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ASSIGNMENT THREE |
Introduction to Journals and Journal Citations
Most of what you need to know about journal databases will come from your reading in Research Strategies. Here are a few additional tips:
Research in journal literature (journals, magazines) can be frustrating. Get used to that fact now, before you start, and you will have fewer surprises to face. Every journal database has its own quirks and searching idiosyncrasies. When you finally choose the right search terms in the right combination, you need to decipher the article citations, decide on which ones you want, and then determine whether or not your library has those journals and in what format.
If it’s this much trouble, why bother with journal articles at all?
- Because they often
have cutting edge material
- Because they are often very specific to particular issues
- Because they are short and thus easier to handle than books
- Because professors see the value of journal
articles and often dock student papers that ignore this
resource.
Journal Citations
There are minimum requirements to identify a journal article in Turabian Notes or APA format. Here are two sample citations:
Turabian Notes
Nicholson, Amanda, Richard Rose, and Martin Bobak. "Associations between different dimensions of religious involvement and self-rated health in diverse European populations." Health Psychology 29, no. 2 (March 2010): 227-235.
APA
Nicholson, A., Rose, R., & Bobak, M. (2010). Associations
between different dimensions of religious involvement and self-rated health in
diverse European populations. Health Psychology, 29(2), 227-235.
doi:10.1037/a0018036. [This is a citation for an article with a DOI. If there is no DOI, use the Internet home page URL for the journal involved, e.g. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/hea/index.aspx.]
A Short Introduction to Relevant Databases for Seminary Student Research
ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Click here for a flash tutorial (current version of the database is somewhat revised from tutorial). Use Back button to return. Click here for a PDF static file of the screenshots in the tutorial. Use Back button to return.
- this is the largest journal
database on religion in the world
- it not only indexes religious journals but also essays
collected in published books and even some books. Four designations are
common - article (for a journal article), essay (for an essay
in a book), book (for a reviewed book or a book that is a collection of
essays) and review (for book reviews).
- it provides some electronic full text
- ATLA Religion Database
is quite sophisticated in searching. It has a good subject heading system
divided into "Subjects" and "Names as Subjects." To
find these features, click on the "Indexes" button at the top, then click on the
drop-down box next to "Browse." You can
also use the "Narrow by subject" feature to the left of the results citations.
ATLA has a "Scripture search"
(top of the ATLA page) function. NOTE: The new function of
Scripture search is different from that in the tutorial.
- There is an "Advanced Search" feature which can
be useful to search across several fields in the data records for articles.
- a smaller database than ATLA, but it contains a lot of
full text
- search is considerably less sophisticated than ATLA.
You can do a keyword/Boolean search or switch to "Advanced Search."
- it is strongly recommended that you use the limiter for
"scholarly journals," since this database covers quite a large number of more
popular religious magazines. You can either preset this on the first
screen or choose the "scholarly journals" link above your list of results once
you have completed your search.
Old Testament Abstracts
/ New Testament Abstracts
- two great sister resources for
articles on biblical passages
- the Scripture search button is much more practical to use
in most cases with this database than a keyword search (Scripture button located
at the very top of the screen - NOTE that it searches differently from the
Scripture search in ATLA).
- contains some linked full text from other EBSCO databases
- not useful for topics other than biblical studies.
EBSCO Academic Search
Premier (Click
here for a flash tutorial.
Use Back button to return.)
- a large, general database
(i.e. covers many subject areas) so it is not strong in any one subject area.
- it has a large amount of electronic full text in it.
- narrow your initial search to "Peer
Reviewed/Refereed (Scholarly)" and select Publication Type - Periodical.
- try the "advanced search" to specify your search terms
more.
- try using "Subject: Thesaurus term" link on the
left of the the results pages. Keywords can be deceptive in their meaning,
whereas a subject heading will identify exactly what you are looking for.
PsycINFO
(Click
here
for a flash tutorial. Use Back button to return. Click
here
for a PDF static file of the screenshots in the tutorial. Use
Back button to return.)
- This is the #1 journal database in Psychology/Counseling.
It is not a full text index in itself but has quite a number of linked full text
articles from other EBSCO databases.
- It has an extensive number of limiters. At minimum,
limit to "
journals.
- You can also limit by using the Subject: Major Heading link
to the left on the results pages.
