Finding Journal Articles
Psychology
- PsycInfo This link opens in a new window
Indexes scholarly literature in the psychological, social, behavioral, and health sciences; covers journals, books, reviews, and dissertations. Dates of coverage: 1880s–present.
Multidisciplinary
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowScholarly journal archive for the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences; current issues (usually the last 2-5 years) are not digitized by JSTOR and may be obtained elsewhere.
- Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Scholarly literature in the sciences, health and medicine, social sciences, arts, and humanities and proceedings of international conferences, symposia, seminars, colloquia, workshops, and conventions. Includes cited reference searching across many databases. Search all databases in Web of Science (includes Medline and BIOSIS, direct link for on-campus users). Dates of coverage: 1965 to present.
Filtering Your Search Results in PsycInfo
Since PsycInfo indexes research in Psychology and the behavioural sciences, it is structured to help you you to filter your search results in ways that matter to Psychology researchers.
Some of the most useful search filters (or, limiters) for your assignment are:
- Peer Reviewed checkbox to ensure the article comes from a journal with a peer-review process
- Publication date lets you specify how old or how current you want the articles to be
- Age gives you the ability to ensure that a specific age range is represented in the population studied
- Methodology set to "empirical study" to ensure you don't end up with a review article or some other type of source
- Tests & Measures allows you to limit your results to articles that used a specific instrument, scale, or measure
Understanding Articles in Psychology
In the Sciences (Biology, Chemistry, etc.) and Social Sciences (Psychology, Sociology, etc.), scholarly articles in academic journals will often share a similar structure. Knowing the structure can help you to make sense of the article and find key pieces of information. IMRAD can be a helpful acronym for remembering the structure.
| Section | Function in the Article |
| Abstract | A brief summary of the article. This same abstract may appear in databases. |
| Introduction | Literature review: states what is currently known about the topic and includes a discussion of previous studies |
| Methodology | Research design: describes how the study was conducted, including the population studied, the research process, and analytical tools used in the study |
| Results | Findings: explains what was learned through the study. It may include statistical data or substantial quotations or themes from research participants, depending on the type of study |
| Discussion | Conclusion: describes why the study is important and possible future studies to address any shortcomings in the study or remaining questions |
When searching in databases, you'll see a range of different types of scholarly articles--each of which contributes differently to research. The following are a few of the major articles you will likely encounter.
Original/Empirical Studies
- Empirical studies contain original research. They contain a thesis or interpretation supported by relevant data.
- Note: Empirical studies have multiple forms: qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods.
- Usefulness: Empirical studies provide current original research on a topic.
Literature Reviews
- Literature reviews provide narrative summaries and evaluate the findings or theories within an area of research.
- Usefulness: They are a useful way to learn about trends in the research literature.
Theoretical Articles
- Theoretical articles draw on existing scholarship to improve upon or offer a new theoretical perspective on a given topic.
- Usefulness: Theoretical articles may provide a theoretical framework you can apply in your own study
Methodological Articles
- Methodological articles present new approaches to research or practice, modify existing methods, or discuss data analysis.
- Usefulness: They provide methodologies you can apply to your own research.
Meta-Analyses
- Meta-analyses use findings from a group of related studies to draw a general conclusion based on the existing research on a topic.
- Usefulness: The meta-analysis can provide you insight into existing research in an area and identify studies
Adapted from the Publication Manual of the American Psychology Association, 7th ed. (2020)
As you read the abstract of an empirical article, note how well it follows the standard structure for papers presenting original research.
- Introduction: what has already been done on this topic and why it is important to study
- Methods: what the researchers did to test their hypothesis
- Results: what the researchers observed over the course of their testing
- Discussion: why those results are important and advance understanding of the topic
Reading the abstract is not a substitute for reading the entire paper, but it can be helpful as you evaluate what to read or not.
