Welcome Sarah Greers's Psychology 1100 students!My name is Lisa, I'm the Psychology & Faculty of Health Librarian here at KPU.
This webpage is an asynchronous Library class you can work through at your own pace. Near the bottom, you will find a link to a Library assignment based on the material on this webpage. Your score on the Library assignment is worth 10% of your PSYC 1100 class grade.
Due date: Be sure to submit the Library assignment before midnight (11:59pm PST) on Tuesday May 28.
Feel free to take a look at the assignment details before you work through this asynchronous class - you'll find it near the bottom of the page.
Each box on this class page covers a different topic to learn. Each of these boxes also has one or more tabs/links running along the top of the box which will take you to additional information or optional exercises related to that topic.
As you scroll down and read, watch and/or listen through the information in the boxes below and you will learn:
Ready? Just scroll down to get started!
Summon is a quick way to search most of the Library's collection at once. Pick the way you want to learn how to use Summon from the 2 options below:
This 5 minute video by our Business Librarian will show you the basics of how to search using Summon along with some search strategies.
OR
Then click through the Question Mark icons on this screenshot of a Summon Search.
Video Tips: The embedded video not working for you? Go to the video homepage.
In all the videos on this page the bottom tool bar of the video will give you the options to:
In Psychology, most of the research you will be asked to do for class assignments will involve finding peer-reviewed journal articles.
Why?
Let's say you are writing a paper about laughter therapy because you think it is an effective method to decrease the symptoms of depression.
OK. You are entitled to your opinion.
But when you write an academic paper (or want to persuade anyone that your opinion is the truth), you have to provide some proof, some evidence to back up your opinion.
Now, if you could find an article written by researchers about a study they conducted which proved that laughter therapy does decrease the symptoms of depression...and then you described and cited that research in your paper, that would be much more convincing than your opinion alone.
And if you found a few other articles that did similar research - replicating those results - and used that in your paper too, your argument would be even stronger. It's like a whole bunch of people with Phds are standing behind you saying: "Yes, we're experts who study this with academic rigor, and we agree!"
You can find that kind of research in peer-reviewed articles.
The video below (3.16 minutes) from NCSU Library will explain a bit more about the peer-review process and why it is one of the best and most reliable sources of information available.
The embedded video not working for you? Go to the video homepage. (Please note, this link takes you to a YouTube version that includes an advertisement; you should be able to Skip Ad after 5 seconds.)
Summon is a great tool, but if you want to just find peer-reviewed psychology articles, then PsycINFO is usually the best place to go, as 98% of the content in the database is peer-reviewed psychology research. Pick the way you want to learn how to use PsycINFO from the 3 options below:
This video (10.43 minutes) goes through the search process and provides some search tips.
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Go to the top of this box, and click and read through information on the tabs: Steps 1, Step 2 and Step 3
OR
Click on the Question Mark icons on this screenshot of a PsycINFO search.
Databases don't like natural language (whole sentences or questions).
Decide on the keywords or phrases that best describe your topic and enter these different terms into separate search boxes.
Make sure to include quotation marks around any phrases (eg. "online dating") if you only want the database to give you results where those two words are right beside each other.
This approach is called keyword searching. Unlike the kind of searching we do in our everyday lives, REsearching for a class assignment usually requires you do several different searches to find the best articles, so don't be discouraged if you don't find what you need with one search.
Not sure if you're using the best words? Spend some time thinking of other ways to say the same thing and try different word/phrase combinations in your searches. You can also search Google using "syn:" and the word you want to find synonyms for (other words that mean the same thing, or something similar).
Or you can try Subject searching and let the database give you the best words to use. Click on the Step 2 tab link above to find out more.
If the words you use aren't bringing up a lot of relevant articles, it's probably your search words.
PsycINFO assigns official Subjects to all of the articles, so they only use specific words to represent a topic.
So in our example...
Are online dating and lying official subject terms?
A quick way to find out is to just look through your search results.
There were 18 articles in the result list, the first item in the list looks like it is on topic, so we look at the Subjects:
Looks like online dating is an official search term, but the database uses deception as the official subject term instead of lying.
So if we change our search using the official Subjects:
You may get more or less results (in this case more) but all the articles in your result list should be more relevant to your topic.
Click on the Step 3 tab link above to find more functional tools of the database to make your searching and citing easier!
Limit To - In the left most column, you'll see options to limit your results to Peer-Reviewed journals & Publication Date slider. If you scroll down you'll find many more factors you can limit by.
Where can I get this? For most articles, you will see a link to the Full-text of the article in this area. If PsycINFO doesn't have the article full-text, you have the option of searching our other databases for this article by clicking on Where can I get this? You will find we often have the article in another database. If not, you will see an option to Interlibrary Loan so you can request we find an e-copy at another library for you. This service is free and if we can find it elsewhere, the Library can usually email it to you in a few days.
Magnifying glass icon The sheet of paper with magnifying glass icon will bring up part or all of the article Abstract (a brief description of what the article is about). This is usually enough information for you to judge if it is worth your time to look more closely at the full-text. Note: you can click on the title of the article to see the complete abstract, and find options to save, print, generate a citation and more.
