BSc (Hons) Psychology and Criminology course preparation
To help you feel prepared for your BSc (Hons) Psychology and Criminology studies, we’ve gathered together a range of course related activities including suggested reading, useful websites and some great things to do right now. Read on to find out more.
Suggested books, articles and Ted Talks
You’ll be given lots of information about which textbooks to read and introduced to the University Library, as well as the many ebooks we have for you to access, when you begin your studies in September.
In the meantime, here are some suggested books and articles you may like to read, and Ted Talks you may want to listen to, before starting your degree. We don’t recommend rushing out to buy texts before you arrive. But, if you can pick some up second hand, borrow from a library, or access online, we have a few suggestions.
Suggested books
Carlson, Buskist, & Martin (any year from 4th edition onward) Psychology: The Science of Behavior: Pearson Education
Croall, H. (2011). Crime and Society in Britain (2nd Ed.). Longman.
Field, A. Discovering Statistics Using SPSS (any year from 3rd edition onward). London: Sage Publications
Muncie, J., & McLaughlin, E. (2013). Sage Dictionary of Criminology (3rd Ed.). Sage
Mulholland, N. (Ed.). (2007). The Psychology of Harry Potter: An unauthorized examination of the boy who lived. BenBella Books, INC.
Newburn, T. (2016). Criminology (3rd Ed.). Willan Publishing
Suggested articles
There are a number of articles in ‘The Psychologist’ which is published by the British Psychological Society which we recommend, including:
The journey to undergraduate psychologyThis article is a guide for students considering making the journey to undergraduate psychology and provides an account of what to expect, how to prepare for the transition to university and a rough guide to studying psychology.
The freshers guide to psychology This provides many resources for those about to start their degree – including ‘The Psychologist guide to university life’, ‘How to succeed in your degree’ as well as some personal student accounts of their experience of their undergraduate degree so far.
Suggested Ted Talks
What your emoji says about you This TEDTalk by Dr Linda Kaye, a Reader in our department, would be useful and interesting as a demonstration of an interesting area of research in social psychology – one of the core areas of study for a psychology degree.
Over the summer months you can prepare for your studies by familiarising yourself with online resources such as:
Useful websites
Discovering statistics A resource by Andy Field, author of Discovering Statistics Using IBM SPSS Statistics which is our recommended text for studying research methods and statistics in psychology. ‘Postverta’ is the first section of this guide and provides some of the foundations to statistics ‘Demystifying statistics’ and ‘The SPINE of statistics’ would both be really beneficial for those about to start a degree in psychology. His guides are accompanied by videos and tutorials too.
Go Cognitive An online resource that provides resources relevant to cognitive psychology, one of the core areas of psychology. There are a number of fun demonstrations of classic psychological phenomena such as ‘change blindness’ that you can take part in. There are also a number of interviews with noted psychologists (such as Professor Alan Baddeley) that cover key areas of cognitive psychology that are studied at undergraduate level such as language, attention and decision making. These are also topics linked to the research interests of many members of our department.
Useful podcasts
Listen to the PsychCrunch podcasts In each episode of this podcast from the British Psychological Society’s research digest they ‘explore whether the findings from psychological science can make a difference in real life. Just how should we live, according to psychology?’
Other useful resources
Introduction to Psychology Mastery by gWhiz. This is an app that can be downloaded via Google Play or from the App Store. The free version will give you access to practise questions and give some basic metrics on your progress.
What is crime?The Open University’s senior lecturer in Criminology, Dr David Scott discusses the concept and aspects of crime.