LibGuides: Psychology Courses & Research: PSY 101: Introduction to Psychology

1. Scholarly versus "other" sources

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A periodical is a publication that is published on a semi-regular basis. An assignment asking for you to utilize scholarly sources will rely on scholarly journals. There are times, however, that you are being asked to report on more popular material. Because much of our information is found online and many of the indicators of what type of source the article comes from has been stripped away by the databases, it is important you can determine the different types of periodicals from each other. Keep in mind, your information needs should always determine the information you seek.

Scholarly journals (also called academic journals, peer-reviewed journal, or refereed journals) contain articles on original research written by experts in a field of study. The purpose of this publication is to present original research to other scholars.
Trade publications (also called trade journals, or professional journals) contain articles written by professionals to further educate or build skills within a particular trade or industry. The purpose of this publication is to provide practical advice to other professionals.
Popular magazines contain articles written for a general audience and are typically written by journalists. The purpose of this information is to entertain or inform a general audience.

Scholarly Journals, Trade Journals and Popular Magazines
Reference CCSU's chart to better understand the criteria that differentiates scholarly journals, trade journals, and popular magazines.

Ulrichsweb Global Serials Directory This link opens in a new window
After exhausting the visual cues (length, illustrations, references, format, etc.) that differentiate serial and content types, feel free to double-check your work!

Ulrichsweb provides detailed information on more than 300,000 periodicals (also called serials) of all types. Lists publication details such as dates in existence, peer-review status, databases the periodicals are accessed in, and whether they are available full-text online.

2. PsychINFO

PsycINFO This link opens in a new window
Provides peer-reviewed literature in behavioral science and mental health. This database provides access to scholarly journal articles, book chapters, books, and dissertations. For full-text, it links to PsycARTICLES.

Thesaurus in PsychINFO
PsychINFO has a controlled vocabulary from the Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms. Use the Thesaurus to speak the same language as researchers. ProQuest Central calls these Subject Terms.
Quick Reference Guide: PsychINFO
This quick reference guide will demonstrate how to search PsycINFO on ProQuest’s platform in Advanced Search mode. Select the Advanced search link to get started.

3. Research as inquiry

Going into your search with a preconceived answer to your question will lead to confirmation bias in your search results. This will keep you from true inquiry.

Here are some tips from Caufiled (2017):

Avoid asking questions that imply a certain answer.
Avoid using terms that imply a certain answer.
Avoid culturally loaded terms.
Plan to reformulate.
Scan results for better terms.

In addition, use Advanced Search (no matter the database or search engine) and separate your search into keywords and short phrases across the multiple boxes.

Caufiled, M. (2017). Avoiding confirmation bias in searches. In Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers. Retrieved from https://webliteracy.pressbooks.com/
chapter/avoiding-confirmation-bias-in-searches/.

4. Pull citation where possible (and correct against manual or Purdue OWL)

PsychINFO (EBSCO)

ProQuest Central (ProQuest)

OneSearch

Google Scholar