Research articles in scientific journals present the original data and findings of the researchers involved in the experiment or study (primary source).
They usually include sections for Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion (IMRaD format) to match the scientific method.
Review articles in scientific journals provide an overview of the field or the topic by summarizing and synthesizing the data and findings from many experiments or studies (secondary source).
Peer-reviewed (or refereed) journals contain articles written by experts that are reviewed by other experts in the field for quality before publication.
Ask a question to get help from a librarian with researching a topic and citing your sources.
Schedule an appointment to get help from a librarian with researching a topic and citing your sources.
Below are recommended psychology databases:
Journal package for the American Psychological Association and its publishing partners (APA Educational Publishing Foundation, Canadian Psychological Association, and Hogrefe & Huber). It covers 143 journals with all articles available in full-text.
Database produced by the American Psychological Association covering scholarly literature in the psychological and behavioral sciences from the 1800s to the present. It covers 2,275 journals with some articles available in full-text.
PsycArticles is a subset of PsycInfo. All journals in PsycArticles may also be found in PsycInfo.
To access these resources, go to the UAB Libraries databases and select psychology as the subject.
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View the video tutorial or use the screenshot tutorial below for help with finding articles in scientific journals.
1. Go to PyscInfo.
2. Enter terms into search box using tips below.
TIP: Try different keywords describing topic. For example, specific drug names instead of generic drug treatment.
Boolean Operators – enter in lowercase or uppercase letters
| AND | Use to find all of the terms and to get fewer results [default operator] | |
| OR | Use to find any of the terms and to get more results | |
| NOT | Use to find the first term but not the second term |
Truncation
| * | Use to replace multiple characters in the term [depress*] | |
| ? | Use to replace a single character in the term [wom?n] |
Proximity
| " " | Use to find the terms next to each other in the order given as a phrase | |
| NEAR/n | Use to find the terms within a specified number of terms (n) in any order | |
| PRE/n | Use to find the terms within a specified number of terms (n) in order given |
Advanced Search – enter terms into different boxes and/or search for terms in specific fields
3. Limit results to scholarly journals using option in left column.
Basic search results may be limited by peer reviewed (documents reviewed by experts for quality prior to publication), source type, publication date, publication title, record type, subject, classification, age group, population, methodology, and language.
Advanced search results may be limited by options above plus location, test and measure, supplemental data, and target audience.
4. Sort results by relevance or date using option in left column.
5. Click on article title to view record.
6. Read abstract (summary) to determine if article might be useful.
7. Check for full-text access using option in right column.
