This guide lists the resources used in the library workshop led by the librarian Chris Burns on Sept. 19th, 2024, for students enrolled in PSYC 2400 (Experimental Psychology: Research Methodology).
Click on the link to each of the three items listed below. Each link opens in a new window. Look at all three items before voting.
To vote, click on the radio button for your choice, and click Submit. Please only vote once.
Your answer this question will help me to know if we need to review the difference between scholarly journals and other information sources.
Same procedure as for Question 1, but this time for primary research articles. (This is a different set of sources.)
Prior to this workshop, you were asked to complete a brief library tutorial about primary research articles. Your answer to this question will let me know if I need to review this in class.
PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS are often called SCHOLARLY* or ACADEMIC* journals. They are different from popular magazines. Articles in peer-reviewed journals**:
*Notes:
*This is not strictly correct. A small minority of scholarly or academic journals do not use peer-review. Peer-reviewed journals are a large sub-set of academic/scholarly journals.
** Peer-reviewed journals often contain short articles such as letters to the editor, or book reviews which are NOT peer-reviewed. Database filters don't usually weed these out.
Primary research articles can be intimidating. How can you tell if an article is going to be useful for your assignment? You don't have to read the whole article to find out. I would suggest reading specific sections of article in this order:
APA citation for this video:
Pitt Community College Library. (2016). How to read a scholarly article [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/c3tV8g70YuU
Peer-review isn't perfect. Sometimes, articles get published in scholarly journals which are later discovered to have serious problems. For example, the data may have been faked, or the findings could not be replicated in other studies, or the author may have plagiarized someone else's work. When this happens, the journal may RETRACT the article (essentially un-publish it) and post a warning to readers.
You can search a database of these retracted articles at this website:
A primary source is the first publication of new research findings.
Secondary sources of information describe, explain, interpret or summarize primary sources.
A primary (original) research article will usually be divided into several labeled sections. The screenshot above is from the video "What is Original (Primary) Research in Criminology?". You can jump to the 3:10 timestamp to watch the "Sections of an original research article" segment of the video.
The names of the parts may vary, but a primary research article will always include a methodology section explaining how the research was conducted (i.e. what type of empirical method was used). Most secondary journal articles do not include a methods section.
See the Practice Questions box at the top of this guide.
For excellent tips on searching PsycINFO, see the page on this Psychology research guide for Searching PsycINFO - Tips.
Technique |
What it does |
Example |
|
Synonyms |
Search for words or phrases that have a same or similar meaning TIP: Type syn ____ into Google to generate synonyms (e.g. syn adolescent) |
youth, teenager, adolescent |
|
Spelling variations |
Search for different spellings of a word |
defence, defense |
|
Truncation |
Search for different endings of a word stem using the asterisk symbol TIP: Check your database; it might use a different truncation symbol |
crim* will search for |
|
Phrase searching |
Search for all terms in the exact order specified within quotation marks |
“racial profiling” |
|
Boolean operators |
AND will narrow a search by returning items only containing both terms |
youth AND crime |
|
OR will broaden a search by returning items with one or both terms. Use this to combine synonyms. Remember that OR = MORE results. |
youth OR adolescent |
|
|
NOT will narrow a search by returning items with the first term but not the second term |
defence NOT hockey |
PsycINFO tags articles based on the research methodology used. You can use these tags to filter your search results.
You can choose the Methodology filter either from the main Advanced Search screen or from the Refine options menu in your search results.
Incorrect
David, J.-D., & Mitchell, M. (2021). Contacts with the Police and the Over-Representation of Indigenous Peoples in The Canadian Criminal Justice System. Canadian Journal of Criminology & Criminal Justice, 63(2), 23–45. https://doi-org.ezproxy.kpu.ca:2443/10.3138/cjccj.2020-0004
Correct
David, J.-D., & Mitchell, M. (2021). Contacts with the police and the over-representation of Indigenous peoples in the Canadian criminal justice system. Canadian Journal of Criminology & Criminal Justice, 63(2), 23–45. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjccj.2020-0004
Citing your sources properly shows that you have done your research and consulted appropriate sources for your topic. It also acknowledges that all research builds on work that has come before. You are giving credit to sources that have influenced or informed your work. If you do not do this, you are essentially stealing another person's ideas, which is plagiarism.
Whenever you use another person's ideas (even if you put this into your own words), you must give them credit. You do this by CITING the source you used in two places:
