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PY 302/610 Experimental Psychology and Design

Search example

If you are only interested in articles from a certain journal, for example "Journal of Experimental Psychology," you can set up your search as shown below.  Please note the asterisk sign after the title of the journal.  Since there are several different journals that begin with this title, you will need to indicate that you are interested in all of them by using this wildcard.  You will specify the search field, "SO Publication Name."  In this case, we are not interested in any articles from the "Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes" journal.

Linked Full Text?

You will see an option to check for linked full text.

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I do not recommend checking this option. Why? While it's very tempting to check that option because most students do want full text of their results, it actually limits to only full text available via the EBSCOHOST databases (a very small subset of all UAH Library databases.) The UAH Library has hundreds of databases, many of them with full text. Checking the linked full text option removes UAH's Article Linker from the retrieval options.

This is Article Linker:

Article Linker will tell you when articles are available in other databases, EXCEPT when you check full text only. So, while it seems like an easy choice to make, it actually limits the amount of full text you actually have.

Please note that in some cases Article Linker may lead you to our Interlibrary Loan option

PDF or HTML Full-text?

PDF (Portable Document Format)

 

When used within a database, the PDF Full-Text option will allow users to see an article or resource as it originally appeared on the page.  This makes documenting a resource easier as one can easily identify page numbers and sections.

 

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)

 

When used in databases as HTML-Full-Text, the user will receive the text of an article or resource as a block of text.  Paragraphs will usually be defined; however, many times pages will not be indicated and images will not be included.

 

The Verdict:

 

When you have a choice, choose the PDF format as it will make citing the resource easier.

 

 

Limit Your Results: Peer Reviewed

A peer reviewed journal is one that is reviewed by persons who are not members of the editorial board, and who are not paid employees of the journal. The reviewers are “peers” of the authors in the sense that they have comparable academic or professional experience, and are thus qualified to meaningfully critique the quality of the article.

PsycINFO allows you to limit your results to peer reviewed journals with the following limit option:

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Feel free to check that limit, but be aware that 99% of PsycINFO is already peer reviewed, so it really won't limit your results too much (although it will kick out results from APA Monitor and Psychology Today.)

Limit Your Results: Language

PsycINFO indexes items in 34 languages.

If you prefer English, you can either check this box:

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Or you can select English from the list of all languages:

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Limit Your Results: Methodology

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Options:

  • Brain Imaging
  • Clinical Case Study
  • Empirical Study
    • Experimental Replication
    • Followup Study
    • Longitudinal Study
      • Prospective Study
      • Retrospective Study
  • Field Study
  • Interview
    • Focus Group
  • Literature Review
    • Systematic Review
  • Mathematical Model
    • Meta Analysis
    • Nonclinical Case Study
    • Qualitative Study
    • Quantitative Study
  • Treatment Outcome/Clinical Trial
  • Twin Study

Limit Your Results: Published Date

Another excellent way to limit your results is to narrow your search by published dates.  For example, you may only want articles published within the past two years.