Explore-A-College: Exploring Human Behavior

Library Research Assistance

June 2007

 

Is it a popular article or a technical, scholarly journal article?

Popular    Technical or Scholarly   
Brief Long
Reports on others' research Presents author's original research
News and facts Theories, models, and data
Easy to read; for general audience Specialized vocabulary; aimed at other experts or scholars
No footnotes or bibliography Sources used are cited in footnotes or bibliography
In paper, publication looks glossy, colorful, has advertisements In paper, publication looks "dull," has few or no ads

 

Finding a Popular Article

Academic Search Premier
This database indexes popular and general periodicals, and scholarly periodicals from many subject areas. Some of the articles are available, full-text, in the database. Because ASP covers both popular and scholarly journals, you will have to look carefully at the articles you find to select appropriately. Note that you can also arrange your results by "magazines" and "academic journals."

 

Finding General Reference Articles

Encyclopedia of Psychology. 8 vols.
Ref BF 31 .E52 2000
A large, scholarly, recent encyclopedia on all areas of psychology. Each article has an annotated bibliography.

Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology and Behavioral Science. 4 vols.
Ref BF 31 .E52 2001
An excellent encyclopedia on psychology. Most articles have bibliographies.

 
Encyclopedia of Human Behavior. 4 vols.
Ref BF 31 .E5 1994
The interdisciplinary articles in this encyclopedia give many scientific perspectives on human behavior, including the psychological, sociological, and physiological views.
 
Encyclopedia of Human Emotions. 2 vols.
Ref BF 531 .E55 1999
Articles on emotions and theories of emotion.
 
Encyclopedia of Learning and Memory.
Ref BF 318 .E53 1992
Offers substantial articles on all aspects of learning and memory.

Annual Review of Psychology. 1996-  
This is not an encyclopedia, but a once-a-year publication with essays that review recent research in various areas of psychology. Go online here for the recent articles; for ones from 1950 through 1999 you can also use the print volumes, kept in the reference area, Ref BF 30 .A56.

 

Finding a Technical Journal Article

PsycINFO
This database indexes scholarly journals in psychology from 1887 to the present. Includes the full-text of some articles.


Academic Search Premier
To find only the scholarly journals in this database (and therefore have a higher chance of finding a technical article), click the "Peer Reviewed" box on the search screen.
Annual Review of Psychology. 1996-  
Although mentioned above as useful for finding a general article, you might also find citations to relevant technical articles in the bibliographies at the end your general article. Go online here or to the reference area for older volumes, Ref BF 30 .A56.

 

How to Cite Sources

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 5th ed.
Ref BF 76.7 .P83 2001
Located on shelves near the computer lab in the Reference area. This book gives all the guidelines for submitting a paper to an APA journal, including how to cite a work in your bibliography in the "APA format." Chapter 4, on the Reference List, gives instruction and examples.

APA Style: Electronic References.
This web site gives the format and examples for citing various kinds of electronic documents.