For Undergraduates

How do I participate?

As a student in a Linguistics or Cognitive Science class, you have the opportunity to participate in one or more of our studies and in many cases, earn course credit for your participation (in the form of extra credit or fulfillment of an experimental requirement, depending on the course).

Our studies usually last between 10 and 20 minutes on average, depending on the study. In our studies, we may ask you to view short videos or images on a computer screen, listen to sounds, read sentences, or perform a related task, and make some sort of judgment about what you saw or heard.

Many of the participants in our experiments walk away from one of our studies saying that they learned more about research in linguistics and language in general by participating. If you are thinking about doing language research or becoming a Research Assistant in the lab, participating in a study can be your first step!

For instructions on how to use the Linguistics/Cognitive Science participant pool to participate in research studies, please access the pdf here.

How do I get to the lab?

For directions, see our Contact page.

Contact

 

Being a Research Assistant (RA) is a great way to get involved in language research, and possibly in independent research where you can take ownership of a project. This type of experience is excellent preparation for students planning on applying to graduate school.

We have a team of 7-9 RAs each year. This means that our lab has openings for only 2-5 new undergraduate Research Assistants (RAs) every year. Applications to become an RA in the lab can therefore be rather competitive. Sophomores and Juniors are especially encouraged to apply. We rarely take rising seniors. Applications are usually accepted in the Spring semester (typically in March).

How do I become an RA?

If you think you might be interested in doing language research, please contact us at language.studies@rutgers.edu. Please provide us with the following information in paragraph form. (Dr. Syrett loves to see a well-written formal email!)

• your full name
• your reason for wanting to be an RA in this lab
• how you heard about us
• your year at Rutgers
• your major(s) and minor(s)
• your GPA
• any relevant experience and coursework
• optional: your resumé
• whether or not you have applied through the Aresty program or are planning to do so

Please remember that this email is most likely your first point of contact with us. Short, informal emails run the risk of leaving an unfavorable first impression and in some cases, may not even be answered.

Interviews for prospective RAs usually take place towards the end of the spring semester in March/April. RAs are occasionally taken on at the end of the fall semester before the beginning of the spring semester.

What is expected of me as an RA?

We all attend a weekly lab meeting on Wednesday mornings. RAs also spend approximately 5 hours a week performing important work for the lab, either in the lab or remotely. Responsibilities include participant recruitment, participant running (on Zoom or in preschools), stimulus design, data management, data analysis, organization of the lab, presentation preparation, and other research-related tasks.

RAs involved in independent research may either work individually or in teams, depending on the project. At the end of the year, RAs may present their work at the University-wide undergraduate research forum. Many RAs have also had the opportunity to present their work at scholarly workshops and conferences.

All RAs in the lab are encouraged to enroll in the Linguistics practicum (491), when it is offered.

 

 

   

There are two main ways of being advised by Dr. Syrett, which are also connected to being an RA in the lab. Read more below.

Complete a Senior Honors thesis with Dr. Syrett

Dr. Syrett typically advises 1-3 honors theses each year. These may be theses through Linguistics or Cognitive Science, or Interdisciplinary Honors theses, merging two fields.

If you are considering doing an Honors Thesis with Dr. Syrett as part of your Capstone or Honors requirement, you must have at least one semester’s experience working in the lab (before the spring semester of your junior year) or doing an independent study with Dr. Syrett before proposing your project. Most students working on a thesis spend the summer before their senior year reading and summarizing background literature and possibly planning experimental design, so that the experiments may be ready to run in the fall semester. The timeline for writing an experimental honors thesis is fairly consistent, and requires dedication. Students doing an Honors thesis enroll in Linguistics 495 and 496.

Please email Dr. Syrett directly about this possibility: kristen.syrett@rutgers.edu

Do an Independent Study with Dr. Syrett

Dr. Syrett frequently has students do independent studies with her from the Linguistics or Cognitive Science major. These independent studies may be to help a student become immersed in an area of study, to get their feet wet with research by assisting a graduate student and Dr. Syrett on an ongoing project in the lab, or to prepare for a future project. Students doing an Independent Study enroll in 493 or 494.

Please email Dr. Syrett directly about this possibility: kristen.syrett@rutgers.edu