SE 194W Fall 2002


Social Ecology 194W - Spring 2005 Naturalistic Field Research Library Research Tips	Julia Gelfand Science Library 228 jgelfand@uci.edu (949) 824-4971

OBJECTIVE: To find at least two academic sources to support your research and findings for your final paper.

Nuts & bolts: The library web site http://www.lib.uci.edu/ answers questions such as:

When is the building open?
What are the hours of the reference desk?
Where do I access course reserves?
Borrow books?
Chat with a librarian online?
How can I connect to library databases by from home?

This page provides tips on:

Identifying information resources on a particular topic
Using library databases to find research articles on a topic
Using UC-elinks or ANTPAC to locate needed materials in the UCI Libraries and verify our holdings

Background research: books

Books can provide:

An overview of your topic
Bibliographies and additional references to key literature

ANTPAC is UC Irvine's online library catalog -- the source to determine whether a book, video, government document or journal is available at UCI. Increasingly, as journals and documents become available electronically, ANTPAC includes links to the full-text of the item on the Internet.

Learn to search ANTPAC using this online tutorial

MELVYL is the combined online catalog for all of the 10 UC campuses. Many of our article databases link to MELVYL (via UCeLinks) in order to tell you whether the book or journal you need is available at UCI or other UC campuses. However, ANTPAC is a more current source of this information than MELVYL. You may find it easier to use ANTPAC in order to determine the availability of a particular article at UCI -- in either print or online format -- than MELVYL.

Learn to search MELVYL using one of the following online tutorials

If you need materials that you find are NOT available at UCI, you can use Interlibrary Loan (ILL). Plan ahead for this -- ILL can take approximately one week. The MELVYL Request feature is the easiest way to do this.

Writing & Research Manuals

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association 5th ed, at all Reference Desks
BF76.7 .P83 2001

Citing electronic sources - an APA brief guide
<http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html>

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association *5th ed, at all Reference Desks*	BF76.7 .P83 2001
Citing electronic sources - an APA brief guide <http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html>

Finding academic articles

For this class, most of your research is taking place outside of the library, where you will be gathering data to analyze. Your goal in the library is not to find exact studies that replicate yours, but rather to find supporting research on one or more of the issues you are discussing.

To get started:

Determine your research question
Develop a list of keywords or phrases that reflect your research question - it is usually easier to start broad and narrow or focus your topic in the search strategy
Decide where you are going to look for information (see table, below)
Start with specific concepts but be prepared to generalize and broaden your search (if you don't find research on your exact context (dating in a campus workplace, e.g.) -- you might find something on dating in the workplace in general
When you find a good article on your topic in an article database, analyze the subject headings or descriptors in the record to add words to or refine your search terms. See "Sample record from PsycINFO," below

Sample record from PsycINFO

Results of a search for:
(going out, dating or courtship) and college students


`Title:Dating and commitment choices as a function of ethnicity among American colege students in California` `AU: Author` `Fiebert, Martin S; Nugent, Dusty; Hershberger, Scott L., Kasdan, Margo` `AF: Author Affiliation` `California State University, Long Beach, CA US [for Fiebert, Nugent, Hershberger, Kasdan]` `SO: Source` `Psychological Reports, Vol. 94 (3, Pt. 2), June 2004, pp. 1293-1300` `IB: ISSN` `0033-2941` `AB: Abstract` The incidence of interracial and interethnic dating and marriage in the United States has increased. This investigation examined dating and commitment choices as a function of ethnicity and sex among groups of Euro-American, Hispanic-American, Asian-American and African-American college students. A convenience sample of college students comprising 329 heterosexual subjects (134 men, 195 women) was surveyed regarding their partner preferences for dating, visiting parents, marriage and bearing children. It was hypthesized that subjects would consider dating partners from different ethnic groups, but when making a commitment to marriage and children would prefer members of their own group. This hypothesis was supported in half of the groups: Euro-American men, African-American men, Asian-American women, and African-American women. A discussion of dating and commitment choices among ethnic and sex groups is presented and discussed. PsychINFO Database Record (c) 2004 APA, all rights reserved) `TA: Target Audience` `Psychology: Professional & Research` `LA: Language` `English` `PY: Publication Year` `2004` `PT: Publication Type` `Peer Reviewed Journal; Conference Proceedings/Symposia; Empirical Study; Quantitative Study; Article` `PO: Population` `Human; Male; Female` Age: Adulthood (18 yrs & older); Young Adulthood (18-20 yrs); Thirties (30-39 yrs) `FE: Features` References `DE: Descriptors` `Commitment; Ethnic Identity; Human Mate Selection; Racial and Ethnic Groups; * Social Dating; * College Students; * Marriage Attitudes; * Preferences` `ID: Identifiers` `dating; commitment choices; ethnicity; American college students; marriage; partner preferences` `CL: Classification` `3020 Group & Interpersonal Processes` `NR: Number of References` `4 reference(s) present, 4 reference(s) displayed`

Notice that our search terms (dating and college students) appear in bold type. But under "Descriptors," the word used for dating is "Social
Dating" (seen above in red). Adding this term to our search should expand our results and sharpen the relevance in retrieval.

Learn more about finding journal articles in this online tutorial

Getting there:

From the library homepage http://www.lib.uci.edu/ go to one of the library's subject guides for Social Ecology. Or click on Online Resources and on the left

From the alphabetical list, choose one of the following, depending on your topic. (Databases shaded gray all share the same interface: Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA). NOTE: You can search more than one CSA database at the same time.) If you get to an interim screen that lists all the UC campuses, choose UC Irvine.

