Psychology 235: Introduction to Library Research Methods

CSUDH Library Home Page: http://library.csudh.edu/

PSY 235 website: http://library.csudh.edu/SubjectGuides/PSY235.htm

 

1. You must already be registered as a CSUDH Library user. This happens automatically shortly after you register for classes.

2. You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader software (v. 7.0 or later) installed.
Many articles are available only in .pdf (portable document format) format,
and you absolutely must have Adobe Acrobat Reader to read and/or print them.
Get Adobe Acrobat Reader free at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html

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About PsycINFO

 ·         PsycINFO is an electronic journal index produced by the American Psychological Association          to index the international scholarly literature of psychology and psychological aspects of   
         related disciplines from 1887-date.
      - includes citations and abstracts of journal articles from over 2100 academic journals

- also includes non-journal items such as research reports, conference proceedings, dissertations
        and English language books and chapters, 1987 to date.

·         Does PsycINFO include ANY full text journal articles?
 PsycINFO is mainly a research and current awareness tool that gives you:

* citations: basic information that enables you to track down a publication, including:
author name; article, chapter or book title; journal title (if an article citation); issue and
page numbers of journals; publisher and place of publication information for books,
and

* abstracts: summaries of each article and publication it indexes.

      The LIbrary subscribes to the EBSCOhost version of PsycINFO so you can have access to
links to full text for more than 25% of the articles it indexes.
All PsycINFO results also contain direct links to articles in many other electronic databases
to which the Library also subscribes.
Always click to see whether CSUDH has the full text of the article you want
in another database!


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Find PsycINFO on the CSUDH Website

1.     Open the library web site at http://library.csudh.edu/

2.     Under "Library Materials", click on "Journal Articles & Electronic Resources.

3.     Click on "Alphabetical List of Journal Article indexes.". Put your cursor on the "P".

4.     Move your cursor down to PsycINFO and click right on top of it.

* If you are on the CSUDH campus, you will go directly to PsycINFO
   OR
  if you see the EBSCOhost "Choose Databases" page, click on top of the
  blue underlined title PsycINFO.

* If you are off campus, you will see an authentication screen.
   Enter your last name and your 14 digit barcode ID# (20550 followed by
  your 9-digit student ID number, no spaces or dashes).
   Then click Submit.

   For more detailed information on logging in to databases as well as a look at the
   login screen,click here.

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Search in PsycINFO for Articles on a Topic

·      PsycINFO is not case sensitive, so use UPPER or lower case letters.

·      Analyze your question or topic looking for its unique concepts and vocabulary.
Write down the most important key word or words.
Try to develop a list of synonyms for each word.
The resulting words are your search terms.

     For a single concept search, in the top Find box, type:

     For more complex searches, combine concepts with connector words:

• To limit your search to journal articles only, click the "Publication Type"
  dropdown box (under "Refine Search" tab) and set it to journal articles.
  
• The drop-down text boxes on each line supply ready-made connector words
  (AND, OR, NOT) as well as over 30 search entry fields to limit your search.
  To find the screen that allows you to narrow and broaden after you've already done a search, click the blue "Refine Search" tab (under the 3 Find boxes).
  
• To limit your search to a particular journal title or a range of dates, check
  or type in the boxes provided under the "Refine Search" tab.  
• To limit your search to peer reviewed articles only, check beside "Peer reviewed" under the
  "Refine Search" tab.
• Do several successive searches with different search terms and limits to locate articles that are
  really what you need.
  
  
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View Your Search Results

      After you click the Search button, the Result List will open.
Records will appear in table format, usually listed by date with the most recent first.

* Each record includes a citation and an abstract with your search terms highlighted.

* Click on any article title for more information, especially to see the Subjects under
which the article was classified.

* Save articles to an electronic "Folder" by clicking under the gray "Folder" icon to the right of each record. Use the Folder to collect results you want to look at more closely.

* Click either "HTML Full Text" or "PDF Full Text" to see the complete article.

*  A PDF Full Text article looks exactly like the article in hard copy (the paper journal) and opens in Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Print it by clicking the Print button on the Adobe Acrobat screen (just above the article on the upper LH side of the article page).

* MANY records have blue "Check Availability of Full Text"  icons. Clicking this icon leads to several possible outcomes:

1.  You will see a list of possible links to the article in one or more different databases.
    When you click on one of those databases,  you may be able to link directly
     to the article OR you may have to  search in it for the article you want.
2. Sometimes, if the CSUDH Library is a current or past subscriber to the
    journal title you need, you will also see locations and dates of print and
    microfilm versions in the CSUDH Library, These may be:

* on the current journal issues shelves on the 3^rd floor
* in bound volumes on the 3^rd or 4^th floor (filed with books)
* on microfilm--request microfilm at Reference Desk on the 2^nd flr.
* in storage--request storage items at Circulation Desk on the 2^nd flr.

