Psychology -- PSY 550

40th Aniversary of the Academy Library "Interventions" Event

For your research review project, you will need to find 2 or 3 empirical studies and 8 journal abstracts dealing with the topic you have chosen to research.  Search the databases listed on the Finding Psychology Journals page of this guide to find psychology journals that publish these studies.

If you come across an unfamiliar term or concept as you are reading an empirical study, check The Concise Dictionary of Psychology, one of the library's online reference sources, to find a quick definition or explanation. We also have the APA's Dictionary of Psychology on the Reference shelf on the main floor of the library.

Empirical Studies--

• Are primary source pieces of peer-reviewed research where original data have been collected, analyzed, and interpreted  
• Follow a specific format with subheadings labeled Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and References

Abstracts--

• Are one-paragraph summaries of research studies that appear at the beginning of an empirical study

PsycARTICLES – More than 70 full-text psychology journals published by the American Psychology Association.

Academic Search Premier – More than 4500 magazines and scholarly journals.  NOTE: Limit your search to "Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals" and possibly "Full Text".

JSTOR – More than 10 full-text psychology journals.  NOTE:  Scroll down and select Psychology from the list of available disciplines to limit your search to just psychology journals.

PMC - The U.S. National Library of Medicine's free full-text archive of biomedical and life-sciences journal literature.

If you would like the library to get an article for you that is not available full-text in one of our databases, fill out this request form.  It will take approximately 7 to 10 days for the library to receive the article, so make sure you allow ample time.

1)  Authorship

• Who wrote the page? Can you verify the author's credentials?
• Is the author's contact information on the page? Does it actually work?
• What organization established the page? In other words, who established the website that this page is hosted on?

TIPS:

1. The author's name or a copyright (©) should appear near the top or bottom of the page.
2. Look for some form of contact information for the author.
3. Look at the domain (.edu,.org, .gov) to verify the hosting organization's credentials.

2)  Accuracy 

• What is the purpose of the document? Why was it created?
• Who is the target audience?
• Is the author qualified to write on the topic?

TIPS:

1. Look for an "About this site" type of link.
2. Look for any information on the Author's credentials.
3. Are there any links to sources? Citations? 
4. Is the organization that hosts the website credible?

3)  Currency

• When was the information updated?
• When was it originally produced?
• How current are the links to other sites/information?

TIPS:

1. Is the information out of date?
2. Is there a date of publication at the top or bottom of the page?
3. Are any of the links dead or re-directed to unrelated information?

4)  Objectivity

• Is the author being balanced and fair in the treatment of the topic or is he/she biased or overly emotional? 

TIPS:

1. What, if any, opinions are expressed by the author?
2. Try to identify any conflicts of interest.  Are any advertisements clearly separate in subject from the author's topic?
3. What facts does the author present?  What facts are NOT presented?

Log into NoodleBib, an online tool for generating citations in the Turabian/Chicago, MLA, or APA styles, as well as notecards.

NoodleBib is not accessible through Blackboard.

To access NoodleBib from off-campus, click here.