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Library Research - Your Strategy

Psychology Library Presentation

Chaikin/Popescu ‘06

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Steps of library research

1. Choosing and developing your topic2. Finding background information 3. Finding books 4. Finding periodical articles (magazine,

newspaper, and journal articles) 5. Using the WWW to find Internet resources 6. Evaluating the sources that you find 7. Citing your sources

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Choosing and developing a topic

Discuss your topic ideas with your course instructor. Look over the index and the article titles in a

specialized encyclopedia or handbook that covers the subject area or discipline of your topic.

State your topic idea. Identify the main concepts or keywords in your topic. Ask a librarian for help with identifying your main

terms and keywords for researching your topic!

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Finding background information

Dictionaries Encyclopedias Handbooks Bibliographies

Use Princeton’s Main Catalog to find these

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Finding books

Search the Princeton Main Catalog Search WorldCat Use Borrow Direct or Interlibrary Loan

services if book is not available at Princeton

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“Borrow Direct”

Borrow Direct is a rapid book borrowing and delivery service offered by Princeton University Library and six partner libraries--Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Penn, and Yale.

For patron id: enter the number on the back of your Princeton ID card

All Princeton students, faculty, and staff may request books through Borrow Direct.

Material is usually available for pickup within 4 business days.

Items are loaned for 30 days with no renewals.

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Finding periodical articles

Journal articles, magazine, & newspaper articles

To find periodical articles, use specialized periodical databases, i.e. PsycINFO, MEDLINE, or generalized databases like Proquest, EBSCO Academic Search Premier or Wilson’s Omni File.

The Princeton Main Catalog does not include information about specific articles within periodicals, but it will tell you what periodical titles are available at Princeton, either in hard copy or electronically. Remember that if you find an article in a database, this does not necessarily mean that Princeton owns the title, you must check the Main Catalog. If not available at Princeton, request through Interlibrary Loan.

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“Find it@PUL”

This service allows you to link from a useful record in a database to the full text article (if available) or to other options for obtaining that article.

Here are some of the options available through Find it@PUL: Link directly to the full-text of an article Link to the Princeton University Library Main Catalog to see if PU owns the item cited Request the item from Interlibrary Loan if Princeton does not own the item Send Questions and Comments about Find it@PUL

Get more information on the Find it@PUL service

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Once you click on “Find it @ PUL” you will see the following:

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E-Journal Finder connect through the E-Journals page first

The E-Journal Finder identifies full-text journals available through many of our database vendors (RLG, Proquest, etc.). It is not a complete list of journals available at Princeton.

Search the Main Catalog by journal title if you do not find the journal you need.

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E-Journal Finder

The E-Journal Finder identifies full-text journals available through many of our database vendors (RLG, Proquest, etc.). It is not a complete list of journals available at Princeton.

Search the Main Catalog by journal title if you do not find the journal you need.

Search Tips: Enter the title of the journal, then click on the Find it@PUL button. Omit initial articles Change "&" to "and" Journals with initials and subtitles:

   First search initials without the subtitle    (i.e. ELH for English Literary History)    If there is no result, add the subtitle; omit the colon   (i.e. TC a Journal of Biblical Textual Criticism)

Multi-choice menu results   Return to the search form and add a date when a    multi-choice menu displays. Search the title again.

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RefWorks

What is RefWorks and why would I want to use it?RefWorks is a bibliographic citation manager, that is, software that keeps track of the sources you are using for your research and your own notes about them.

See - http://libweb.princeton.edu/help/en-rw.php

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EndNote

EndNote (like RefWorks) is also a bibliographic citation manager. EndNote is available for purchase at an educational rate from the Princeton Software Repository (and also on most computer clusters).

