Social Ecology 10                                                         Julia Gelfand

Research Design                                                           Science Library 228

Spring 2006                                                                 (949) 824-4971

                                                                                    jgelfand@uci.edu

 

This handout will introduce you to library resources and services and lead you to how to efficiently and effectively conduct the research you need to complete the assignments for this course.  Hopefully, you will be able to translate the process to other research assignments you need to complete.   Please remember that the quarter passes quickly, so you want to stay ahead of the deadlines and get started early on.

 

You have several homework assignments to complete as requirements for this course.  Each of them introduces you to different research methodologies and documentation from the scholarly, academic, popular press literatures and the media.  This handout illustrates how best to proceed with assignment #3 and how to tackle the Extra Credit option.  If followed, you will have virtually no problem in getting things done correctly.  Plan your time accordingly and do not wait until the last possible moment to gain access to the resources you need!  Read the assignment carefully and know what the term “empirical” means.

 

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT 3 - There are several different ways to approach this assignment.  Remember that you are looking for articles published since 2001, meaning from 2001 forward, including 2002-2006.  Some of these articles will be available electronically and others in print. You will locate unbound issues of print journals in the Current Periodicals Rooms at either the Langson Library (LL) or at the Science Library (SL), meaning from late 2005 and from most of 2006. The bound journal collections are shrinking as more is available electronically and we are not subscribing to dual formats as standard procedure any more, once we are confident with the electronic archive.    A couple of distinctions, please remember that at the LL the CPR is arranged by call number and at the SL, the CPR is arranged by journal title.   Several easy and full-proof methods to find the scholarly article are to follow these directions:

 

Point of Departure:  UCI Libraries Website - for remote access to licensed content, make sure that you follow instructions and use either Web VPN or download the VPN client so that you can connect from home and be authenticated.

I.                   Read assignment carefully

II.                Choose a topic that are interested in

III.               Find 2 empirical articles - you may want to select and read 5-6 articles in order that you are comfortable with the ones you write about

a.       Use a database - there are many to choose from, but the following are highly recommended.  There are also several different methods to choose how to get to the database:

                                                                           i.      Use ANTPAC and enter the title of the database and restrict to Online/Internet Resources by using the pull-down menus

                                                                         ii.      Use the Social Ecology Subject Guides - there is one for each department and go to the section "Finding Journal Articles"

                                                                        iii.      Go to "Online Resources" and enter the title of the database in the left search box and restrict the "categories" to databases.  Or you can browse on the right side by title. * denotes that it is available via the CSA platform and can be searched concurrently if you click on "Specific Databases" and select the databases you want - however you lose some of the search features of individual databases.

1.      PsycINFO* - probably the easiest and most reliable way to get empirical studies.  You can add lines to increase the relevance of your search query; you need to restrict search to Journal Articles - so you don't retrieve books, book chapters, dissertations, tests; and adjust the dates of coverage because the database goes back to 1806!  If you scroll down you can refine the search - by publication type, language, population, gender, age,  and research methodology - this is where you can select empirical study.

 

A Guide to how to search PsycINFO is available.

 

2.      PsycARTICLES* - a database of the 57+ full-text journals issued or published by the American Psychological Association (APA).  You must enter "empirical" as a keyword in the search.

3.      Psychology: A SAGE Full-Text Collection *- approximately 20 full-text journals by Sage Publishers - limitation is that it is only one publisher's list that you are searching - but it is full-text

4.      Sociological Abstracts*

5.      ERIC - an educational database - remember to restrict to journal articles as it also provides ERIC documents

6.      Environmental Science and Pollution Management*

7.      Risk Abstracts*

8.      Communication Abstracts*

9.      PAIS International*- Public Affairs

10.  Criminal Justice Abstracts*

11.  Expanded Academic ASAP

12.  PubMed

 

IV.              Locating the Article - several steps are encouraged here - the output will be the most recent articles added to the database will be at the top - "View Record" provides a complete abstract and the list of references, and subject headings from the Thesaurus. This is important as you should be able to conclude whether the article meets the criteria of your assignment.   Those terms give you the most relevant output and explain why you retrieved the article.  

V.                 Use UC eLinks - this will match the articles in specific journals with our holdings and licenses to online content.  We have a growing online collection.  Sometimes it will be in pdf, other times the articles will be re-keyed.  

VI.              Citing the article correctly - follow the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th ed., 2001 found at all Reference Desks at BF 76.7 P83 2001 or consult some of the online guides for APA style manual.  You may also consider using "Quick Bib" to help you format your references.  This is available from all the CSA databases.  Learning to use RefWorks, a free web-based resource, is another alternative to better manage your bibliographic references so that you can save them, recall them and cite them using your choice of style formats.  

VII.            Copy the abstract - from the original article either in pdf or from the print.  You may need to buy a copy card that works in both printers and copiers.  DO NOT COPY the abstract from the database.

VIII.         Answer questions from the Assignment #3 for each article you select.

 

Extra Credit Assignment - Option 2 Hints:

I.                    You are concentrating on finding news reports of research findings.  There are specific databases that cover popular news sources and they include:

a.       Lexis Nexis Academic Universe - News - use the "Guided Search" function and use the pull-down menus to search "General News" and then "Major Papers" or "Magazines & Journals."  This is a relevancy-based output rather than reverse chronology.  You need to realize how the search is being conducted - by headline, lead paragraph or if you search by full text.  You must revise the search coverage from the default of six months to whatever your preference will be.  You will only get text, no illustrations or images. 

b.      Expanded Academic ASAP - covers popular and news magazines as well as scholarly journals

c.       Subject Guide for News & Newspapers - will direct you to other sources of news media.

d.      Go to the Current Periodicals Room at the Langson Library and you will find current newspapers and news magazines.

 

In conclusion: 

 

 

For additional assistance: