Social Ecology P164S/CLS 195
Psychology & The Law
Library Presentation
Winter 2005

Julia Gelfand
Science Library 228
jgelfand@uci.edu
949-824-4971

Judy Ruttenberg
Langson Library 143
jruttenb@uci.edu
949-824-7021


This handout is designed to help you successfully conduct research and complete the research paper for this class, by introducing you to appropriate resources and methods to find the information through the UCI Libraries website.

IMPORTANT LINKS:

Library Homepage: http://www.lib.uci.edu

Connect from Off Campus: http://www.lib.uci.edu/services/how/connect.html

Subject Guides: http://www.lib.uci.edu/online/subject/subject.php

Remember that you want to:
• Outline the issue(s) and its significance
• Summarizes relevant psychological research
• Summarizes relevant legal principles
• Integrate information in order to draw conclusions about the current "state of the field" on this topic

PSYCHOLOGY

See: Psychology Subject Page

Material in psychology is proliferating quickly and there are many resources. In order to find journal articles you may want to use the following databases, all part of the CSA platform. There is a new interface called "Illumina" that debuts in February 2005 and will be the default platform used to search these databases in the Advanced Search mode. You can conduct a search in any of these databases separately or run a search that covers all four databases.

PsycINFO - 1860+. A separate guide is available to direct you in searching this database at http://course.lib.uci.edu/PsycINFOviaCSAIllumina-1.pdf
PsycARTICLES - covers fulltext articles published and distributed by the American Psychological Association - coverage varies by journal.
Sociological Abstracts - 1960+
Applied Social Sciences Index & Abstracts - 1987+
Criminal Justice Abstracts - 1968+
National Criminal Justice Reference Service - 1975+

If your topic is psychological considerations in jury selection you may choose to conduct a search in PsycINFO that resembles this:

KW = psychology
KW = jury or juries
KW = instructions or selection

There were 9 journal articles retrieved including one book review (PsycCRITIQUES). By clicking on the article title or "View Record" you can obtain the full abstract noting why you retrieved this citation. If you click on "UC eLinks" you will determine whether you have fulltext access to that article or if it is part of the print holdings at the UCI Libraries.

In this case the fulltext article is available from a journal supplier. If it was not noted, then you would click on ANTPAC and see if we had the title in print.

Other databases that may be of interest to you depending on your topic include:
PubMed - a clinical medical database
Web of Science - three databases combined but you will probably want to search the Social Sciences Citation Index (1956+)

Other Reference Tools that may give you some background information (appropriate subject headings for books when you search ANTPAC or MELVYL may include Forensic Psychology, Psychology - legislation and jurisprudence):
Annual Reviews of Psychology - - classic literature reviews that can be searched. Available fulltext.
Online Dictionary of Psychology (2002)
• Handbook of Psychology, Langson Library Reference BF 121 H1955 2003
• Handbook of Forensic Psychology, 2d ed, 1999 - Science Library Bar
• Handbook of Forensic Psychology, 2d ed., 1999 - Science Library Bar W 740 H236 1999

LAW

Criminology, Law & Society Subject Guide

Laws & Legislation Subject Guide

KEY DATABASES:

Westlaw Campus
WESTLAW CAMPUS QUICK TIPS GUIDE (.pdf)

Using Westlaw Campus, you can:

Lexis-Nexis Academic

LegalTrac

FOLLOW-UP: LIBRARY RESEARCH AND CONSULTATION

Ask a Librarian: Options for email, chat, telephone or in-person research assistance

Social Sciences Librarians Office Hours (Judy and Julia both participate)