Trexler Library | Muhlenberg College

Girl to Woman

Need help with your research? Contact:

Jen Jarson
Social Sciences Reference Librarian
phone: x3552
email: jarson [at] muhlenberg [dot] edu
IM (AIM, Yahoo, MSN): jjarson1
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Need help after hours?
IM the Library at TalkToTrexler (for AIM, Yahoo, and MSN)!
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Online Sunday-Thursday 1pm-9pm.
See http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/forms/ask.html for more information.

Selected Reference Materials

Cocca, C. (Ed.). (2006). Adolescent sexuality: A historical handbook and guide. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Reference 306.70835 A239s

Gottesman, R., and Brown, R.M. (Eds.). (1999). Violence in America: An encyclopedia. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
Reference 303.60973 G685v v.1-3

Kagan, J., and Gall, S.B. (Eds). (1997). The Gale encyclopedia of childhood and adolescence. Detroit: Gale.
Reference 305.231 G151e

Kazdin, A.E. (Ed.). (2000). Encyclopedia of psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Reference 150.3 E653o

McCue, Margi Laird. Domestic violence: A reference handbook. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 1995.
Reference 362.8292 M133d

Worell, Judith, ed. Encyclopedia of women and gender: Sex similarities and differences and the impact of society on gender. New York: Academic Press, 2001.
Reference 305.403 E56o v.1-2

Weiner, Irving B., ed. Handbook of psychology. New York : Wiley, 2003.
Reference 150 H236o v.1-12

Finding Articles: Searching in PsycINFO

The PsycINFO database provides indexing of journals in Psychology and related fields from 1887 to the present. (Abstracts are included from 1984 to the present.) Books, book chapters, and dissertations are also indexed.

FIND PsycINFO

Library Homepage -- Articles A-Z (in the Find box) -- PsycINFO

SEARCH PsycINFO

1. Start with keyword searching on the main screen. In the empty Find fields, enter keywords that describe your topic. It's recommended to search across multiple fields when you're just getting started, so leave the drop-down menus at their Select a Field (optional) default.

PsycINFO search tips to remember:

Use ? for wildcard character. Example: wom?n retrieves woman and women

Use * for truncation. Example: therap* retrieves therapy, therapies, therapeutic, etc.

Use " " for phrase searching. Example: "obsessive compulsive disorder"

2. Browse through your results. Click on any article that looks relevant to see more information about it. Read the abstract, summarizing the article.

As you look through your results, use them to your advantage.

What other words could you use in your next search? Look in the title, keywords, and abstract sections of relevant article records.

When you find a useful article, don't forget to look at its reference list. Is there anything there you might be able to use?

GET your articles

Once you have found an article you want, click on the Get It! link. Can you get the article online or in print?

If your article is not available online or in print, follow the Request on Interlibrary Loan link to the request form. NOTE: It usually takes between one and two weeks to receive articles via Interlibrary Loan.

Remember: Don't use any items that come from Dissertation Abstracts. These are not journal articles but instead citations to dissertations.

Citing Your Sources

For help using APA Style, first consult the APA Guidelines section of your assignment description. More information is available in the Resources for Current Students section of the Psychology Department website: http://www.muhlenberg.edu/depts/psychology/studentresources.html.

For additional information on APA Style, consult the following resources.

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). (2001). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Reference Desk Reserve 808.06615 p976m 2001 (at Reference Desk)

Concise Rules of APA Style. (2005). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Reference Desk Reserve 808.06615 C744r (at Reference Desk)

Writer's Handbook (University of Wisconsin--Madison)
http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocAPA.html

Trexler Library handout on using APA style: http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/reshelp/apa_example.pdf.
This and other style guide handouts available from the library website. Library Homepage -- Citation Guides (in the Research Help box).