Finding Resources

in Psychology

Table of Contents

Getting Started

   Reference Books

   Resources Overview

Journal Articles

  Indexes to Use

  PsycINFO

  Finding the Articles

Books

  LCSC

  WIN

  WorldCat

Websites

Evaluating Materials

  Primary vs. Secondary

Citations

Review

Evaluating Materials

Whether you're using a Website or published materials, you must evaluate the source to decide if it is appropriate to use in your paper.

Here are some questions to ask:

1. Who wrote it?  What educational credentials does he, she, or they have?

2. Who published it?  Does this organization have a philosophy or set of ideas they are trying to convince people to hold, or do they publish authors on either side of a discussion?  (The Reference Desk at the Library has a book called Magazines for Libraries that can alert you to any ideological slants in journals.)

3. Does this journal employ experts (peers) to review the articles before publication?

4. How old is the information?

5. Does the author provide references for their background information, previous studies, statistics, etc.?

6. Do the conclusions the author draws make sense, given the results of their investigation?

7. Is the design of the study likely to produce the results the author is trying to test?

8. Is this a primary source or a secondary source?  (See the next 4 screens for some clues to answer this question.)