Intro to Searching For Journal Articles A Review of Lab 4: 2/2/11

Searching Library Database By Journal Go to Click where it says "Periodicals” Type in the journal you are searching for (i.e., "Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis ") Click "Search” Click where it shows a link to the journal you are interested in (i.e., "Journal Of Applied Behavior Analysis Online") If there is not a link available or nothing matching the same title you entered, the library probably does not have access to that journal. (You can request the material be sent to the library to you, but that is another lesson for another day.)

Searching Library Database By Journal Click where it indicates the most recent articles (usually denoted with something such as “1994-”), or articles that are are available during a specific time period that you are searching for. (The library may not have have access to current articles for every journal). If you are using the wireless internet at CSUN or are at home, you may be required to use your login information at this point to gain access to the material. Click on whichever term you are specifically interested in that article's database (e.g., Winter 2010, January 2011) …You now have access to research articles, reports, brief reviews, etc. of the journal you are searching for.

Things to Keep in Mind... The library may have a journal available to you, but not online. o Example: Repeat steps 1-9, but now try searching for "Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences.” The webpage shows you where to physically find the journal in the library, but there will not be any electronic copy available to you. The library may have access to neither electronic copies of the journal nor physical copies of the journal. o Example: Repeat steps 1-9, but now try searching for "Marriage and Family Review." The top of the page indicates that there are not any matches to your search; this means the library does not have access to this journal at this time. o What Now???  If this occurs before we have a chance to explain any other alternative methods of obtaining said articles to you and you REALLY, REALLY need them, please feel free to come to the Graduate Teaching Associates, PA's, or Dr. Plunkett himself.

Searching By Online Database Probably the most used online database for Psychology students is PsychINFO. For our purposes, we will be using PsychINFO to demonstrate how to search for journal articles online (as kind of a gross overview of multiple ways to do this) We will also show the 3 types of results you will typically encounter and what they mean.

Searching By Online Database 1. Go to Click where it says "Databases A-Z" 3. Then click on "P" 4. Scroll down to "PsycINFO (EBSCO)" There are also other databases from which you can (and maybe should) search from if you are looking for articles related to Psychology. This is just an example from one of them, so that you can have an introduction to the search process. 5. There are 3 search options at the top. For the sake of demonstrating this example, in those three search boxes, type in "autonomy, latino, parent" There are also many options for how you can search these terms, as well (i.e., Author, Title, All Fields, etc.). For this example, leave it how it is when you first arrive at the page.

Searching By Online Database 6. NOTICE: The very first search result has a 'pdf' document that can be downloaded (the PDF indicator is located at the very bottom of the citation) 7. NOTICE: The second search result is a dissertation - which should NOT be cited. Dissertations should only be cited when there is no other research on your topic, because the review process for publishing dissertations is limited to their dissertation committee vs. peer- reviewed Try to stick to peer-reviewed journals ONLY for your research, if possible. If you have questions on this, please contact your GTA, PA, or Dr. Plunkett. 9. To avoid this otherwise grueling article-by-article search for only peer-reviewed articles, you can check the "Peer Reviewed" box on the left side bar and then click "update," and it will eliminate dissertations (and other things like books, etc.) that are not peer-reviewed.

Searching By Online Database 10. NOTICE: The third article does not have a pdf file, or any other button indicating full text is immediately available (e.g., HTML Full Text). However, if you click on the 'Find Text' button at the bottom of the citation, it will take you to a different database that will tell you if the library has the pdf file at all somewhere on another database When you click on 'Find Text,' it will either o Give you a selction(s) from which links to the article on another database (i.e. other than PsychINFO, if that is where you are at), OR o Tell you that the text is not available; the library does not have access to this article through their subscribed databases. However, you won't know unless you first check, by clicking on 'Find Text.'