Psych-Talk

We welcome contributions from students of any discipline interested in psychology, written in an engaging and informative manner.

Our previous issues have specifically involved submissions on topics such as placement reflections, book reviews, as well as essays.

You’re welcome to post similarly, or make a choice based on some of our suggestions below.

Debates

If you’re looking to simply raise awareness on a controversial topic, or simply start a discussion, you’re welcome to submit an article. Alternatively, you’re welcome to continue a discussion through articles already published.

If you’re simply sending in an opinion piece, email us at [email protected] with the subject heading set to “Opinion [title of your piece]”.

A word limit of 2,000 words is recommended. We would also emphasize on the quality of the referenced being used as one of the most important points.

If you’re sending in a reply to one of our past articles email [email protected] with the subject heading including the title of the past article and ‘Reply’.

A word limit of 1,500 words is recommended.

Placement Reflections

We’ve had several reflective articles on placements sent over to us. If you wish to submit one yourself send us an email at [email protected], with the subject heading of “Placement Reflection.”

There is no word limit, only a recommendation to properly convey an encouraging message.

Interviews

If you’d like to interview a psychologist you admire, this is a great platform to start off, and even promote them on. We would first recommend sending in your questions, along with the name of the interviewee, to make sure we’d be publishing it; after which you can choose to hold the interview.

When submitting the questions as well as the final draft, do label the subject of the email as “Interview” followed by the Interviewee’s name.

To submit, simply email us at [email protected].

We’d recommend asking between 5-10 questions.

Conference/BPS Event Articles

If you’ve recently attended an event that you believe would interest other student members, you’re welcome to write an article on that as well.

To submit the article, send us an email at [email protected] with the subject heading “Event” followed by the title of the event.

A word limit of 1,500 words is recommended.

Other Articles

If you’re still unsure of what to write, you can skim through what we’re currently interested to hear more about on the discussion thread in the BPS Student Online Community.

You’re welcome to go through our past publications to get an idea of where to begin once you’ve decided what type of piece you’d like to write based on the above-mentioned criteria.

We suggest doing a grammar check as well as following a proper citation method to improve your chances of being published.

How do we select a piece?

Submissions are assessed based on the following criteria:

• Scientific/professional value: This refers to whether the article provides new information/perspectives on the chosen topic.
• Clarity and accessibility of expression: This mainly refers to the writing style and whether it’s comprehensible, grammatically and structurally.
• Critical and analytical stance: Here we hope to select articles that won’t substitute for a blog post.
• Relevant to the aims of Psych-Talk

Articles that are research-oriented will be assessed based on academic standards, e.g. references should be mentioned in APA style format.

Additionally, the bare minimum that we require refers to the BPS style guide.

What is the process like after I submit my piece?

Once your first draft is sent to us, initially, the editor assesses the suitability of the submission.

Next, the pieces are peer-reviewed by assistant editors, editing to copy enough to make sure it’s suitable to be published.

However, this is a collaborative process, with the author getting a final say, aiming to ensure we hold up to the standards of being a BPS publication.