SELECTED RESOURCES
Psyc101—Introduction to Psychology
February 8, 2006
Gail Egbers 535-8869 egbersgl@plu.edu
Susan McDonald 535-7506 mcdonasj@plu.edu

CHOOSING TOPICS:  This is a fairly small assignment—you only need 3 journal articles.  You may start out with a topic that is far too large and need to limit it.  For example, “eating disorders” is too large of a topic.  How do you get it to a manageable size?  Some examples of ways to limit:

•    population (i.e. teenage girls with eating disorders)
•    geography (i.e. eating disorders in the United States)
•    time period (i.e. eating disorders in the 1990s)
•    aspects of the topic (i.e. bulimia or anorexia)

You might need to use all of these limiters so your topic would be something like: “Self-esteem in anorexic teenage girls in the United States during the 1990s”   


PERIODICALS:  Periodical indexes provide the most efficient subject access to journals, magazines, and newspapers.  

PsycINFO (FirstSearch) Indexes and abstracts the international literature of psychology, 1887 to present.  This is the most important database for psychology.  For this assignment you may not have to go any farther.  


HintDo not stop at the first articles that come up in a search.  Look at many of the articles and evaluate them.  Pick at least twice as many articles as you think you will need.  Which articles are the best ones for your project?   Who are the authors?  Are the articles peer reviewed? Are the articles primary or secondary research? Do the journals have a political slant?



LOCATING PERIODICALS/JOURNALS:  Periodicals are arranged according to the Library of Congress classification system.  Use Journals at PLU to identify the call number of the journal you need.  Current issues of journals are shelved on the first floor.  Older issues (bound volumes and microfilm) are interfiled with the books in the main collection on the second and third floors. Journals at PLU will also help you locate full-text journals online.



Want to research further?  Keep reading:

BOOKS:  Our online library catalog provides access to the materials in our library.  Use the Library of Congress Subject Headings to identify the best subject headings for your topic.  Some relevant topics include:
 
Child Psychology
Psychology – Dictionaries
Dream interpretation
Psychology -- Vocational guidance
Social Psychology
Forensic Psychology
 


REFERENCE MATERIALS:  These are good sources for basic information:

Dictionary of psychology (ref. BF31.C65 2001)
Encyclopedia of psychology (ref. BF31.E52 2000)
Handbook of psychology (ref. BF121.H1955 2003)
Psychology of terrorism (ref. HV6431.P798 2002)
Thesaurus of psychological index terms (ref. Z695.1.P7T48 2001)

For this assignment you MUST use the “APA Style Manual”:
Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (ref. BF76.7.P83 2001)


BEYOND PLU
PLU's library may not own all of the materials you want to use.  You may either order them from Interlibrary Loan or go to a local library personally.  We are part of a consortium of libraries that includes:  Northwest College, St. Martin's College, University of Puget Sound, Seattle Pacific University, and Seattle University. You may use your PLU ID card to check out materials from these libraries.  If you wish to order from Interlibrary Loan, be sure to allow sufficient time for the materials to arrive.
 
If you have questions while doing library research, ask for help at the reference desk or make an appointment for personal research assistance.   Gail’s office hours for spring semester are Tuesdays & Thursdays 3:00-5:00; Susan’s are Mondays 3:00-5:00.




<http://www.plu.edu/~egbersgl/psyc101wood>                   




02/06-gle

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