For research purposes, a database is a means to find sources--books, articles, video, photos, etc. Our online catalog/discovery system, which allows you to look for all possible types of sources we have access to (as well as other libraries worldwide) is a database. So are Academic Search Elite, PsychINFO, PsychARTICLES, and even Google Scholar. While using our discovery system to find peer-reviewed articles may be tempting, it can be VERY overwhelming, since its default settings bring up not just what we have, but what thousands of libraries have. Plus, until you apply filters, you'll get not just articles, but books, videos, music, and ore. Who wants to sort through millions of records to find the right ones? So here's when to use what:
Books or movies specifically assigned to this course: Fastest way--use this guide! Ask a librarian to help you with print items we own (or ask a Plymouth librarian for help there). We can also help guide you through getting access to Plymouth's eResources.
Peer-reviewed articles: Definitely use individual databases! They're simpler and far less difficult to sift through to get recently published, peer-reviewed articles. See below for some tips and tricks as well as suggested databases to use.
Other resources: Talk to a librarian! Most students don't think about librarians being interested in your success--but surprise! We are! We want you to succeed, so come see myself or Mr. Lutz for help--and this goes not only for getting you those assigned books and movies, but for database searching help, too! (Want to make my day? Come see me for research help with ANY coursework!)
Peer-review is designed to be a sort of quality control. Peer-reviewed articles are considered scholarly; the primary purpose of these articles are scholars, researchers, and professionals communicating with each other, sharing new findings in their field of study. Peer-reviewed articles are written by experts, for experts, so it's important that the information be accurate and reliable. Here's how it works, step by step:
Step 1. The researcher does the research, writes the article, and submits it to a journal for publication.
Step 2. The person who receives the article at the journal gathers together a group of people in the same field of study (peers) for the article submitted. This panel is the peer-review group that will read the article and look for mistakes, gaps in the research, ethical issues, etc. This is usually done as a blind review; the researcher's name and other identification has been removed before the peers get to see it. This is to keep the peer-reviewers from playing favorites or holding grudges.
Step 3. The peer-reviewers provide feedback--changes they'd like to see made, any questions they have about the research methods or results, and so on. This can also include ethical concerns, such as whether the research followed any protocols or whether it needed institutional approval. The reviewers send their comments back to the person at the journal (because they still don't know who actually wrote the article).
Step 4. The person at the journal then lets the researcher know about the changes the peer-reviewers would like. At this point, the researcher can refuse to make the changes (and not get published in that journal) or make the changes to get their article published. If they make the changes and resubmit, they will get published.
Most academic journals (and some trade publications) use peer-review to try to keep from publishing bad information; after all, these journals tend to have a good--some even great--reputation to maintain, and letting bad information get through can undermine the journal's reputation. This happened to the British journal Lancet, that published an article--later retracted (withdrawn) for ethical violations, fraudulent findings, and undisclosed conflicts of interest--that raised questions about the Lancet's peer-review process, integrity, and conduct.
Choosing the right database can be difficult, but it's also nice to have multiple options. Not every article will be available in every database, but fortunately, Marian University and many of the databases provide links that look across the different databases to try to find full text in other areas. This means that if you find an article in one database that doesn't provide the full text, there should be a link that tries to get you there. If it can't find the full text in Marian's collections at all, it will give you the opportunity to request through Interlibrary Loan (see more on that below).
Here are a few databases you might want to explore in your psychology courses:
Searching databases takes practice; these are tools used by professional researchers, and they try to be precise. Search engines like Google, Bing, Duck Duck Go, etc. can search billions of websites in seconds because they are not concerned about giving you EXACTLY what you need. Because serious researchers use databases, they are designed for precise searching. If a database's motto is "I'll get you exactly what you need," a search engine's motto is "close is good enough". Some assignments require the precision of a database to really get good results.
Here are some tips about searching databases:
1. Break down your search terms into simple one or two word concepts and link them together with AND, OR, NOT.
2. A good paper topic is not too broad; you can't write a good 8 page paper on just something like autism or depression. There's simply too much information to do a good enough job to cover the topic well. Instead, consider narrowing it down by thinking of:
3. You can narrow your database search results to peer-reviewed articles only.
4. When you're having any problems--see a librarian!
Librarians are trained for research--
Google Scholar has some benefits and some downsides. Some students really like Google Scholar because, unlike library databases, it's easy to get results by searching with natural language. Google Scholar is searchable in the same ways Google search engine is.