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PSYCH 122 - Research Methods

Use this guide to complete your Psychology 122 research assignment

Popular, Substantive, and Scholarly Sources

Unless otherwise instructed by your teacher, you'll probably want to use a variety sources to help you gain a complete understanding of your topic. Sources of information generally fall within three categories. These categories are  Popular, Substantive, and Scholarly (or Peer Reviewed). To use them skillfully you need to be able to identify them and understand their differences.
 

Types of Information Scholarly, Substantive, and Popular Sources Scholarly Sources (example: journals like the New England Journal of Medicine) Produced by discipline experts and aimed at other experts Communicates specialized and discipline-specific information Often reporting original research and experimentation Some scholarly content is peer-reviewed Scholarly information is a great choice for college students, though it can be challenging to read and understand for the non-expert. Substantive Sources (example: newspapers of record like the New York Times) Produced by experts or journalists and geared toward an educated -- but not necessarily expert -- audience Communicates timely, credible information of general interest Fact-checked before publication Substantive information is a great choice for community college students because it is both credible and accessible Popular Sources (example: fun magazines like Men’s Health) Produced by journalists, staff and freelance writers, even AI; aimed at the general public Provides a broad overview of topics a general readership will find entertaining Great for identifying potential topic ideas and providing general introductions to topics If you want (or need) to use popular material for academic work, talk to your professor as you'll need to be sure to supplement it with articles from scholarly and substantive sources

 

Watch the brief video below for more information:

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Scaffold Your Sources To Understand Your Topic More Fully

Scaffolding Your Research for Deeper Understanding Level one: Web sites and other familiar, easy-to-understand starting places Generate research questions, refine your topic, identify search terms Caution: Websites vary wildly in quality and must be valuated thoroughly before including on bibliography Level two: Specialized encyclopedias and other substantive topic overviews Credible sources to answer basic research questions and generate additional questions Caution: Topic overviews lack adequate detail...you'll need more Level three: Newspapers and selected magazines Aimed at an educated, non-expert audience, these are great sources for current issues and events Caution: all magazines are appropriate for academic work and some assignments require scholarly sources Level four: Scholarly journals Studies, experiments, and systematic reviews produced by scholars for an expert audience. Caution: Journal articles are highly specific, specialized, & often challenging for the nonexpert.

Use the CRAAP Test for Credibility

Finding information today is easy; it's all around you. Making sure the information you find is reliable can be a challenge.

When you use Google or any social media to get your information how do you know it can be trusted? How do you know it's not biased?

You can feel pretty confident that books you get from the library and articles you find in the library's databases are reliable because someone or some group has checked all the facts and arguments the author made before publishing them. You still have to think about whether or not the book or article is current and suitable for your project but you can feel confident that it is a trustworthy source.

Make sure each and every source you plan on using in your paper or research assignment passes the CRAAP test.

You can click on the image below to see the full research guide entitled, Evaluate Your Sources.

 

Evaluate your sources: The CRAAP Test click on the image to launch the full research guide

Watch the brief video below to see how this works.