- If you can't find your subject heading there, this database
also has an extensive Thesaurus (subject heading
system) as well as an advanced search. To use the Thesaurus, click the
"Thesaurus" link at the top of the page, enter a
likely subject into the "Browse" box, click on "Browse," and if you chose
wisely, you will see the subject heading on the left with a check box beside it.
If you click on the word itself, you will get more information on its meaning,
as well as related terms. If you check the check box and then click on
"Search," you will get all the articles on that subject in the database.
- You can also find subject headings by clicking on the
title of an article citation found with a keyword search and locating linked
subject headings in the longer entry.
- It has all the search features that PsycINFO (the much larger database) has.
- By using the "Choose Databases" function, you can click boxes to search PsycINFO and PsycARTICLES at the same time.
Be sure to review the Textbook material in Chapters Three and Four on searching with keywords and controlled vocabularies in preparation for this assignment, in addition to Chapter Five on journal database searching. You will also benefit from the tutorial showing how the journal system works at TWU:
http://www.twu.ca/library/Flash_Tutorials/finding_journals_articles_demo/finding_journals_articles_demo.htm
Some, but not all, databases allow direct downloads to RefWorks.
Creating Correctly formatted Journal articles - The Choices
1. Use RefWorks
2. Use KnightCite (http://webapps.calvin.edu/knightcite/index.php).
3. For the EBSCO databases, here is a guide to creating automatic citations:
A.
B.
C.
D.
Assignment #3 (to top of page)
Read Research Strategies,
Chapter Five, Sections 5.2-5.9,
and review Chapters 3 and 4.
For your topic:
- State your research question.
- Do searches in the library's databases for articles relevant to each your research questions. Use two different journal databases. If the database you are using has subject headings or a thesaurus, at least one of your searches must include use of a subject heading. Grades will be deducted if subject heading searching is possible but was not used. The databases you use should be those found under the link, "Articles" on the library home page.
Some Tips:
1. The "Start here" databases listed for each subject are preferred.
2. For subject heading searches, you can employ any "narrow by subject" option (such as the Subject dropdown to the left of the results list in any EBSCO database), or you might find subject headings by clicking on an "indexes" tab or on a link entitled "Thesaurus."
3. Do not, for this assignment, use freely available databases like FindArticles or Directory of Open Access Journals. Use the commercial databases available through the TWU library website.
4. Avoid using JSTOR as a searching database. It is essentially a storage medium for journal articles and does not have a very sophisticated search interface. The content from JSTOR will appear in other databases like ATLA, through the "Check for availability at TWU" links at the bottom of citations that do not have embedded PDFs.
- Indicate:
1. The names of the journal databases you used (Don't refer just to EBSCO, ProQuest, etc. which are company names. Instead, give the full title, e.g. EBSCO Academic Search Premier or EBSCO ATLA Religion Database). Make sure the databases you use are relevant to your topic.
2. The search terms you used, and the form of their combination (e.g. Oil AND Nigeria). Put the search terms in the exact form in which you used them, listing each on a separate line. If you used subject headings, indicate this (e.g. "added subject heading 'Kingdom of God.')
Some Tips:
a. Make sure you choose terminology that is directly relevant to your research question, and carefully screen your results to be sure that they are closely relevant to your research question.
b. Remember that subject heading searches are required if available. Indicate in your listing of subject headings used that they are actually subject headings, e.g. Evangelistic Work (Subject Heading).D. For each database list ten relevant journal articles (or essays from books) which you identified from your search of the databases, including author, title, journal name, volume and issue number, date, and page numbers, using proper Turabian Notes (not Turabian Reference List) or APA format. Avoid book reviews or citations to books. You will thus have a total of 20 article citations in your assignment. [See the assignment template for clarification]. Articles may be the same both lists, though they may well be mostly different.
Some Tips:
1. You will be graded on wise choice of databases and search terms, and on how relevant the articles are to your research question.
2. Be sure to use RefWorks to download your article citations whenever possible. You must put all citations into Turabian Notes or APA format (the latter only for psychology or linguistics topics.) If you are not using RefWorks, use the citation creating tool in whatever database you are using to generate properly formatted citations (see more information in the background above).
Rubric for Assignment Three. Highest grade meets these criteria:
- Chooses the best databases for the topic
- Creative use of terminology, including controlled vocabulary [subject headings, etc.] if available
- Articles are on target to address each research question.
- Format is correct.
(Last
updated: October 26, 2011)