Graduate students enrolling in research methods courses frequently experience significant anxiety. An effective instructor can lessen anxiety and alleviate frustration by using both personal interaction and course activities. This newsletter describes ways to reduce anxiety and help students approach research with understanding and interest. This includes trying to remember one's own personal experiences as a new graduate student, clarifying expectations of students up front, and determining students' research areas of interest early on. In-class activities can include grouping students in different ways for various purposes and having students give both formal and informal presentations to the class. Class assignments should be frequent, small, and varied, and connected to the large projects. Assignments can be completed in class, outside of class, individually, or in groups. General guidelines for professor-student interactions include: be flexible; give many small assignments with frequent feedback; be accessible; have students share their ideas and research in an ongoing manner; make the best use of group work (different groups for different purposes); take the class to the library during the first or second meeting; and allow for individual differences in experience and levels of interest. An appendix presents guidelines for conducting a survey of literature sources. (SM)