PSYC 200 Week #2 Literature searches and APA style

Agenda  Roll call  Collect and discuss graded assignments  Wicked cool psychology careers video  Common Knowledge Test  Literature Search Tutorial  APA Style Generally Speaking

Attendance

Assignments Due  Reading assignment Disclaimers about exercises  Essay Assignment #1  Conference Week One

Common Knowledge Test  How much psychology do you know?

Literature Search Tutorial Finding what you want when you want it (like Wal-Mart).

Literature Search Basics  What is it? Process of finding previously published work the relates to or has inspired / provided background for your current work.  Why do it? You’re not the first person to have your great idea. On the shoulders of giants…  Cross-referencing

Peer-Review  What is it? A process by which scientific or scholarly work is submitted to others in the field (i.e., peers) for their criticisms and comments.  Why does it matter? Science is public Accountability Assurance

Peer-Review (cont’d)  Where to find peer-reviewed articles Journals Books (scholarly)  Where not to find peer-reviewed articles Newspapers Popular Science American Psychologist Cosmopolitan

Helping Resources  Langsdale Library Research Tutorials s.htm s.htm  Research Help by Discipline  Research Help for Psychology

The 5 Questions of Lit Search 1. What are you researching? 2. Where can you find it? 3. When should the articles be published? 4. Who wrote the articles? 5. Where can I find these articles?

What are you researching?  Isolate your topic or question What is the relationship between studying and test performance?  Generate key-phrases and words Study hours, study time, studying, student engagement Test score, academic performance, GPA  Pick a target phrase Study hours and test performance

Where can you find it?  There are many different search engines ResearchPort  EbscoHost (within ResearchPort)  There are many different databases PsycINFO, PsycArticles, SocIndex, etc.  There are many different journals

Journals and Their Ranks  Not all journals are made the same  Top-Tier Journals JAP (Journal of Applied Psychology) JPSP (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology) Academy of Management Journal Journal of Social Psychology Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology

Journals and Their Ranks  Not-so Top Tier (but not necessarily low quality) Journal of Happiness Studies Counseling and Values Journal of Applied Social Psychology Many others…

When should the article be published?  Most recent information?  Older information?  You CAN limit (in most cases) the years of publication returned in your search.

Who wrote the articles?  Often 2 – 3 important authors in a given area  Be sure to locate and/or cite their work when applicable  Authors typically write more than one article on a given topic Find one you like, and trace through their work

Where can I find these articles?  Full-text downloads  Other databases  Interlibrary loan!!!

Let’s try it out!  What are we researching?  Where can I find it?  When should they be published?  Who wrote these articles?  Where can I find these articles?  Now what?

General APA Style Basic sentence style and construction

Citing Other Authors  Central component of APA writing  Two pieces of info needed Author’s (authors’) last name(s) Year of publication  Ordering of these pieces varies McDermitt (2003) found… …was found (McDermitt, 2003) McDermitt’s (2003) research found…  Remember: no titles until reference page

Secondary Sources  Did you really, really read all of these articles?  You should not cite articles you have not read.  If you heard about article Z through article H, include article H in reference section and tell reader article H was cited in Z  Smith (as cited in McDermitt, 2003)

Common phrases  Same phrase, different day See Szuchman pp. 14 – 19  Avoid these!! Feel, believe, think, prove, stated, wrote, said  Replace with: Hypothesize, conjecture, reason, support, found, suggested

Avoid Wordiness  Clear & Concise  See Szuchman p  Write like a poet Make every word count Avoid unnecessary transitions Say what you want to using one word instead of two  Say it with one word rather than two  Say it with one word, not two

Informalities and Slang  No contractions!  No colloquialisms Sky-high, bright idea, blah blah others?  Time or not? “since” is a time word  “because” is a reason word “while” is a time word  “although” is a contrasting word

Me, myself, and I  Can you use first person? YES!!  Use the appropriate first person pronoun when referring to yourself or the author(s) of your paper.  Consider using passive voice I gave the survey to 70 participants Seventy participants received the survey

I bet you think this article’s about you  DO NOT call your reader a you  DO NOT refer to people in general as “we”  TRY: When one attempts to guess…  Or Individuals vary in their ability to…

Sexist Language  When referring to an object that could be either male or female (e.g., a participant, a client, etc.) you MUST not exclude a gender.  For example, “When a therapist begins a session, she introduces herself first.”  Try, “…the therapist introduces his or herself…” “…self-introductions come first…” Or: Make it plural  “When therapists begin sessions, they introduce themselves first.”

Irregular Plurals  Data  Datum SingularPlural  Phenomenon  Phenomena  Hypotheses  Hypothesis

Abbreviations  That is… Study for your class; that is, if you don’t want to fail. Study for your class (i.e., if you don’t want to fail)  And so on… Notes, books, pencils, etc.  For example… For example, students in PSYC200. …(e.g., students in PSYC200).  And other people (things) [used when have many authors] …was found (Johns, et al., 2002).

APA Headings (APA p ) CENTERED UPPERCASE Centered Title Caps Centered, Title Caps, Italicized Left, Title Caps, Italicized Indented, sentence caps, italicized, end with period. And begin paragraph.