Reply 7
Original post by jackbw6
Yeah, that makes sense, pretty much how i saw it going in regards to building on previous research. One of the guys I want to work under does alot of research on the BOLD response and associated fields, so I would hope if I express my interest in doing something in this area, I would be able to look at alot of the previous research fairly easily and come up with a novel approach/ address the limitations of a previous study, which doesnt seem too hard. And using fMRI would look good for any future endeavours I might undertake, although it may be a little advanced for undergraduate level! At my university we aren't allowed to pick any specific supervisors we would like to work with, rather we have to fill out a form specifying our research interests, and are then provided with a list of potential supervisors to choose from, as far as I understand it. Only starting second year in September, so maybe a little early to think about it, but then again maybe not as I suppose it's never too early to think about! Definitely sounds like a good idea, working for a potential supervisor over the summer, but as you said may not be possible as my University is in Sheffield whereas I am based in London outside of term time!


Mine wasn't the case described by iammichealjackson. We weren't given a selection of topics and we weren't told to simply replicate previous studies. We were asked, if possible, to find a gap in our chosen research area and try to be original. This is actually the longest and most difficult part of my project and indeed some students do end up replicating because they couldn't find a gap that they are able to fill given time and equipment restrictions. It's better to go for something more simple and get a good grade when we also had other modules to study for! Postgraduates obviously have to spend a lot more time on one project.
Reply 8
Original post by Kelly95
Mine wasn't the case described by iammichealjackson. We weren't given a selection of topics and we weren't told to simply replicate previous studies. We were asked, if possible, to find a gap in our chosen research area and try to be original. This is actually the longest and most difficult part of my project and indeed some students do end up replicating because they couldn't find a gap that they are able to fill given time and equipment restrictions. It's better to go for something more simple and get a good grade when we also had other modules to study for! Postgraduates obviously have to spend a lot more time on one project.


Yeah that makes sense, with the time and equipment restraints (along with, i suppose, the restraints on types of participant) it would be hard to undertake anything groundbreaking, and yeah, maybe postgraduate will give you more scope with your research, particularly with the increased amount of time allocated to it being a factor. Have you got any tips on getting a good grade in your dissertation? I've been reading alot about statistical methods and how to write lab reports, so i think i've got everything covered, but it's best to learn from someone who's been there and done it!

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