Forensic Psychology: Free Internet And Academic Resources

Since launching the All About Forensic Psychology Website in December 2005, I've added a select number of quality Internet and academic resources to the great free stuff page, which as the name suggests can be obtained free of charge.

Because of the number of pages and the amount of information on the forensic psychology website, this particular page can be overlooked. With this in mind, the aim of this blog post is to showcase some of the great things you can get hold of for absolutely nothing.

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Google Pack



A completely free and extremely useful bundle of applications that you can download in a single installation. Features include a Google-tweaked version of Firefox, Adobe Acrobat Reader, antivirus software from Symantec, Google video player, Google Desktop Search, Picasa, Google Earth and Google Talk.

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Student's Guide to APA Psychology



A must have student free stuff choice for college students. The Student's Guide to APA Psychology shows how to document and format research papers in the style of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychologist. Revised and updated to the new 5th edition of the APA Publication Manual.

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Personal Assistant



This great time management alarm system is the perfect application for sleepy students who miss lectures, tutorials and important meetings.

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Electronic Post It



From the company that invented the Post-it note. This digital version of 3M's famous canary-yellow note is perfect for quick reminders on your computer desktop so you never miss a meeting, event, or thought. You can create your own notes with pictures and hyperlinks, stick notes on your computer desktop, and add alarms to your notes as reminders.

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English Dictionary and Thesaurus



This complete dictionary and multifaceted thesaurus runs locally, so does not use your Internet connection. Notable features include:

Structured lookup display, advanced wildcard search, tabbed interface, anagram search, customizable user-interface, flexible copy-to-clipboard functionality and multi-session history.

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Desktop Wikipedia & Wiktionary



Search Wikipedia.org and Wiktionary.org from your desktop. Wikipedia Wiktionary offers you the convenience of an instant lookup tool and high-speed transportation to immense reference pages with little effort on your part. After installing Yahoo Widget Engine, you can search for information by quickly typing a word in its search box on your desktop.

This useful widget instantly launches your browser and heads to your selected choice, Wikipedia or Wiktionary. In addition, the program is available in English, Spanish, German, Portuguese, and French. Though you can easily look up information on both sites without this widget, its desktop positioning is pretty handy. You can adjust its size, location, and opacity on its preferences menu. Wordsmiths, professionals, researchers, and students will value the convenience this reference tool delivers.

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To get hold of any of the above for free just visit the student free stuff page.

Click Here To Visit The Great Student Free Stuff Page

Forensic Psychology Job Vacancies: The University of Aberdeen, Scotland (UK)

Applications are invited for one Research Assistant position and one Research Fellow in the school of psychology to work on a research project which aims to develop objective and effective means of assessing the extent to which a particular eyewitness memory report can be relied on as evidence.

Applications for Research Fellow position should have a PhD and a background in experimental social or cognitive psychology and an excellent track record of research in the eyewitness or a related area. Applicants for the graduate position should have a good bachelors/masters degree in Psychology and have relevant research experience.

The salary will be paid in the range of £22,540 per annum for the Research Assistant post and £26,915 per annum for the Research Fellow post.

Informal enquiries may be made to Professor Amina Memon (email amemon@abdn.ac.uk, tel: 01224 272230).

Click Here For Further Particulars And To Access The Online Application Form

Alternatively telephone (01224) 272727 (24-hour answering service) quoting reference number YPS204R for an application pack.

The closing date for the receipt of applications is Monday 13th November 2006.

Forensic Degree Review: Rhode Island, (USA)

Roger Williams University, Bristol, Rhode Island (USA):



Master of Arts in Forensic Psychology:

This two-year program, the Master of Arts degree in Forensic Psychology is designed to prepare students to provide assessment and treatment services in a forensic setting or further training at the doctoral level. Students will be trained in psychological testing, treatment, research methodology, and psychopathology. Internships and practica are available at a variety of forensic sites. Experiences include the areas of group psychotherapy, sex offender treatment,individual psychotherapy, psychological testing, and specialized assessment techniques. Research-based internships are also available. Interested students may also train in court clinic settings.

Mission of the Program

The Psychology Department strives to provide assessment and treatment skills for students interested in employment in a forensic setting or further training at the doctoral level. Faculty members work closely with students to help them develop an understanding and appreciation of the role of psychologists in legal proceedings and the law. Students are prepared to apply these skills to the problems of community and of the larger society. The department stresses tolerance for the views of others and an appreciation of the value of diversity. Other departmental objectives include preparing students to evaluate published research and think critically about their own ideas and the ideas of others.

Typical Study Path



The Master of Forensic Psychology curriculum is arranged in two tracks: (1) Non-Thesis/Practitioner (for students seeking specialized training in psychology prior to entering the work force as Masters level Forensic Practitioners), and (2) Thesis (for students seeking Masters level training in psychology as preparation for future study toward a doctoral degree in psychology). The seven-course core sequence provides students with the breadth and depth needed in theoretical foundation, research and skills to become forensic psychologists. Students then select four electives from various areas within Forensic Psychology. Finally, students take six credits of Thesis or Practicum, according to their track.

Other Information



Application Requirements

An earned bachelor’s degree in Psychology, Criminal Justice, or related field from an accredited 4-year college or university.

Personal statement (two pages maximum) describing your interest in Forensic Psychology, career goals, and how you can positively contribute to the graduate program at Roger Williams University.

Official transcripts of all undergraduate and graduate records.

Achieved an overall GPA of 3.00 or greater in undergraduate work.

Submission of GRE scores (minimum combined score of 1000; quantitative and verbal scores should not be below 500).

Three letters of recommendation attesting to the candidate’s academic accomplishments and potential to succeed in graduate school.

Application accompanied by the $50 application fee.

