Nearly a quarter of your grade in this class will be based on a term paper you have been assigned.  This handout will serve as a departure point for your research process.

 

Please remember that this session is very fast-tracked, it is an accelerated term and you can not procrastinate in order to meet the deadlines and conduct thorough research, engage in a sufficient amount of reading and thinking, form an outline and write at least one draft.

 

Conducting Research - it is recommended that you follow these steps which reinforce the assignment and you will find this handout to be an effective guide to successfully complete term paper:

1. It is recommended that you write from an outline and refer to METHODS, RESULTS, DISCUSSION sections in the articles you find most relevant.  You will also want to define your hypothesis and state some conclusion and include a bibliography of references you consulted.  Basically it will include:
   1. Title Page
   2. Introduction - includes Hypothesis - what is being studied, importance or significance of it
   3. Body of Paper - discussion of methods, results, conclusions of different papers
   4. Conclusions
   5. List of references = Bibliography - in APA format
2. Searching from Off-Campus - remember to set your VPN proxy service to authenticate you as a member of the UCI community so that you can gain access to the licensed content from off-campus  
3. Finding articles in the literature - some hints
4. Your assignment states that you need to define and discuss your topic with your instructor or TA before you begin your literature review. 
5. The literature review should include 5-7 primary research articles - they may be empirical
6. Use the UCI Library Website as a point of departure -
7. Subject Guide for Psychology and Cognitive Science lists appropriate databases that index and abstract the journal literature, and they may include (* from the CSA Database - can be searched together but not recommended since you lose some of the specific search operatives):

·       *PsycINFO - the major index of the psychology literature - restrict to journal articles as database includes many other formats, specifically books, book chapters and dissertations; can also restrict to years of coverage because it goes back to 1806+; can be restricted to Empirical articles; and by specifics of the human subjects - age, gender, etc.  Recommended that you consult and use the Subject Thesaurus to increase relevance of output.

·       *PsycARTICLES - indexes the 56+journals published and distributed by the American Psychological Association - 1894+

·       *Psychology: A Sage Fulltext Collection - about 20 journals issued by one publisher, Sage from 1969+

·       Child Development & Adolescent Studies Abstracts, 1927+

·       PubMed - indexes clinical medicine and psychiatry

·       Web of Science - recommend that you search the Science and Social Science Citation Indexes - remember to limit by years as this database is also extensive.

8.  Using UC eLinks to find your content - this gold icon will take you to ANTPAC and determine if we have the journal, the specific issue, and the article that you need - if it is available fulltext it will be so noted; otherwise do a double check ANTPAC by title of journal - sometimes there is incomplete information.  If not there in any format, consult MELVYL REQUEST and this will translate into an InterLibrary Loan request (ILL) and the article will be sent to you usually in an online scanned format.

9.  Bibliographic Management Software - it may be easy to learn REFWORKS in order to consistently enter your bibliographic references in APA Format.  This is a free, web-based database that you will populate by selecting references.  Review the descriptions, consider taking the tutorials and learn how to create bibliographies.  You must register and have an active account.  Other resources that describe how to apply the APA citation format are noted at the Subject Pages and in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5^th ed., 2001 found at all Reference Desks and in the online update for eResources.  Remember, when in doubt, over cite than under cite. 

 

For additional information, please contact liaison librarian (available until August 12) or contact the Reference Desks at either the Langson Library or the Science Library.  You can also contact Ask-a-Librarian for a LiveCHAT session or eMail reference or to set up a Reference Consultation.