Social Ecology P115D                                                Julia Gelfand

Infant Development                                                     Science Library 228

Winter 2008                                                                jgelfand@uci.edu

                                                                                    949-824-4971

 

In order to successfully complete this course, each student will have to engage in some observation of infants at the Infant Toddler Center.  In order to substantiate the context of your observations, you may find that library research and reading will help support your ideas.  This handout will introduce you to appropriate resources, methods and some hints to fulfill the assignments and provide some background about Infant Development.

 

Hints to Conduct Library Research:

 

  1. Read the Assignment Guidelines carefully
  2. If  you need to do some background reading on any of the aspects of the infant's behavior, such as emotions, language development, social, motor or cognitive skills you can learn about these in conjunction with an infant
  3. To find background information in a textbook or encyclopedia:
    1. Got to the UCI Libraries Homepage and then to Antpac, the UCI online catalog of collection holdings - books will be distributed in different areas of the Libraries - Langson Library (LL) in the BF 717-729; HQ 720s; Science Library (SL) in the WS 420-430s
    2. Search by keyword and consider a search strategy of infant development - a new encyclopedia is due anytime, The Encyclopedia of Infant and Early Child Development, (Elsevier 2008) and will be located at the Langson Library Reference collection; and the book, The Story of Infant Development: Observational Work with Martha Harris, (Karnac, 2007) will be added to the Science Library collection. 

 

                       Additional Key Reference Works - for background information, you may                                                                 want to consult the following reference tools:

·           Blackwell Handbook of Childhood Social Development - LL BF713 .B565 2002.

·           Infant and Toddler Health Sourcebook - Science Library Reference RJ 101 I535 2000

·           Infancy in America: An Encyclopedia - Langson Reference HQ774.I528 2001,

        2 vols

·           WAIMH Handbook of Infant Mental Health - Science Library Reference WS105 H2363 2000 - 4 vols.

·           Research Guide for Studies in Infancy and Childhood - LL Z7164 C5 H3 1988

 

    1. Also, Selective Subject Headings that support this topic include:

      Child development

      Infant psychology

      Infants - Development

      Infants - Growth

      Infants - Motor ability in infants

    1. Monograph Series - one of the most relevant series is Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 394 volumes through 2004 cataloged separately but with many at LL HQ 750 A1 S6 - and entered in Antpac individually as each issue is thematic - should be searched by series; also available via J-STOR from 1936-2002
    2. The Annual Review of Psychology also covers specific thematic issues related to infant and child development and can be searched as a separate title
  1. To find background information in the journal literature:
    1. Go to the UCI Libraries Homepage
    2. Go to "Find Online Research" - click on "Article Databases"
    3. Two databases in particular index coverage of this subject area:

·       PsycINFO - recommended because it covers journals that were identified by instructor as appropriate and can be restricted to empirical articles - scroll down to "methodology" click on "Empirical" - The pull-down arrows allow you to search by different parameters - you can select the blue Thesaurus link on the top left and determine the most relevant subject heading OR you can search by "KEYWORD" as this sample search indicates - please also note that you are:

1.     restricting your search to journal articles published with a Date Range and you can restrict to English.

This is important because the database covers books, book

chapters and dissertations, which you may not want.

2.     restricting your search to other parameters to make outcomes more relevant - noted by the options on the pull-down menus under AGE and select either Neonatal (birth to 1-month) or Infancy (birth to 23 months).

 

After you click on "SEARCH" you will retrieve citations to the journal literature in reverse chronological order - meaning the most recent come out first.  If you click on View Record, you will see the full abstract to determine if you want to find the article.

Click on the UC eLink gold icon - this will indicate if UCI subscribes to the journal and in what format it is.  If we do not have the online version, click on the Antpac holdings and see if it is available in print.  If you still want the article, then click on MELVYL REQUEST and obtain it on ILL.

 

The citation to the output includes, the Authors, Article Title, and the Source - the specific journal in which the article is published - journal title, volume #, issue #, date, and pages.  When you cite the article you will use the APA Style Manual which will format this way:

 

Author (Last name, First name, MI), (YEAR of Publication), "Title of Article," SOURCE: volume #, (issue number): pages

See.  There is a new style convention by the APA released in Fall 2007 for how to cite online articles.  Please consult this resource.

 

If you click on "View Record" you will retrieve the abstract which will tell you about the article including the hypothesis, methodology of how the research was conducted, findings and conclusions.  This will help you determine if you want to read the entire article.  You will also usually retrieve the bibliographic references found at the end of the article.

 

Please remember that bound journal volumes at Langson are in the Basement in Compact Shelving by call number - Current issues (2007 and 2008) are in the Current Periodicals Room on the 2d floor, arranged by call number.   For bound journals at the Science Library, they are in the DRUM or ROUND part of the building in Call Number order and current issues are on the 2d floor in the Current Periodicals Area, arranged by journal title.

 

Other appropriate databases that cover this subject include:

           a.  PubMed - database for clinical medicine; covers pediatrics literature, including              developmental stages

           b.  ERIC - an education database; covers full lifespan and from daycare services

           c.  Child Development and Adolescent Studies - produced by the Society of Research in Child Development at the University of Chicago and indexes a wide         range of information sources, including books and dissertations in addition to the       journal literature

           c.  Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts - covers language acquisition and            issues related to speech

 

Specific journals that may be useful include:

a.      Infant Observation

b.     Infant Behavior and Development

c.      Child Development

d.     Parenting Science & Practice

e.      Applied Developmental Science

f.       Infant and Child Development  

g.      Infant Mental Health Journal

 

 

COPYING ARTICLES - if you are working at any of the UCI Libraries, you will need to obtain a COPY/PRINT CARD - it debits at 10 cents per page for Xeroxing and 12 cents per page to print an online article.  Make sure the full citation is on the copy.

 

REMOTE ACCESS - if you prefer to work at home, you must make sure that you have configured your computer browser to authenticate you as a current UCI student.  Follow the Connect from Off-Campus instructions and select one of the VPN options.  If you need additional help, call NACS at 949-824-2222.

 

 

For additional reference assistance, you can contact the Liaison Librarian with details on the top of this handout or come to the Reference Desk at either Langson or Science Libraries, use the Ask-a-Librarian service to schedule a Research Consultation or seek reference help via Chat, Text or eMail.