This week I was able to learn one very important detail pertaining to my research question, “What I need to know or do to become a child psychologist.” I came across a book, during my many searches, about the Praxis Exam.  Which is the school psychology licensure exam in the United States.  I knew that I would have to take something of that nature, but I was unaware of what its was called.  This book gave me some insight into what the test may include, the scoring process, some studying tips, and also some first-hand suggestions from other people who have taken the exam.

This weeks reading provided many tips for database searches, and some that would have been helpful during our first database assignment.  I soon learned that many of my searches had too many words, and I was getting results that were so scattered.  Only when I had shorter word combinations or pairings was I able to find something useful. Some of my searched looked like: “ Psychology AND (training or certification) AND (education or school),” “psychology AND degrees,” and “child psychology” degree. 

What I found frustrating were the searches that led me to the advance search menu then zero results found.  Other times, it would bring up a list with a note saying “your word should be here,” another thing, when I did find a source I wanted to use I had trouble bringing it up again, even when I searched under author. 

Learning about this exam, is just one of the things I need to know to pursue my goal, I am looking to create a guide or a roadmap detailing it all.  I hope to find out all the courses I need to take in a masters program, and the steps to take after that. 

Week Two Research

I quickly found out this week, that my usual ‘general’ searches were not going to suffice.  I thought about using Google Scholar, but then turned to our library resources (Leatherby Library), hoping it would yield some reliable, precise information.  Instead, what I found was 20,000 plus result all containing some skewed order of my initial search.  It wasn’t complete chaos, but I soon realized I would have to alter my search option yet again.  I recalled one of the entries from our chapter six readings.  There were several websites provided, all listed by subject.  I decided to try my luck there.  What I found, seemed reliable, pertained to my search, and the author was more than qualified after reading her bio.  I didn’t want to overwhelm myself with the information provided, and decided to do it in steps.  Because I’m researching “what I need to know to become a child psychologist,” I decided to let this initial search focus on what to do while still an undergraduate, which I am.  Next, I would like to research what steps to take when applying for a graduates program.

This text provided a great focus for my undergraduate years, as I try to pursue this career.  An item that I found interesting was, an occupational interest test, this is something I could seek out in the counselors office, to help narrow down my interests, and help me to navigate a career map.  Also, things such as focusing on a projected GPA at graduation, one being a likely GPA, and the other, the highest possible GPA were items that I found important.  It was very specific about coming to terms, if your GPA is not going to get you into a graduates program or higher, which ultimately will help me to work harder in future classes to maintain a GPA that will qualify.  Another thing presented, and that could possibly offset a low GPA, is the Graduate Record Exam.  This is the exam administered by most graduate programs with interested psychology majors. 

Hello All,

I’m Natashia

I’d like to think I’m still fairly new at Brandman.  This is my third session, and many more to come (at least that’s the plan).  I am studying psychology with an emphasis in child psychology.  As for career aspirations, I aspire to be a school psychologist.  I currently work with kids and I really enjoy it, and I would like to make a profession out of it. 

I think I would like to research all the necessary things to reach my professional goal.  Classes, credits required, programs, testing… everything that I need to know to pursue it. 

As for areas of information fluency and literacy I hope to improve upon this term… I really like the suggested ones listed.   I know it’s really important to have reliable sources, and I know how much I would benefit from going beyond my usual outlets.  I’m really an amateur with library databases, so that’s another thing I hope to improve on.