Completed prerequisite psychology courses in statistics and research methods.

Contact Details

Donald R. Whitworth, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair, Department of Psychology
Feinstein College of Arts and Sciences
Roger Williams University
One Old Ferry Road
Bristol, Rhode Island 02809

Tel: (401) 254-3509

e-mail: dwhitworth@rwu.edu

Click Here To Visit The University Homepage

About Bristol, Rhode Island



Click Here To Visit the discover Bristol guide

Click Here To See The Bristol, Rhode Island Wikipedia Page

Are You Doing This Degree Course?



If so, why not tell people what you think by clicking on the comments link below.

The best way to save this forensic psychology degree review for future reference is to click on the social bookmark this link below.

What is Forensic Psychology?

When my students arrived for their first forensic psychology lecture, I would always start by giving them 10 minutes to write down an answer to the question what is forensic psychology?

Before reading on, why not quickly write down what you think forensic psychology is.

The reason I did this was because despite the fact that every single undergraduate psychology student (about 180 of them) chose to do the forensic psychology course; not one of them came to see me in advance to ask what the course was about.

Now bear in mind students chose their courses well in advance of the start date, and in order to make an informed choice they were all strongly advised to speak to the lecturer running the courses they were interested in before making a final decision. So why the no show?

I can't hear a thing, can you?



I suspect, well actually I know because I discussed it with the students afterwards, that they didn't feel they had to find out what forensic psychology is, because they already had a preconceived idea.

I mentioned I would give students 10 minutes to write down an answer to the question what is forensic psychology, what I didn't mention, however, is that after about 2 minutes I would ask for their attention and apologise for forgetting to tell them that they weren't allowed to use the words serial killers or silence of the lambs in their answer. It was usually as this point that most of the writing in the lecture theatre stopped.



If you're thinking I would have stopped writing as well, please contain your disappointment and don't rush off just yet. The answer to the question, what is forensic psychology may not quite be what you thought, but that doesn't mean that the subject has to be any less engaging.

The first thing to appreciate when addressing the question is that even psychologists in the field are divided as to what the answer is.

The division of criminological and legal psychology within the British Psychological Society argued for twenty years as to whether their members should be entitled to call themselves Chartered Forensic Psychologists. It was finally agreed that they should, however, there still remains a great deal of debate and controversy surrounding the issue.

A fragmented discipline?

The central problem is that its members are drawn from a wide range of disciplines, so it is always difficult to state what the boundaries are when you talk of Forensic Psychology.

Psychologists in the prison/correctional services

Clinical psychologists in special hospitals & the psychiatric services

Educational psychologists

Occupational psychologists

Academics

Now while it is important to acknowledge that this fragmentation of role exists, it is just as important to realise that these different groups are linked to forensic psychology because their work, expert knowledge or research activity is somehow connected with the law.

This legal connection makes perfect sense when you consider that the word forensic comes from the Latin forensis, which literally means appertaining to the forum, specifically the imperial court of Rome. So in essence:

The debate as to what is and what isn’t forensic psychology rests primarily on the nature of psychology’s relationship with the legal system.

My preferred definition of forensic psychology is:

That branch of applied psychology which is concerned with the collection, examination and presentation of evidence for judicial purposes (Haward 1981).

If you adopt this definition you are stating categorically that Forensic Psychology relates to the provision of psychological information for the purpose of facilitating a legal decision (Blackburn 1996).

There is a school of thought that would claim that any activity that links psychology to the law deserves to be described as Forensic. I’m not going to try and convince you which is right, although I do have a strong opinion on the mater; the main thing is that you know that this debate exists.

Summary

In answering the question, what is forensic psychology we have discovered that:

In essence, forensic psychology refers to the application of psychology within a legal context.

The debate as to what is & what is not forensic psychology relates to the nature of this legal application & the level at which it is applied.

And this debate raises a number of questions that you need to think about. In particular:

The boundaries of forensic psychology

The role of the forensic psychologist

The credibility of forensic psychology

This article is taken from my main forensic psychology website.

Click Here To Visit The Site

Criminal Forensic Studies Degree Review: Florida Gulf Coast University

Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers (USA):



Bachelor of Science in Criminal Forensic Studies:

The Bachelor of Science in Criminal Forensic Studies provides students with the skills requisite to the investigation of criminal offenses and the identification, apprehension, and prosecution of criminal offenders. This curriculum integrates the theoretical perspectives of different disciplines pertaining to deviant and criminal behavior with the practice of identification, procurement, and presentation of evidence resulting from criminal activity.

This program builds upon a solid liberal arts core to achieve a balanced criminal justice perspective, which includes an emphasis upon the victim, the offender, the criminal justice system, and society. Recognizing the multidisciplinary nature of Forensics, this curriculum blends crime scene analysis, laboratory analysis, behavioral analysis, and constitutional criminal law. The program’s objective is to develop a sound educational foundation for graduate work or professional practice at the bachelor’s level. It is designed as a scholar/practitioner curriculum providing students with advanced levels of knowledge in criminal investigation, thus increasing the employment potential for the graduates of this degree.

Typical Study Areas

Criminal Justice Systems and Processes

Forensic Psychology

Theories of Criminal Behavior

Introduction to Criminalistics

Research Methods in Criminal Justice

Interview and Interrogation

Constitutional Criminal Law

Ethics in the Criminal Justice System

Advanced Criminalistics

Advanced Forensic Psychology

Forensic Anthropology

Introduction to Forensic Science

Forensic Microscopy

Other Information



Contact Information

Click Here To Request more information and/or an application for admission

About Fort Myers

Click Here To See The Official Fort Myers website

Click Here To See The Fort Myers Wikipedia Page

Are You Doing This Degree Course?



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