Psyc 210: Research Methods
Fall 2004
Goal:
- To show how to use PsycINFO and Social Science Citation Index to find solid, empirically slanted articles in psychology.
- Talk about other possibly relevant resources. Also, how to avoid unintentional PLAGIARISM.
, contact Brian Simboli
, x5003. Room 633 in Fairchild-Martindale Library.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A. PSYCINFO
B. SOCIAL SCIENCE
CITATION INDEX
C. OTHER LIBRARY
DATABASES AND RESOURCES
D. OBTAINING COPIES
OF PAPERS
E. PLAGIARISM:
HOW TO AVOID IT
F. CONTACT INFORMATION
FOR FURTHER ASSISTANCE
Getting to PsycINFO
- Great place to start your literature hunt.
- PsycINFO is on the library's webpage of database, which in turn is available off the Library Services webpage.
- If you are off campus, make sure that you have set up the proxy server.
Content and Coverage of PsycINFO
"Journal articles, chapters, books, dissertations, and reports on psychology and related fields"
"Why select this database?
Includes international material selected from periodicals written in over
25 languages since
1887 Includes current chapter and book coverage with worldwide English-language
material published
from 1987-present Adds over 55,000 references annually through monthly updates"
"Psychology and psychological aspects of related disciplines: anthropology nursing business pharmacology education physiology law psychiatry linguistics sociology medicine"
(Material quoted above is from OCLC FirstSearch search interface.)
Searching PsycINFO: OVERVIEW
- PyscINFO can you help identifyis really good journal articles, whether in print format or available electronically.
- Lehigh has journal articles in both print and electronic form An example of an electronic journal article is this.
- How can you identify such papers like this one (either in electronic or paper format)? Online searching in PsycINFO is one promising route.
- If you are not familiar with the basics of online searching, see this Generic Searching Guide
- Go to the library homepage, click on databases, and then select PsycINFO.
- Run a search (see examples below).
- Here is a PsycINFO record; it gives information about the article linked
to above. Records like this are the target of your PsycINFO searching:
- This is not an article--it is a record with information about an article. (See Section D below for information on how to obtain copies of papers.)
- Notice that PsycINFO records are broken down into "fields" such as title, author, abstract.
- PsycINFO gives you additional fields, such as "descriptors", which enable you to obtain more focused results, as we shall see when we run some examples below.
- Descriptors are subject headers that PsycINFO assigns to records.
FOCUSED SEARCHING
Anyone can throw in a few keywords and bring up search results. But with
a little extra effort, you can come up with really good results.
SIX EXAMPLES OF THE MAGIC OF FOCUSED SEARCHING
These are done in the "advanced" mode. Overall point: try
different angles until you find what you need.
Example 1
Find journal articles in English about lying on personality
inventory tests.
- First, try a simple keyword search using the keywords "personality" and "inventories" and "lying". A keyword search ranges over these "fields" in PsycINFO records: descriptor, title, abstract, key phrase (identifier), and table of contents.
- The above record comes up, among others.
- Most people stop at this point. But watch what happens if you go further.
- Say the article above is ballpark. Look at the "descriptors" for this article. Again, descriptors are subject headers assigned to PsycINFO records.
- Do a descriptor phrase search on two of the relevant descriptors: "personality measures" and "deception". On the advanced search screen, put in "personality measures" and "deception" in separate boxes, each with "descriptor phrase" selected from the drag-down menus, and linking them by selecting "and". [Fine point: you may discover that if the descriptor contains parentheses, you'll have trouble searching for the item if you select descriptor phrase from the drag-down menu. *Leave out the parentheses* when you do the search. ]
- Limit the search to English language (see "language phrase") and then run the search. [With respect to "document type phrase", try both the peer reviewed article and the journal article options.]
- You will see new papers that do not appear in the original list. You know that these papers are "on topic" (and thus 'focused'), since they would not have been assigned the descriptors if they were not.
- Maybe one of those papers from this second search is better than papers generated by the first search.
- Keep going this way until you find the papers that interest you.
- You can email or print the search results.
- Then see Section D below for information on how to obtain copies of papers.
- (Note: see example 2 for how to limit to papers having an empirical slant)
Example 2
Find journal articles in English about narcissistic
personality disorder. Find articles that have an empirical slant.
- First, do a keyword search on the terms "narcissistic" and "personality" and "disorder". As we have seen, keyword searching is a great way to bring up some initial results that can lead to new ones.
- Maybe you will find what you want at this stage by scrolling through a few screens. The search set is big, so you may want a more focused search.
- Look at the descriptors in search results that look especially relevant. A descriptor you may come across is "narcisisstic personality disorder".
- Click on the descriptor (or drag down "descriptor phrase" and search on "narcissistic personality disorder").
- Go back to the advanced search screen (when you are in a list of results, click on the "searching" button to go back to the original search)
- Incorporate the content type for "empirical" into your search. To do
so, select "content type phrase". Then click on button
. Type in "0".
Click browse. Scroll through to see the options. Click on "0800 empirical
study" Now run the new search. (For information about content types,
see here)
- Go back to advanced search screen.
- Limit the search to English language, and to journal articles.
- Restrict by last two years.
- Run the search.
- You can email or print the search results.
- Then see Section D below for information on how to obtain copies of papers.
Example 3
Is there a more organized/systematic way to find "descriptors" to search?
- Click the button
off the advanced search screen. - This brings you to a place where you can search for headings in the PsycINFO thesaurus.
- For example, put in "personality" to see what comes up.
