1. Reviewing & Reading the Literature Psych 231: Research Methods in Psychology

2. Announcements Don’t forget to do your library assignment! It is due in labs next week, but I strongly suggest that you do the assignment as soon as you can while the info is still fresh in your mind. Also for next week’s lab, make sure that you download and read the Raz, Kirsch, Polard, & Nitkin-Kaner, (2006) before coming to lab.

3. Reviewing the literature Why do a review of the literature? What is the literature? How do you search the literature? Guest lecturer: Bruce Stoffel, psychology librarian

4. Why review the literature What are the underlying motivations for doing a review of the literature?  Getting ideas.  What has been done, what hasn’t been done?  Understanding the relevant theories.  What variables are important?  Avoid past mistakes. Tips for conducting a literature review

5. What is the literature? Primary Sources - essentially reading the original report  Journal articles  Edited books (sometimes)  Professional meetings  Electronic publishing (fairly new, pluses and minuses)  Faculty members & other personal communications Secondary Sources - reading a report of the report  Literature Reviews  Psychological Bulletin, Annual Review of Psychology  Text books  Citations in books and articles

6. What is the literature? Secondary Sources: Advantages: Good starting place Often reviews a lot of relevant literature Relatively brief descriptions Disadvantages: Somebody else’s description May be incorrect May be biased Not enough detail

7. Guest lecture Turn it over to Bruce StoffelBruce Stoffel http://www.library.ilstu.edu/

8. Next time Download Raz, Kirsch, Polard, & Nitkin-Kaner, (2006) (full text available at library) and read the article for lab next week. Quiz 2 is due Wednesday before class (1 week from today) Have a good Labor Day See you on Wednesday