In just about every career—including your academic career—performance appraisals are a regular part of reviewing your accomplishments and developing goals for the future. In most corporate environments, a performance appraisal is a highly structured routine dictated by company policies, involving a written appraisal and a one-on-one interview between a supervisor and an employee. But in other less structured performance appraisals, you might meet with your professor to discuss a project or paper or lobby for a change in your grade. Formal appraisals that give only critical, negative feedback do little to improve employee behavior (Asmuß, 2008) and can be very stressful. Effective appraisals will offer insight into strengths as well as weaknesses and help both parties focus on the development of mutual goals for the future (Asmuß, 2013). In other words, if the appraisal interview offers reassurance about what you’re doing well and focuses on collaborative goal-setting and continuous improvement, it is less threatening and more useful (Culbert, 2010, 2011).