Using the Library

You will have a project assignment to look up the original research associated with a popular media report of a psychological phenomenon. This will be a clear motivation to use the library. But the real idea is to get you beginning to learn the skills that will allow you to find out the "state of the art" in psychology as long as you have access to a reasonable research library. There are more reasons to use the library references than this project, though. You may want some clarification on Freud or on Skinner (or any of the other theorists we read). These reference sources will give you a review of this material in language you can understand.

Library Reference Materials

Below are some reference materials in general psychology and in several subareas of psychology. These are all in the reference room in Rølvaag Library. To get to the psychology section in the reference room, walk right past the reference librarian's desk and into the large room beyond it. Towards the far wall are some tables, and to the right of those tables is where all the psychology stuff sits. I have a difference of opinion with the Library of Congress about the Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Psychology and The Handbook of Social Psychology. They think these two items should be shelved over with sociology. I think that since all the authors and editors are psychologists and all the topics are psychological they should be shelved with psychology. All the reference librarians I have asked agree. But since the numbers help you find the books, you need to go to the sociology shelves to read about this part of psychology. If you are facing the psychology reference books, the sociology section is against the wall to your left.

Oh yes, try not to walk past the reference librarian's desk too often. Stop and say hello to them, they are nice folks and very helpful. Depending on your topic, the items I list here may not have what you want. They can help you find it, even to the point of using indexes to find reports in the original journals.

Title	Date	Editor	Call Number
Encyclopedia of psychology	1994	Corsini	R.R. BF31 .E52
The Encyclopedic dictionary of psychology	1983	Harre and Lamb	R.R. BF31 .E555
Companion encyclopedia of psychology	1994	Colman	R.R. BF121 .C65 1994
The Oxford companion to the mind	1987	Gregory	R.R. BF31 .O94 1987
Encyclopedia of learning and memory	1992	Squire	R.R. BF318. E53 1992
Encyclopedia of sleep and dreaming	1993	Carskadon	R.R. BF1078 .E63 1993
The Blackwell encyclopedia of social psychology	1995	Manstead and Hewstone	R.R. HM251 .B476 1995
The Gale encyclopedia of psychology	1996	Gall	R.R. BF31.G35 1996
The handbook of social psychology	1998	Gilbert, Fiske, & Lindzey	R.R. HM251 .H24 1998
Handbook of child psychology	1998	Damon	R.R. BF721 .H242 1998
The encyclopedia of psychiatry, psychology, and psychoanalysis	1996	Wolman	R.R. BF 31. E49 1996
Encyclopedia of human intelligence	1994	Sternberg	R.R. BF 431 .E59 1994

Library Reserve Materials

I have placed three comprehensive introduction to psychology textbooks on reserve for this class. To check one out for a few days, simply go to the circulation desk and ask for them. They are:

• Westen, D. (1996). Psychology: Mind, brain, and culture. New York: John Wiley.
• Kalat, J. W. (1996). Introduction to Psychology. New York: Brooks/Cole.
• Gleitman, H. (1995). Psychology, 4th edition. New York: W.W. Norton.

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State of the Art Library Assignment

For each of the two state of the art papers, you will need to find a popular media article, web site, radio/television show, etc., that reports on original psychological research and/or makes a psychological claim. Translate this research/claim into psychological language. Then investigate the scholarly literature to find out what the "state of the art" in psychology is regarding this particular claim. The reference section of your paper should include at least:

1 Mass media/popular source
1 Encyclopedia reference
2 Scholarly articles
1 Web site

After reading and reviewing all the references, write a one page, single spaced summary of the "state of the art." regarding the claim. This summary should represent a synthesis of the scholarly resources and a contrast with the popular source.

Your final SOA paper should have:

1. A cover page with your name, the title of your topic, and the class name
2. A one page, single spaced summary of what psychologists currently know about the answer to the question or about the topic area you have selected. You should contrast this summary with the claim reported in the popular source. This second section should be scholarly but readable by the intelligent layperson.
3. A one page, single spaced, annotated bibliography, with the 4 references in APA style. Annotations should consist of a short, 3-5 sentence paragraph below each reference reviewing the content of the reference, its relevance to the question, and its relation to the other references. We do not want copies of the articles.

Hints:

• If you have a topic and need a popular treatment of it, check the Reader's Guide.
• If there is a disagreement among psychologists in the field, say that in your summary, and give each side.
• APA has a reference style for just about any sort of material. Check the APA style guide. If you can't find the format for your reference, check with a librarian.
• Please leave 1 inch margins all around, and use no smaller than a 10 point font.

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