3.  You may see this message:
          Full Text of Article is NOT available in CSUDH Library
          Click HERE to request item from another library.
    If you request an article through this link, the Library orders
    from another library that owns the article. This process is called
    Interlibrary Loan.
    Articles usually take a week to arrive and,whenever possible, we     email them to you as a .pdf file attachment.

               You can print, e-mail and save most individual articles, abstracts, and folders by
        clicking the buttons at the top middle of the screen (follow instructions carefully)
        Exceptions:

            * you can't reliably e-mail articles in .pdf format--the files are so large that
   some email providers can't accept them.

 * you can't usually save a long .pdf article on a floppy disk.

* you can't always open the articles in a folder when you're off campus
   unless you have an EBSCO password (email Carol Dales if this happens
   to you)


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Interlibrary Loan

    If the CSUDH Library does NOT own in any form a specific journal,
magazine or book that you need:     

    
      -submit an Interlibrary Loan request through the online ILL form at
        http://library.csudh.edu/ill.htm   or submit a request in person at the
        Reference Desk on the Library 2^nd floor .

       A print or electronic copy of that article will be obtained from another
       library, but may take as long as 7 to 14 days to arrive.


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           * Click the green Thesaurus button at the top (center) of the screen.

* Type a word or phrase for which you would like to identify a subject heading
    into the Browse for box and click the Browse button (e.g. date rape)

* Click on the suggested search term (acquaintance rape) to see a scope note that
   defines the term as it is used in the journal index, as well as a list of narrower,
  broader and related terms.
 

     * Either copy down useful subject headings or cut and paste them into the
  search screen where you are working.

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Suppose your professor asked you to find an article on violent behavior among girls written by DiNapoli:

              - type DiNapoli in the top "Find" text box  
              - click the dropdown box to the right to read Author.        

              - type violent behavior in the "Find" text box on the second line             
              - click the dropdown box at the end of the second line to read Abstract.

              - click the Search button.  
     NOTE: you may find more than one article by the author!

 2. Use the CSUDH Full Text Journal List :

   To find the following article:

Longitudinal predictors of serious physical and sexual dating violence victimization during adolescence. (includes abstract) Foshee VA; Preventive Medicine, 2004 Nov; 39(5): 1007-16

- go to the Library web site at http://library.csudh.edu/ .
- under "Find Library Materials", click "CSUDH Journals List".
- click " I know the title of the journal I want"  
- type the journal title (Preventive Medicine) into "Search for Titles"   
- check to see which of the two possible databases contains 2004 issues

     - choose a database by clicking on it        
     - when you see a list of journal issues, navigate to the one you need               
      -click on Vol. 39, No. 5

        -click on full text, etc., etc..

Sometimes, the article you need will be available ONLY at the Library in print or microfilm.
Whenever this happens, ask a librarian for help.

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Cite articles in assignments and term papers

Format references carefully at the end of your paper so others can find the journal articles and books you used.
To cite references for this class, use American Psychological Association style:

* The world's easiest guide to using the APA: a user friendly manual for formatting research papers according to the American Psychological Association style guide   by Carol J. Amato.
Call #: RBR BF76.7 .A62 1998 (at Reserve Book Desk on Library 2^nd  floor)

*APA Style.org, at http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html ; has free online excerpts from the latest edition of the APA Style Manual.

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Summary of PsycINFO Searching

·         Enter your search terms in one or more Find fields.

·         Focus your search by choosing a Field Code from the All Fields
 drop-list on each line you use. e.g.: to search for the subject "rape",
enter it in the Find field, and select SU-Subject.

·         Enter additional search terms in the optional search fields.
  Use the * (truncation symbol) and the? (wild card) symbol as required.

·         Connect multiple search terms with connector words (AND, OR, NOT)
  to create a very broad or a very narrow search.

      Tip: Put all OR search terms that belong together (e.g. rape OR assault OR 
       sexual aggression) into the same Find box on one line.

·      Select other appropriate search limiters and "broadeners"
            (see Search for Articles).

Need more detailed help?

* try this Ebsco tutorial (more detailed information on limiting and expanding   searches, saving searches in My EBSCohost folder; requires free Flash
 software to view)

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Prepared by: E. Carol Dales / Library Distance Learning Instruction & Services Coordinator cdales@csudh.edu
California State University, Dominguez Hills / University Library, LIB B-218 Ph: 310-243-2088

February, 2008