Research Articles
Searching for Journal Articles.
The UIC library provides several ways to search for research articles.
The most powerful and flexible way to search is to use Web of Knowledge.
- Web of Knowledge accesses journals in Behavioral Sciences, Medicine, Public Health and other areas.
- It is also the most straightforward to use.
- At the UIC home page click "Library" (http://library.uic.edu/).
- Click on "Databases A - Z".
- On the alphabet list that comes up click "W".
- Scroll down to "Web of Knowledge", click.
- Log in with your netID and password.
- Bookmark this page; you may be using it a lot.
You can focus you search to American Psychological Association (APA) and American Psychological Society (APS) journals by going to PsycINFO: In step 3 above go to "P/Q“, then click "PsycINFO".
If you are looking for a specific journal go to E-journals. You will be asked to type in the specific journal name.
For the simplest - but least powerful - search just enter a key term in the General Search box:
How to read a journal article.
In a good article most of the elements of the "research flow" will be
briefly noted in the abstract;
use the abstract as your overall "map" of the article.
Look at the first paragraph; it should describe the phenomenon or overall question being asked, and why it is important.
The body of the introduction provides a review of previous studies, and introduces whatever theory is being tested. This text may be a little difficult to follow, or may assume more experience with the topic than you have. Look for summary statements.
The main summary is usually the last paragraph of the introduction, just before “Methods”. Typically this will concisely outline the main theoretical base, the hypotheses, and the overall study approach.
The first paragraph (or two) of the methods section typically outlines how the study was conducted, which are the independent / dependent variables, whether key variables were manipulated or measured, etc.
The Procedures section should give you a step-by-step description of how the study was actually conducted. This will include any experimental manipulations, constituting the operational definition of the Independent Variable(s).
The Measures (or “Instruments”) section will provide a description of each basic instrument.
The Results section typically proceeds hypothesis-by-hypothesis; look for summary statements at the end of each block of results.
The first few paragraphs of the Discussion will review the results, and begin tying them into the theory & hypotheses.
The journal article below has instructions for how to read each section. Roll your cursor over the marked sections.
