Holy Spirit Library

Course Guide for Developmental Psychology: APA Style Research Paper

Selecting a Topic:

• Selecting a topic can be challenging. Try to find a topic that you like or are curious about. You can use CAVALOG or browse the library's collections to find a topic.  

• Once you have your topic, write it out as a sentence or question  and select the main concepts. 

• Read through background information.  Your textbook, library books, Credo Ref, the collection of e-Reference books,  or the DSM IV can help in this process. 

   

Books & E-Books:

Books are shelved in subject categories according to the Library of Congress classification system. You can browse the shelves for a book on your topic. Select this link to find a listing of some of the subject locations in psychology.

CAVALOG is the library’s catalog.  CAVALOG  is used to find books, e-books, videos, DVDs and other materials.   Access points are word/phrase, author, title, subject, and series.  

• Connect to CAVALOG

• To find e-books use the Search limits and set location to Internet.   How to: CAVALOG+e-books.wmv  or CAVALOG e-books.ppt 

•  

Finding Articles: Use the Databases tab from the top of the library's homepage.

Searching library databases is very different than searching Google. Your search terms need to be adjusted accordingly. 

PsycARTICLES is an important database used to locate scholarly psychology journals.  Some tips:

Use keyword searching. Enter keywords and use the AND operator to find articles. For example:

television AND violence AND child* [using truncation symbol * finds child, children, childhood, etc.]

Use the Preferences option to add your email and set the citation format to APA.  Setting Preferences.doc

Use the navigational tools within the database to move forward and back through the results list. Navigation .doc

Create a bibliography by adding articles to a Folder. Saving Results to the Folder.doc

          Use the Published Date option to limit search to a range of years.  Publication Date.doc

PsycINFO is the premier databases for scholarly publication in psychology and psychiatry.  Some tips:

          Set the language limiter to English. English.doc

          Set the Publication Type to All Journals.  Journals.doc

          Choose Linked Full Text to make your search more rewarding. Fulltext.doc

          Create your own ‘My EbscoHost’ Account.

          See the tips under PsycArticles for more ways to maximize your results.

ProQuest Psychology Journals and ProQuest Social Science Journals are secondary databases.  Some tips: 

          Limit searches to scholarly journals.

          Mark documents to collect articles in the My Research folder. 

          Use the My Research option to print, email, export citations and bibliography from your marked list.         

Communication & Mass Media Complete   is an important database for research on the mass media.    Some tips:

          Limit searches to scholarly journals. 

          See the tips under PsycArticles for more ways to maximize your results.

Writing Helps:

APA Style:   The preferred style for the Social Sciences. 

Style Guides:  APA style sheet from the library.   Please use this sheet to check the citations that are provided by the databases.

The Writing Center :  Located in Room 110 of the Iadarola Center for Science Education and Technology.

Examples of Research Papers and Outlines:    

Sample APA paper from the Bedford Handbook

Sample APA paper from Illinois State University 

Sample Sentence outline from Oakton Community College 

We hope that this course guide is helpful.  When you have a minute please visit the link to complete the survey. 

Credits:

APA formatting style guide ©: The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue University http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

Searching Google vs Searching Databases.ppt