Q: How do I find the original newspaper article in the original news website?
A: For locating a newspaper article, you can either a) browse through the news website/library archive, or b) search for a topic within the website/library archive. It may be helpful to include terms like 'study' or 'research' in addition to your topic to retrieve results that are reporting on a scientific study. The Newspaper Articles page provides some additional links and instructions for your newspaper article search.
Q: Is there a way to create simplicity of searching/make the research process more efficient?
A: This entirely depends on which tool you're using and how sophisticated their search features are. Search engines like Google/Google Scholar rely on simply entering keywords altogether, but in turn offer less filtering capabilities. Databases like PsycInfo are more complex and require more time to "lay the groundwork" of your search, but save time later on when it comes to filtering and reviewing results for relevant, peer-reviewed articles.
Some general tips to help streamline the process:
Q: How can the search be as specific as possible to find the needed article?
A: Focus on your search terms and make sure they're specifically addressing the topic you're interested in. This is where it's beneficial to a) break down your topic into distinct concepts, b) brainstorm potential related concepts/synonyms for each of them, c) use index terms within research databases when available (e.g. Subject Headings in PsycInfo), and d) apply Limits for peer-reviewed literature reviews in order to really focus your search, and by extension, your results.
Q: How to choose which database (OVID or ProQuest) to use for my research?
A: Both versions of PsycInfo are exactly the same in terms of content, but the way they look (i.e. their interface) and the way you search them are different - so it's completely up to your personal preference! I'd recommend playing around in both and deciding which interface you like better. The Searching PsycInfo page has step-by-step search guides for both versions if you'd like to review their differences.
Q: What are some databases that can be accessed without connection to an institution?
A: Some databases, such as PubMed, have public interfaces that can be searched without an institutional affiliation. Access to the full-text of articles, however, will often still be paywalled (unless the articles are made publicly available via open access). The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is one handy tool to track down these sorts of journals.
Q: If I search my article title in PsycInfo and nothing comes up, what does that mean?
A: It usually means one of two things: 1) There was something in the search string that PsycInfo/OVID didn't "like" or is having trouble interpreting (e.g. symbols like : or ; are common culprits - to get around this, try searching a portion of the title rather than the full thing), or 2) The article is simply not indexed in the PsycInfo database, which usually happens for articles that come from outside the field of psychology.
Q: How can I make finding a review article easy?
A: My best recommendation is to use the "Literature Review" Methodology filter within PsycInfo once you've finished entering your search terms; it's also helpful to combine this with the "Peer-Reviewed Journal" Publication Type and "Journal Article" Document Type filters.
Q: When choosing a literature review article, can you just choose concepts that interest you from the main article? It doesn't necessarily need to connect to each concept in the article?
A: Correct, you aren't required to incorporate every single concept addressed in the main article and can choose which research "direction" is most of interest to you. For example, during our in-class activity, we looked up an article that addressed mindfulness-based therapy for treating depression in college students. We might then decide to find further articles addressing a) mindfulness-based therapy and depression, or b) depression in college students, or c) all of the above! So there is freedom to decide where you want to go with your topic, as long as subsequent articles relate in a meaningful way to the original article.
Q: Are systematic reviews ok? Or is finding a literature review necessary?
A: Your professor is allowing all types of review articles for this assignment, including literature reviews, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses. So you are welcome to use systematic reviews, just be aware that they typically offer a much greater level of depth and detail than a broader literature review article would.
Q: I'm still not sure how to use Limits in PsycInfo.
A: Limits are applied as the last step once you have completed entering and combining your search terms. By default, PsycInfo will only display three filters underneath the search bar (Human, English Language, and Publication Year); select the "Additional Limits" button to see all available options.
On the next page, you will see a long page of filter options. Methodology (Literature Review or Empirical Study), Publication Types (Peer Reviewed Journal), and Document Types (Journal Article) are particularly useful for your assignment, though you can integrate additional filters as needed (e.g. Publication Years, Age Groups, etc.).
Once you're happy with the filters you've selected, go to "Limit a Search" at the bottom of the page. Your search strategy will now reflect the limits applied, as well as an updated number of results:
Q: Does PsycInfo allow you to find articles that used the original article in their paper?
A: From the results page or the "Complete Reference" view, you can select "Find Citing Articles" to pull up a list of newer articles that have cited the original article. Note that this is only pulling citations from within the PsycInfo database, however. If you were to look up a journal article title in something like Google Scholar, it will generally have higher citation counts because it's not just pulling from a single database.
Q: What is truncation?
A: Truncation is a type of "wildcard," a search technique that you can apply to keywords to substitute one or more characters in a word. Truncation is often represented by an asterisk (*) symbol. It tells your search interface to look for the stem of a word (e.g. teen) as well as any variations on the end of the term. So by searching teen*, you could retrieve results on teen, teens, teenage, teenaged, teenager, teenagers, etc.
Q: Any tips to determine which keywords to include/exclude for a better search?
A: Generally this is going to be a trial-and-error process, so it's totally normal to try a term and modify or remove it if you find it's not retrieving the sort of literature you're looking for. Some general tips:
For a general overview of using keywords vs. subject headings, I recommend reviewing relevant sections in this Sidecar Learning tutorial on using PsycInfo (OVID).
I also have videos on keyword vs. subject heading searching on the PsycInfo (ProQuest) Tutorials page.
Q: When do I need to check the peer review status of an article?
A: Any time you are using a search interface that doesn't allow you to filter by peer review. While tools like Google Scholar imply a scholarly/academic audience, they are not guaranteed to retrieve strictly peer reviewed articles, so you will need to use tools like Ulrich's Periodicals Directory to double-check the status.
Q: Are there other tools that we can use to assess how reliable a source is?
A: Reliability is something that should be assessed at a source-by-source level, but there are tools that you can use to help with this process. The RADAR Framework is one example that allows you to assess the Rationale, Authority, Date, Accuracy, and Relevance of a source in order to gauge its effectiveness/usefulness.