Most of the databases below contain scholarly and academic articles only. However -- some also contain popular magazines (such as Newsweek) or trade publications (such as Business Week). In such cases, I've included in "search tips" ways to restrict your output to only scholarly, academic source material.

Under "Work with Results," below, there are links to pages in the UCI Libraries' online tutorials on specific aspects of working with UC-elinks and ANTPAC to determine whether UCI has a particular journal you need, based on an article citation. These links open in new windows -- simply close them using the X in the upper right-hand corner of your screen to return to this handout.


Suggested online databases for Social Ecology 194W

You can search the CSA databases (Psychology, Social Service, ERIC, Environmental Science & Pollution Management and Sociological Abstracts) concurrently or you can search them independently. Click on the active Specific Databases link and select the databases you want and then Continue to search.


SUBJECT	DATABASE	SEARCH TIPS	WORK WITH RESULTS
General/multidisciplinary A good starting point for research on many topics/contexts	Expanded Academic ASAP: Citations and full-text magazine, newspaper and journal articles from the arts and humanities to social sciences, science and technology.	Search by broad subject and narrow by subdivision (e.g. innovations, research, case studies) or search by keyword Limit to "refereed" publications to retrieve only academic and scholarly material	Print, save or e-mail full-text or citations Use UC-elinks to connect to full-text or the MELVYL catalog to view UCI holdings OR Use ANTPAC to look up journal titles (includes links to electronic journals)
Psychology Good database for all aspects of psychology and social behavior QUICK DEMO OF PSYCINFO -- OPEN WITH INTERNET EXPLORER ONLY	PsycINFO: (CSA) International literature in psychology and related disciplines. The sources include over 1,400 professional journals, chapters, books, reports, theses and dissertations, published internationally.	Search by keyword, and then refine your search using descriptors you find in your search results Default is Advanced Search Limit your search to journal articles only Use the cited references of recent articles to find additional relevant materials	Tag/mark multiple records and print/save/e-mail results Use UC-elinks to connect to full-text or the MELVYL catalog to view UCI holdings OR Use ANTPAC to look up journal titles (includes links to electronic journals)
Social Services Good database if the cultural context you are exploring is in the social or human services (counseling, e.g.)	Social Services Abstracts: (CSA) Abstracts of current research on social work, human services, and related areas, including social welfare, social policy, and community development. Journal articles, dissertations, and citations to book reviews.	Search by keyword, and then refine your search using descriptors you find in your search results Use Advanced Search Limit your search to journal articles only	Tag/mark multiple records and print/save/e-mail results Use UC-elinks to connect to full-text or the MELVYL catalog to view UCI holdings OR Use ANTPAC to look up journal titles (includes links to electronic journals)
Education Good database if the cultural context you are exploring is in primary, secondary or higher education	ERIC: (CSA) Education-related literature, both journal articles and coverage of conferences, meetings, government documents, theses, dissertations, reports, audiovisual media, bibliographies, directories, books and monographs.	Search by keyword, and then refine your search using descriptors you find in your search results Use Advanced Search Limit your search to journal articles only (if you don't do this, you will retrieve ERIC documents, which are generally unpublished reports, not scholarly articles)	Tag/mark multiple records and print/save/e-mail results Use UC-elinks to connect to full-text or the MELVYL catalog to view UCI holdings OR Use ANTPAC to look up journal titles (includes links to electronic journals)
Sociology Good for study of structure of organizations	Sociological Abstracts: (CSA) International literature in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. Journal articles, book reviews, abstracts of books, book chapters, dissertations, and conference papers.	Search by keyword, and then refine your search using descriptors you find in your search results Use Advanced Search Limit your search to journal articles only	Tag/mark multiple records and print/save/e-mail results Use UC-elinks to connect to full-text or the MELVYL catalog to view UCI holdings OR Use ANTPAC to look up journal titles (includes links to electronic journals)
Business/Public Policy Particularly strong coverage of organizational psychology and workplace environments	ABI/Inform: Worldwide business periodicals for information on advertising, marketing, economics, human resources, finance, taxation, computers, and more. Also, information on 60,000+ companies.	Search by keyword and then refine your search using subject terms you find in your search results Case studies is a subject term in this database Limit to "peer reviewed" publications to retrieve only academic and scholarly material Use the print bibliography feature to generate APA citations to articles	Tag/mark multiple records and print/save/e-mail results Use UC-elinks to connect to full-text or the MELVYL catalog to view UCI holdings OR Use ANTPAC to look up journal titles (includes links to electronic journals)
Environmental Sciences	Environmental Science & Pollution Management: (CSA) International coverage of environmental sciences, risk assessment, and related topics	Search by keyword Will retrieve mostly journal articles and conference proceedings	Tag/mark multiple records and print/save/e-mail results Use UC-elinks to connect to full-text or the MELVYL catalog to view UCI holdings OR Use ANTPAC to look up journal titles (includes links to electronic journals)

Business Source Premier: another database with extensive coverage of organizations, corporate culture and wide fulltext content.

Covers journal literature

Use ANTPAC to look up journal titles (includes links to electronic journals); some with PDF links

Library research assistance and consultation

You have many options for getting research assistance from the UCI Libraries. You can:

Call or visit the Reference Desk at either the Langson (949) 824-4976 or Science (949) 824-3705 Libraries (during certain weeks of the quarter, you can sign-up for a 30 minute research consultation appointment at either library)
Use Ask a Librarian EMAIL or LIVE and you can also request a Research Consultation here
Follow up with Julia Gelfand directly (contact info above)