A Guide to Psychological Science: PSY 225 Library Lab

Library Lab Goals

• Students will search academic databases using keywords and controlled indexing vocabulary
• Students will evaluate sources for relevance and appropriateness for a research topic
• Students will perform citation traces
• Students will explore possible topics and sources for the annotated bibliography assignment

Sample Article

Galambos, N. L., Vargas Lascano, D. I., Howard, A. L., & Maggs, J. L. (2013). Who sleeps best? Longitudinal patterns and covariates of change in sleep quantity, quality, and timing across four university years. Behavioral Sleep Medicine, 11(1), 8–22.

Full text of the article:

• Full text through PyscINFO
• The literature review: annotated

Library Lab Agenda & Activities

• Introductions (names, possible topics)
• Research experiences:
  • Challenges?
  • Successful strategies?
  • Psychology research: Where do you start?
• PsycINFO search strategies: Using keywords and indexed terms, using search fields and limiters
• PsycINFO thesaurus: APA Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms
• Selecting sources: Quickly evaluating articles for relevance
• Citation trace: Mining literature reviews and bibliographies
• Tracking Down Sources Activity
• Work time (in your groups):
  1. Each group identifies at least three possible articles for your annotated bibliography (Reminder: Your annotated bibliography is due 2/23/23; each individual group member identifies a minimum of three peer reviewed journal articles)
  2. Of the articles you found, select one to present to the class today:
     1. Author(s)
     2. Title
     3. Publication (journal)
     4. Date of publication
     5. 1-2 sentence summary
     6. How might it be useful for your research project?