- Keep in mind the following:
"Index terms are controlled vocabulary terms used in database records to
make searching easier and more
successful. By standardizing the words or phrases used to represent concepts,
you don't need to try and figure
out all the ways different authors could refer to the same concept. Each
record in the PsycINFO database
contains controlled vocabulary terms from the Thesaurus of Psychological
Index Terms.
PsycINFO staff index records according to the source document's level
of specificity. [emphasis mine]
For example,an experimental population labeled "high school students" will
be indexed with the term "High School Students",
not the broader and less specific term "Students". Therefore, any relevant
narrower terms should be included in
the list of index terms in your search. Related terms may also closely match
a search topic, and should be
considered as well. You will find these narrower and related terms in the
Relationship section of the Thesaurus."
Example 4
I've found one really good article. Can I find articles later in time that cite it?
See example here.
Example 5
I want articles about a subject that have a particular approach, just e.g., that are review articles or have a bibliographic slant or are empirical. How can I bring them up?
In the advanced search screen, select "content type phrase" from the drag-down
menu. Then click on the button 
Type in "0". Click browse. Scroll through to see the options for "content
type phrase". Click on the one that you want. In the advanced search interface,
add additional search interfaces or use the limit features, and then run the
search.
Example 6
Are there other indexing tools that I can use to focus searching?
Yes--to see the available tools, see this "Guide to the Fields
in Our Database Records", which links out to more information.
For persons interested in psychological tests, see "Tips for Searching
for Psychological Tests"
Search Tips:
- Do not use the limit to full text feature. You will not get everything that is available at Lehigh.
- Items with the "library and book" icon are in our library. However, don't assume that if an item does not have that icon, that we do not have it. Check ASA.
- When putting in search terms, you may want to use truncation and other special features, like proximity--see the help docs for FirstSearch
For more about PsycINFO:
If you want to learn more about PsycINFO or how to search it, see the following:
- About PsycINFO
- Information about PsycINFO
- Consult Interdisciplinary Applications of PsycINFO to get ideas about how to search a variety of topics in PsycINFO
- PsycINFO Journal Coverage List
- PsycINFO on OCLC search guides
- Guide to the Fields in our Database Records
- PsycINFO Search Tips...for Searching Historical Records
- See also help documentation on OCLC FirstSearch
What does it do?
Two things:
(1.) Click on the cited reference search button. The search screen that comes up allows you to start with a document and find references later in time that cite it. This way you can build up a bibliography of related works. (See example above of how PsycINFO lets you do the same thing.)
Compare this capability to the one on PsycInfo, illustrated in example 4 above.
(2.) Or, you do a subject search by clicking on the general search button.
Where does Social Sciences Citation Index live?
Social Sciences Citation Index is part of "Web of Science". Click here for more information as well as to connect to the database.
We also have paper coverage of Social Sciences Citation Index for 1966/1970-1997.
(See ASA).
Annual Review of Psychology is worth checking for review articles about your area of interest. You may be able to find references to literature this way. If you like what comes up, see "Search for citing articles in: ISI Web of Science" link (if present). Also, see the related articles feature as well as "Alert me when: New articles cite this article".
You may find print reference resources in the reference section of FM Library
that can help you find background information for your project:
- Encyclopedia of Human Behavior 150.3 E564
- Encyclopedia of Psychology 150.3 E5631
- Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology and Behavioral Science 150.3 E563 2001
We have used bibliographic databases to find references and abstracts for papers that look interesting.
How do you actually locate the paper(s)?
(1.) After doing your online search, see if there is an "SFX" link for the item. If we have electronic full text of a journal article, you can link to it from that link. To see what an SFX link looks like, see toward the top of the PsycINFO record copied above. SFX links are available in most if not all of the library's bibliographic databases. If it is not available in full text electronically, click on the ASA link to see if we have the item in paper at the library. If it is not available electronically or in print, you can order it via interlibrary loan, using the ILLiad button. Notice that the data from (e.g.) the PsycInfo or Web of Science record is automatically entered for you. Don't wait til the last moment to order articles
[Note: if you have a citation already you can go directly to SFX here (without routing through a bibliographic database), where you can link to full text if we have a journal article electronically.]
(2.) If you are not using SFX out of a bibliographic database such as Web
of Science or PsycInfo, you can check ASA to see if Lehigh has the journal,
either in paper or electronic format. Select "browse", type in the title of
the journal, and then click "Journal Titles".
NOTE:
- A record will come up that shows you where the journal can be found in the library, if it is in print.
- Journals in electronic format have a link right out of the ASA record.
- Locations for paper versions of journals are listed in ASA.
(3.) You may want to see if one of the regional libraries
has the journal.
(4.) If you are not working from SFX, you can order the article by typing
in the article information in the ILLiad form here: interlibrary loan.
through ILL. 
An additional way to find papers: browse the tables of contents of recent issues or archived (bound) copies in the library, or look for relevant electronic journals browsable here by title or linked on ASA.
If you engage in plagiarism, it is like a ticking timebomb. There is a good chance you will be found out, with serious consequences.
Without intending to engage in plagiarism, you may unwittingly do so. To avoid it, familiarize yourself with what it is. If you learn how to do footnoting in the proper style, this can help you.
Here's a new Lehigh University Libraries webpage that can help you get started: Ante/Anti Plagiarism.
NOTE: This webpage is not a substitute for whatever instructions your instructor gives about correct footnoting style and what constitutes plagiarism.
Let us know what you think about the "Ante/Anti Plagiarism" webpage--whether
you found it useful or how it can be improved. Send an email to Sharon Siegler, the webpage's designer, and
copy me (Brian Simboli) in.
BDS 11/02/04