Skip to Main Content

PSY 1010 - General Psychology: Finding news articles and studies

Finding news articles and studies

For this assignment you will have to find two separate articles.  You will need to find a news article describing a scientific study from the last five years, and you will need to find that study discussed in an academic journal article.  Do not try to find them at the same time in the same way.  Find a news article about a study that interests you and then look for the journal article discussing the study.

First: find your news article

Our general search on the front page of the library can be used to find many news articles.

 

However your search results will contain many things that are not news articles!   Use the search options in the left column under "CONTENT TYPE" to select appropriate options such as newspaper articles, magazine articles, etc.

You can also look in specific publications.  On the front page of the library is a link to a list of some current news sources.  This list includes the popular magazine Psychology Today, which is a good source for articles about psychological issues and research.   Another good source for news articles about psychology is the APA's Psychology Newswire.

Second: find the information you need in your news article

Once you've found your news article, then you'll have to find the related study.  Sometimes the news article will provide the name of the study or a direct link to the study.  Other times you will have to use clues in the news article to find that study.  For example, here is part of a 2013 news article about a psychological study.  It doesn't provide the title or a link, but it does provide significant information you can use to easily locate the study.

 

 

 

In the example above I've highlighted information you can use to find the study.  We know the date of the study, the name of one of its authors, and the name of the journal, Science.  So we can search that journal using that information. 

Third: find your journal article

First we have to find the journal Science.  In the library we have what is called a "periodicals locator" which you can use to find which databases at the PGCC library.  You can find a link to the periodical locator on the "articles" tab of the search bar or by clicking on "Journal Title Search" on our list of databases.  This page describes in detail how to use the periodicals locator.

 

 

 

The periodicals locator will tell you which PGCC databases contain that particular journal and provide links where you can search in that specific journal and only that specific journal. 

 

Use the Advanced Search so you can use all the information you found in the news article to find the study you are looking for. 



 

Don't get discouraged if you don't find it right away!  Just be patient and make sure you use all the information you have and you should be able to find your study.  Here's the study mentioned in the news article above.

 


Remember, the librarians are here to help you, so ask if you get stuck!