PSYB64: Library Resources

Angela Hamiltonahamilton@utsc.utoronto.ca

http://guides.library.utoronto.ca/psyb64

Draft a new section for your textbook*a. Rationale: *Why is this topic something that really should be in this text? NOTE: In coming up with an answer to this question, you may find that you need to broaden your topic. A good experiment, no matter how exciting, is likely to get a line or two in a textbook. You will need to read enough to generate a textbook section/paragraph – not a textbook sentence. This section is your short justification for the inclusion of this topic. In choosing your topic you should examine current research…you may want to start by selecting a new finding reported on the internet, in the paper or a magazine and reading the empirical source. The rationale should be 2-3 sentences.

*b. The textbook prose: *In writing this section, pay attention to the textbook style. If you introduce an important new term which the typical reader would not be familiar with, you should put it in boldface* *and, more importantly, you should be sure to define it in the text indicating that it would be placed in the margin. Think about level of detail. There are not a lot of methodological details in the typical bit of textbook prose. Don't forget to cite your sources in the text. Look at the rate of citation in Freberg. You won’t find a citation on every line but often there are many citations in a section. The length of this section will depend on the topic chosen, but should be about 1to 2 pages.

*c. Placement: *Tell us where this would go in the Freberg text. Remember, it is often difficult to convince students that a longer textbook is a better text book. Bearing this fact in mind, indicate if there is a section that should be removed from the current text and why as a result of your prose.

*d. Bibliography: *Cite all references in the format used by Freberg.* *

Find a known article

• Identify keywords, identifying features of article

• Article Finder• Author Search:– Scopus– Web of Science

• Search by keyword/topic

DeMara, B. (2012, Sep 21). Pacifiers may stunt boys' emotions. Toronto Star. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1041406278?accountid=14771

Find articles by topic

• PubMed/Ovid Medline• Scopus• Web of Science• Psycinfo– Of limited use for many topics for this assignment

Identify Search Terms

• Identify keywords based on your topic/question– Keep the search terms short

• The more words, less likely it will match the author’s language

– Avoid soft/wishy-washy terms like ‘effect’ or ‘problem’• Identify synonyms, related terms, spelling

variations, etc.– Join these together with OR

• If appropriate, identify Thesaurus Terms/Subject Headings

Keyword v. Subject Headings

Keyword• Matches text in title,

abstract and sometimes article

• Must match exactly• Usually no automatic

matching of synonyms, spelling variations, suffixes

Subject Heading• Controlled vocabulary terms

– Same term is used for the same concept every time

• Assigned based on content of the article

• Often arranged hierarchically – Broader & narrower terms

• Use the thesaurus or map to… to identify subject heading

How?

• Use the * for truncation– i.e. environment* = environment, environments,

environmental• AND = combine terms (less results) • OR = alternative spellings, meanings, etc. (more

results)• NOT = eliminate all records with search term• “Quotation Marks” to group phrases• (Brackets) for more complex searches (think algebra)

Test Example

Which article(s) would you find with this search:Mice AND Psychology

a. Mice are used in researchb. Psychologists use mice in researchc. Mice are psychology test animalsd. Mice and rats are psychology test animals

Test Example #2

Which article(s) would you find with this search:Mice OR Rats

a. Mice are used in researchb. Rats are used in researchc. Mice and rats are used in researchd. Rabbits are used in research

Test Example #3

Which article(s) would you find with this search:(mice OR rats) AND (psycholog* OR

experiment*) NOT rabbit*a. Psychologists use rats in researchb. Mice, rats and birds are used in experimentsc. Mice and rabbits are used in experiments d. Mice and rats are used in research e. Psychologists use animals in research

Boyle, T. (2012, Sep 11). Follow-up care for asthmatics lacking. Toronto Star. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1038921548?accountid=14771

Choosing articles & finding more

• Choose the BEST results (not the FIRST result!)• Find More results– Reference lists– Look for resources that cite your resource• Web of Science• Scopus

– Search different databases, search engines, catalogues etc.

– Search for other resources by the same author(s)

Get Help

• Library– Angela Hamilton ahamilton@utsc.utoronto.ca• Available by appointment• Limited help via email/chat

– Reference Desk• Writing Center– http://ctl.utsc.utoronto.ca/twc/