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- Susan Turkel, Outreach and Information Technology Librarian (BMC)
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PSYC 352 : Adv. Topics in Developmental Psychology (BMC)
Finding scholarly journal articles:
PsycINFO
Provider: CSA
The best starting point for finding scholarly resources in psychology, including journal articles, books, and book chapters. Covers 1887-present.
To retrieve recent peer-reviewed journal articles in English:
Other useful limits:
To limit your search to specific journals:
Tips for selecting search terms:
For maximum power and flexibility:
Use the FindIt! button to see if the article is available online, in print, or if you'll need to request it via Interlibrary Loan.
To retrieve recent peer-reviewed journal articles in English:
- Find the Limit Search To box on the right
- Click the following boxes: Records in English, Peer Reviewed Journals, and Published since 1997.
Other useful limits:
- Click the More button under the Limit Search To box on the right
- For empirical studies: Click Methodology on the left, then select Empirical Study (which contains more specific types of studies). You can also use this limit to find Literature Reviews, case studies, etc..
- For articles focusing on an age group: Click Age Group, then select the most specific group that meets your needs. You can also pick Childhood -- that includes all the more specific ages between birth and 12 years old.
To limit your search to specific journals:
- Enter the journal name with a hyphen and type "in JN" to restrict the search to journal name: developmental-science in JN
- Alternately, click the Index tab, change the dropdown to JOURNAL NAME, and search for the journal. You will see how many articles are indexed from that journal. Check the box next to the desired title and click Search Marked in the upper corner.
- You can combine several titles with OR in the Search History tab.
Tips for selecting search terms:
- Use the Thesaurus to determine the “descriptors” (subject headings) used in this database for your concept. Search for terms, click the checkboxes next to the terms you want to search, and then click Search Marked near the top of that window.
- Try several synonyms, connected with OR, to find the maximum number of articles on your topic. (Example: teenagers OR adolescents)
- If you have a term with several possible endings, use an asterisk to stand for the different endings. (Example: child* = child, children, childhood, etc.)
- If you are getting too many results, search for your terms in the DE (descriptor fields) or AB (abstract) instead of the default, “terms anywhere”.
For maximum power and flexibility:
- Conduct a search on each concept separately (e.g., do one search for journal title, a separate search for one main concept, and another search for another main concept). You can then mix and match results sets in the Search History tab: check the boxes and combine using AND to find the overlap.
Use the FindIt! button to see if the article is available online, in print, or if you'll need to request it via Interlibrary Loan.
Web of science
Provider: ISI
Provides access to the Social Sciences Citation Index and the Science Citation Index. Search for scholarly articles in any discipline, or for articles that cite a known author or work. Coverage varies.
Tips:
Tips:
- Conduct a simple search from the main screen, then sort results by "Times Cited" to find popular or influential pieces.
- Click an article title to get to the full information screen for that article. You can see the article's references and the articles that cite that article.
- Click "Related Articles" to find those that share citations with the current one; this is useful for new/current articles that haven't been cited yet.
- To find articles that cite an older article, click Cited Reference Search and follow the screens. It's best to put less information rather than more, as citations are often inexact.
Finding articles from the popular press:
In general, make sure that you include the word "research" in your search, e.g. research and children and language. The following could be good places to start.
NB: Tripod will link you to all available online sources of the magazine or newspaper. Note the date coverage and select a source. Avoid NewsBank, as it will not lead directly to the journal's search page.
NB: Tripod will link you to all available online sources of the magazine or newspaper. Note the date coverage and select a source. Avoid NewsBank, as it will not lead directly to the journal's search page.
ScienceDaily - PRESS RELEASES ON CURRENT RESEARCH
ScienceDaily: Child PsychologyScienceDaily: Child Development
The articles in ScienceDaily are based on "news releases submitted by leading universities and other research organizations around the world" and are based on current research results. Editors categorize them into relevant subject groups. Browse recent headlines or search archived stories.
DATABASES CONTAINING MAGAZINE ARTICLES AND NEWS STORIES
ProQuest Research Library
Provider: ProQuest
Provides citations and full-text magazine and journal articles in a wide variety of disciplines, both scholarly and popular in scope. Covers 1971-present.
LexisNexis academic
Provider: LN
Full-text of thousands of newspapers, magazines, news transcripts, reference works, and legal materials. Includes NY Times (1980-current)
Requesting materials through Interlibrary Loan:
Interlibrary Loan & E-ZBorrow
Use this page to request materials from other libraries.
Tips:
Tips:
- If Haverford or Swarthmore have a journal article you need, you can use Tripod to request the specific volume be sent over. This might be faster than using the ILL form, in some cases.
- E-ZBorrow is always faster than ILL, so check E-ZBorrow first if you are looking for a book or a book chapter. WorldCat can give you a list of libraries that own an item; check that list for PA academic libraries or Rutgers.
- When making E-ZBorrow requests, choose a copy held by a close-by library. But don't type any notes into the search request form; this will slow down processing.
- If you have an unusual need, feel free to contact the Interlibrary Loan librarian. She is happy to talk with students in person to help fill their requests.
Setting up email alerts:
ProQuest Research Library offers a great tool for getting alerts when new articles come out meeting your search criteria. Once you've created a successful search, click "Set Up Alert" at the top of the screen. Select the frequency of alert emails and enter your email address.
PsycInfo offers alerts as well. The process for setting up alerts (which PsycInfo calls "SDIs") is a bit clunky. Follow these directions.
Web of Science has a good alert system. You can set up an alert for new articles that cite a given article or author, for tables of contents of specified journals, for articles using specified keywords in title/abstract, etc. To set up an alert, conduct your search, click Search History, then "Save History/Create Alert." Follow the instructions on the screen.
PsycInfo offers alerts as well. The process for setting up alerts (which PsycInfo calls "SDIs") is a bit clunky. Follow these directions.
Web of Science has a good alert system. You can set up an alert for new articles that cite a given article or author, for tables of contents of specified journals, for articles using specified keywords in title/abstract, etc. To set up an alert, conduct your search, click Search History, then "Save History/Create Alert." Follow the instructions on the screen.
Getting help from a librarian!
If you need help: ASK A LIBRARIAN!!! Please come see us and we will help you with your research. Canaday Library Reference Desk Hours:
Mon-Wed 10am-noon/1-5pm/7-10pm
Thu-Fri 10am-noon/1-5pm
Sat-Sun 1-5pm
Reference Desk telephone: (610)526-5279
Ask a Librarian - Fill in the form, give us your email address, and we will answer within 24 hours!
Mon-Wed 10am-noon/1-5pm/7-10pm
Thu-Fri 10am-noon/1-5pm
Sat-Sun 1-5pm
Reference Desk telephone: (610)526-5279
Ask a Librarian - Fill in the form, give us your email address, and we will answer within 24 hours!