Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Preparing to Study Psychology
As a course team, we are working hard to get ready for when you join us in September and to do all we can to ease the pressure that we know you are dealing with in these challenging times.
To do this, we thought it would help to gather some resources and information that will hopefully answer some of your questions and help you to prepare.
Reading
We have been giving a lot of thought to our reading lists in light of the current circumstances.
At Leeds Beckett, we have always had a policy that any readings we recommend for modules are available in our library, and this will not be changing. We also recognise that money can be really tight for students when they start at Uni. So, rather than giving you the reading lists for next year (books which you might not be able to access just yet without buying them, and which you will be able to access via the library when you join us), our advice at the moment would be to keep any money that you have earmarked from books to spend on a PC / laptop (if you don't already have your own).
The IT team has advised that most entry-level machines have the specs that will let you use the free Office software and other software (e.g. SPSS for Statistical Analysis) that you can access as a student of Leeds Beckett. If you are purchasing a new laptop for university, do not buy a Chromebook as they can't support SPSS software.
In the meantime, feel free to read anything in the core areas of psychology that you will be studying:
- Social Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
- Research Methods and Data Analysis (both quantitative and qualitative data analysis)
- Cognitive Psychology
- Biological Psychology
- History and Philosophy of Science / Psychology
- Individual Differences (e.g., intelligence, personality, emotional intelligence)
- Or any of the applied areas - no reading is wasted (usually!), and we don't have any expectations about what specific topics you will have read / covered. Just that you come with an open and curious mind!
If you want to do some on self-directed and free on-line courses in Psychology to keep you occupied, you might want to check out the edx.org site.
Mini Lectures
We're also putting together some mini lectures to give you an idea of what to expect from studying Psychology with us. Check out our first contributions from Senior Lecturers, Dr Tom Muskett and Dr Emma Dunmore:
- Play in Childhood - Dr Tom Muskett
- Sleep and Wellbeing - Dr Emma Dunmore
- Thematic Analysis - Dr Bridgette Rickett
- The (social) psychology of gender (masculinity) - Professor Brendan Gough
We will continue to add to the resources on this page so please do keep checking back and if you have any questions, or there's anything we can help with, please feel free to contact Helen Fawkner, Course Director for BSc Psychology: H.Fawkner@leedsbeckett.ac.uk.
Dr Bridgette Rickett
Dr Rickett was formerly head of subject at Leeds Beckett University.
Dr Helen Fawkner
Principal Lecturer in Psychology Helen received her MSc and PhD from the University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Prior to this she completed a BSc (Hons) at Monash University, Australia. Helen is currently the Course Leader for the BSc (Hons) Psychology degree.
Dr Tom Muskett
Tom is a former lecturer in psychology at Leeds Beckett.
Dr Emma Dunmore
Emma's focus is teaching and learning and the psychological/social factors which influence student progress and wellbeing. She is interested in teacher feedback, mindsets, the impact of praise and criticism and the use of “wise psychological interventions” in education.