For information on how to search this software, link to

to:

http://libweb.princeton.edu/help/en-rw.php

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Searching Journal Article Databases

Using PsycINFO as an example

Keep in mind that there are many databases which Princeton offers. You can locate them by searching the databases page. On the main library web page, see –

“Articles and Databases” at –

http://libweb.princeton.edu/catalogs/articles.php

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Four Steps to Beginning Your Research in a Database:

Compose your question How television violence can effect children

Identify key concepts television violence children

Look up terms in database thesaurus (a controlled vocabulary)

television in de; violence in de; children in de

Combine concepts using Boolean Logic AND OR NOT

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Boolean Logic

Shaded areas indicate retrieval

Search Statement

Types of records retrieved

              stress OR anxiety

Documents that discusseither stress or anxiety

              stress AND anxiety

Documents that discussboth stress and anxiety

              stress NOT anxiety

Documents that discussstress but not anxiety

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Controlled Vocabulary (subject terms used in a database)

Examples: PsycINFO – APA’s Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms

MEDLINE – NLM’s Medical Subject Headings-Annotated Alphabetic List

Main Catalog – Library of Congress Subject Headings

These show you the subject terms you can and cannot use.

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Sample entry from:The Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms 9th ed. 2001

Neurosis 1967

PN 4727 SC 33860

SN Psychoanalytic term referring to mental conditions characterized primarily by anxiety, fears, obsessive thoughts, compulsions, dissociation, and depression. Neuroses have no organic origins and are believed to be a product of unconscious processes resulting from internal conflicts. Compare PSYCHOSIS.

UF Psychoneurosis B Mental Disorders 1967

N Childhood Neurosis 1973

Experimental Neurosis 1973

R Anxiety 1967

Borderline States 1978

Dissociation 2001

Fear 1967

Major Depression 1988 Obsessive Compulsive Disorder 1985____________________________________________________________*Please Note – PsycINFO calls their subjects “de” for descriptors.MEDLINE calls their subjects “MeSH” for Medical Subject HeadingsOther databases may use “su” for subjects.

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What we mean by “Fields” in a “Hit” or “Citation” or “Record”

(Conquering Library Lingo)(Conquering Library Lingo)

AN: 2002-18351-005 AU: Garcia,-Stephen-M; Weaver,-Kim; Moskowitz,-Gordon-B; Darley,-John-M AF: Garcia,-Stephen-M: Princeton U, Princeton, NJ, US TI: Crowded minds: The implicit bystander effect. PY: 2002 SO: Journal-of-Personality-and-Social-Psychology. 2002 Oct; Vol 83(4): 843-853 PB: US: American Psychological Assn. LA: English AB: Five studies merged the priming methodology with the bystander apathy literature and demonstrate how merely priming a social context at Time 1 leads to less helping behavior on a subsequent, completely unrelated task at Time 2. In Study 1, participants who imagined being with a group at Time 1 pledged significantly fewer dollars on a charity-giving measure at Time 2 than did those who imagined being alone with one other person. Studies 2-5 build converging evidence with hypothetical and real helping behavior measures and demonstrate that participants who imagine the presence of others show facilitation to words associated with unaccountable on a lexical decision task. Implications for social group research and the priming methodology are discussed. KC: bystander apathy effect; social priming; helping behavior; social facilitation; charity; lexical decision; accountability; imagination; group size DE: *Apathy-; *Assistance-Social-Behavior; *Priming-; *Psychosocial-Factors; *Social-Influences PO: Human

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Opiates and learning (free text)

verses

Opiates in de and learning in de (words as descriptors)

Opiates in ti and learning in ti (words in title)

The first will give you the greatest number of “hits”, but the second will yield better results: the third even better, more accurate “hits”

Hint: the best way to search is to begin by using your terms as “descriptors” (or subjects). If the number is too large, look for terms in the “title”; if number is too small use “free text” searching.