Folder icon allows you to save articles. You will see the articles saved in the Folder icon in the top menu bar. Before you logout or leave the database, you need to click on that icon and choose whether you want to print, save or email the articles. At this point, you can also have the database include an APA citation with each article. Note: The PsycINFO citation tool is very good, but always double check the accuracy before using it in your paper/assignment.
AskAway If you need help searching, please contact a librarian using the chat box on the right. We're happy to help you in your research!
APA Style is a set of guidelines created by the American Psychological Association (APA) that details how to format research papers and essays. It isn't just used in Psychology but many other disciplines, including most of the Social Sciences and Business. So you need to be familiar with it to format your class assignments correctly.
APA Style has a lot of rules - but don't worry!
Here we are just going to focus on one part of APA: how to cite your sources.
When you are writing an assignment and you are using information from other sources (web pages, books, peer-reviewed articles, textbooks, class lecture, etc.), you must cite all the information sources you used to write your assignment.
In APA there are two types of citations you must use:
Click on the References Part 1 tab at the top of this box to find out more...
You will always find a References section at the end of a peer-reviewed research article. This is where you list all the reference citations (in alphabetical order) are listed - this includes your student papers/assignments too! Reference citations have much more information than the in-text citations, as you must provide enough information for someone reading your work to find all the items you cite in your References.
You have to format Reference citations for different sources in different ways (the formula to follow when citing a book, website, or article are all a little different), but we are going to focus on citing peer-reviewed articles, as that is the kind of information source you'll be using most in Psychology.
The reality is, there are a lot of citation generators out there (as you've learned, both Summon and PsycINFO will generate APA Reference citations for you) - which can save a lot of time!
So why do you still need to know the format/formula?
Click on the References Part 2 tab at the top of the box to continue....
Below you will see the basic formula/components of a Reference citation for a research article.
And here is what a reference citation for a real peer-reviewed article looks like following this formula:
Confused about what some of the components are? These definitions may help:
Still confused? Don't worry, it is kind of like learning a new language. The more citations you see and create, the easier it will get! The formula image above is from the first page of this APA Style handout. You'll find fuller descriptions of each of the sections and formatting there if you want to take a deeper dive.
That's an overview of reference citations for peer-reviewed articles. Click on the In-Texts Part 1 tab above to learn about the other type of citation in APA...
The In-text citation is just a much shorter version of the Reference citation within your essay/assignment. Wherever you use an In-text citation, someone reading your paper knows that the information you are citing isn't your original idea. And In-text citations also act as a kind of hyperlink - someone reading your paper can use that In-text citation to quickly locate the fuller citation in your References.
There are 2 kinds of In-text citations, but once you get the formula for one kind, the other is easy.
Let's look at paraphrasing In-text citations first. Paraphrasing is when you take information and put it into your own words. The easiest way to write an In-text citation is to just include the complete in-text citation in brackets at the end of your paraphrased sentence (before the period).
Here is an example from the Library's APA Citation Style Guide:
Paraphrase In-text citation example from a book:
The speed of human cultural evolution is linked to the turnover rate of cultural entities (Smail, 2008).
And here is the full Reference citation for the book where this information came from:
Smail, D. L. (2008). On deep history and the brain. University of California Press.
So if someone was reading this essay, and saw the (Smail, 2008) In-text citation, they can easily flip/scroll to the References at the end of the essay (which lists all the Reference citations in alphabetical order), go to the "S" section, and quickly find the full citation for the book written by Smail that the person paraphrased. They could then use the information in that more detailed Reference citation to find the book.
Paraphrasing In-Text citations have 2 components: author and year. The format just varies slightly depending on how many authors the book/article/website, etc. has.
Almost done! Click on the In-Texts Part 2 tab at the top to learn about the other kind of In-text citation. But don't worry, the other kind isn't too different to format...
You use direct quote in-text citations when you copy exactly from your information source (surrounding that information with "quotation marks") instead of paraphrasing it in your own words.
The only difference between direct quote In-text citations and paraphrasing In-text citations, is that the direct quote citations also include a page number where the direct quote was copied from.
Tip: Don't directly quote too much! Sometimes you find information that is worded perfectly and is very powerfully written, so you want to use the original wording for clarity and impact. But many first year students make the mistake of directly quoting too much because they aren't sure how to paraphrase. Paraphrasing is a writing skill you have to develop as a university student. If you need some help with paraphrasing, you can check out this Paraphrasing and Summarizing handout from the Learning Centre.
Still feeling a bit confused by APA citations? If you ever have APA questions or need help with an assignment, you can take a look at the Library's APA Guide or Ask a Librarian. We can't do the citations for you or proofread your work, but we are happy to answer any APA questions you have.
You finished learning the information in this class - Congratulations! Now you can scroll down to the exercise you must complete and submit.
Some things to keep in mind:
Due date: Be sure to submit the Library assignment before midnight (11:59pm PST) on Tuesday May 28.
After all the assignments are submitted and marked, I will send the grades to Sarah and post an answer key up on this page.
Good luck!
If you'd like to provide feedback about this asynchronous library orientation, the Library would appreciate it. Please take a moment to fill out the brief feedback form below. Feel free to skip any questions you don't want to answer, All submissions are completely anonymous.