“Free Text” Searching versus “Field Tag” Searching

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Truncation (sometimes known as “Wildcards”) For singular, plural, or word-roots ? * !

child? adolescen? children adolescent childhood adolescence childlike adolescently

Be very careful of small word roots when looking for plurals… cat* rat* catastrophe rational cataract ratify category ratio Rather use: (cat or cats) (rat or rats) Some databases use “internal truncation” Example - wom!n for woman or women lab!r for labor or labour

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Proximity (Adjacency) Operators

Examples are - NEAR WITH ADJ“NEAR” means “next to” (by a certain number) and in the same sentence: abnormal

near1 behavior abnormal near2 behavior abnormal near3 behavior etc……

“WITH” means in the same “field” abnormal with behavior means you will find both terms in either the title field, the abstract field, or in the descriptor field.

“ADJ” means terms must be next to each other, in that order. Example - “genetic adj screening”

*Note - Putting words in quotes will look for terms as a phrase. Example – “fear of flying”

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Setting “LIMITS”Remember to check each database for their “limits”

EXAMPLES – Limit your search by: Year

Document Type (journal article, government document, book chapter etc…)

Language

Place of Publication

Age Group (child, adolescent, adult, elderly)

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Index Searching

Use INDEX when possible (especially for authors):

You might find: Smith, J Smith, JJ Smith, Jonathan Smith, Jonathan J. Smith, Jonathan James Smyth, Jonathan

(all of the above are the same person)

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Helpful Hints

Read the “Help” screens in the database you are searching to learn about the particulars of that database.

Learn which symbols are used for truncation; which “limits” are available, in what form the authors names are used in the database you are searching in, for example, Smith, JJ or Smith, John Joseph.

“Guided Searches” are usually the most helpful and intuitive.

Remember to search “databases” to find journal articles and the Main Catalog to find books and journal titles (not articles). It is important to remember that when you find articles in databases, it does not necessarily mean Princeton owns the material. You need to check the title in Main Catalog to see if it is on campus.

WHEN IN DOUBT – SEEK HELP FROM THE LIBRARY STAFF!

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Important Psychology Databases

PsycINFO – back to 1885 for journal articles, government documents, dissertations and book chapters (books and book chapters are only available from 1987+).

PsycARTICLES - a database of 42 journal titles published by the APA, available to you full-text online, most from 1988+. These can also be accessed directly through a PsycINFO search.

PsycBOOKS – Full text in PDF of scholarly titles published by APA Books. PsycCRITIQUES -a new searchable database of book reviews in psychology. The

database will replace APA's respected print journal Contemporary Psychology PsycEXTRA – a database covering the “gray literature”, plus full-text for much of

the content. It offers a wide variety of credible information in psychology, behavioral sciences, and health. It covers technical reports, government reports, conference papers, newsletters, fact sheets, directories plus much more.

MEDLINE (or PubMed) - from the National Library of Medicine, 1966+. THE database for the field of medicine. Helpful for psychiatry, neuroscience and medically related information pertaining to the field of psychology.

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Other helpful databases:

Web of Science – finds cited references for published articles. Lexis-Nexis - full-text access to many national newspapers

and popular magazines (no pictures or graphs). Proquest / EbscoAcademic / OmniFile(Wislon) - These

three generalized databases provide access to many full-text articles in psychology as well as other subject disciplines.

The following databases are more specialized : MMY (Mental Measurements Yearbook) tests and instruments PEP (Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing) for psychoanalysis. MIT’s CogNet for cognitive psychology

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Evaluating the sources that you find

Initial appraisal: Author (reputable?), Year of publication (current?), Edition

(current?), Publisher (reputable?), Title of journal (well-known?)

Content analysis– Intended audience– Objectivity– Coverage– Writing style– Reviews

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Distinguishing Scholarly From Non-Scholarly Periodicals

Is what you are looking at:

Scholarly General Interest/Substantive News Popular Sensational

Look for reputable publisher, ads, audience, quality of articles, etc….

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  Popular Scholarly

Publisher Commercial Firm Usually, a university or association

Audience General ReadersScholarly readers, such as professors, researchers,

students

Appearance Colorful, illustrated Plain

Writing Style Informal; written for anyone to understand Formal, scholarly

Authors Staff writers, generalists Experts, scholars, and researchers

Advertising Ads for business or consumer products No ads other than ads for books or other scholarly

tools

Article Type Short, nontechnical articles with photos and graphics Long research articles with tables, graphs, and charts

Documentation None Bibliographies, footnotes, or other references

Illustrations Often illustrated for marketing appeal Illustrations support the text

Examples Psychology Today, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Modern Fiction

Studies, JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association

Popular versus Scholarly Articles

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In SummaryHow to look for:

Journals – look in Main Catalog to see if the title is on campus either in hard copy or as an e-journal (if not then request the article needed through Interlibrary Loan)

Books – look in Main Catalog to see if the book is on campus (if not, first try to request through “Borrow Direct” then Interlibrary Loan)

Journal Articles – search in subject databases, Examples – PsycINFO, MEDLINE, Proquest, etc. If the article you need has a “Find it @ PUL” button, you may get to it full-text online or see if Princeton owns in hard-copy).

Dissertations – look in Main Catalog to see if a dissertation has been cataloged and is in our collection. If not here, you may request through Interlibrary Loan.

Government Documents - search the Main Catalog first then the GPO Access database.

Newspaper and Popular Magazine Articles – look in Lexis-Nexis, Dow-Jones, etc.

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Things you can do yourself: From the top bar on the Main Catalog Web Page (Princeton only)

“Recall” a book from another patron (try “Borrow Direct” first, you may get the book faster)

Request a book through “Borrow Direct” (arrives in 3-4 days)

Request a book from the Annexes or Recap facility

Place an “Interlibrary Loan” request for journal articles if Princeton does not own the title in hard copy or electronically. For books, use this after you try “Borrow Direct” first.

Trace a book not on shelf (thru the Main Catalog)

Check your account (thru Main Catalog)

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Using the WWW to find Internet resources

Search engine or subject directory Use multiple search words Use phrase searching: “compulsive shopping” Combine search words effectively (+, -, AND,

OR, AND NOT) Limit search to title field

– title:"American Dietetic Association"

Use Advanced Search

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Evaluating web sites

Accuracy Authority Objectivity Currency (Timeliness) Coverage

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Is this what I need?

Accuracy– Why was the Web site produced? – Can you contact the author?– Is there an editor or someone who checks the

information? – Is the information free of grammatical, spelling,

and typographical errors?

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Anybody can publish on the Web

Authority– Who published the document? Is this person

also the "Webmaster”? – Does the publisher list his or her qualifications?

Is this person qualified to write this document? – Check the domain of the document. What

institution publishes this document?

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When in doubt, doubt

Objectivity– What goals/objectives does this page meet? – How detailed is the information? – What opinions (if any) are expressed by the

author? – If the topic is controversial, is the

presentation balanced (both pro and con viewpoints provided)?

– Use link: search to find who links to a specific page

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Remember the details

Currency– When was it produced? – When was it last updated?– How up-to-date are the links (if any)?

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Not everything is on the Web

Coverage– How in-depth is the material?– What does this page offer that is not found

elsewhere?– Are the links evaluated and do they

complement the documents' theme? – Is the page completed or still under

construction?

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Keep in mind…

The Web is only one source of information It can be very useful for researching certain

topics It can be almost useless for other topics Library resources are from reputable

publishers

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Citing your sources

Why?– Give proper credit to the authors of the materials

used– Allows those who are reading your work to

duplicate your research and locate the sources that you have listed as references

– Always ask your course instructor whether or not a particular documentation style is required for your research papers, APA, Chicago Style etc….

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Psychology Library Staff

Mary Chaikin, Librarian X 8-6084 mchaikin@princeton.edu

Linda Chamberlin, Special Collections Asst. X 8-3239 chamberl@princeton.edu

Mei-Ying Wang, Special Collections Asst. X 8-3239 mwang@princeton.edu

Ted Nghiem, Library Office Assistant X 8-3239 tnghiem@princeton.edu

Psychology Library Homepage -

http://psychlib.princeton.edu