Off The Shelf

In the past few months we have seen an increased demand from other libraries for dissertations written by Capella learners. This means that our learners are producing high quality relevant research. Keep up the good work!

How can a learner, faculty member, or librarian at another university acquire a copy of a Capella dissertation?

• All dissertations written by Capella learners after 2001 are available through ProQuest UMI’s Dissertations and Theses full text database.
• Capella University Library does not retain hard copies of dissertations. You may be able to purchase a hard or electronic copy through ProQuest/UMI Dissertation Express.

If you would like assistance using any of these electronic resources, contact your librarian.

–Sam

Article titles are very tempting things. You run a library search, get this list of titles, and want to immediately click the full text link when you see a title that looks good.

RESIST THAT TEMPTATION!

Article titles may not give you all the information you need to make a decision about an article. With only a small handful of words, a title won’t tell you about the methodology, unique characteristics of the study’s design, or the results of the research.

In fact, a title may not give you any relevant information about the article. Scholars, just like everyone else, like to think they’re clever. And that can result in some humorous, but uninformative, titles. For example:

Sidoli, M. (1996.) Farting as a defence against unspeakable dread. The Journal of Analytical Psychology 41(2), 165-78.

From the title alone, you’d have no idea that this is actually a case study looking at child development and defense mechanisms.

That’s why it’s so important to look at the ABSTRACT of an article. Sure, it’s an extra minute and an extra click to read the abstract before going to the full text, but it’s the most effective way to select appropriate articles for your research.

When you don’t look at the abstract, you’ll find yourself wasting time on articles that aren’t right for your paper, and you’ll completely miss out on important works on your topic.
- Erin

Most searchers have experienced the following at least once:

• You go into the library
• You pick a database
• You search for your topic

But nothing comes up.

Why does that happen? Most of the time it’s because the keywords you have chosen don’t match exactly with the keywords the authors have used in their articles.

To search the library databases well, you have to become a bit of a mind-reader. Think about the words and phrases an author probably used, and look for those. Here are some tips to help you do that:

Use the most current jargon in your field. Being familiar with the field and looking at the terms used in your course readings can help you pick the right keywords.

• Terminology can change over time, and scholars will typically be using the most currently accepted terms. Are today’s authors typically using Manic Depression or Bipolar Disorder?
• Sometimes there will be overlap between terms, with more than one accepted term in use. For example, either Aspergers or Autism Spectrum Disorder.
• The current jargon of your field may not match common, everyday speech. Think incarceration instead of jail.

Avoid phrases. Every extra word will limit your results.

• Only use multiword phrases if they are a specific, acknowledged term: United States is okay, “increasing enrollment” is not.
• Break up phrases into the different concepts that make them up. Elementary school teachers is actually two concepts: elementary (level of school) and teacher (profession).
• Remember: most phrases can be written many different ways. When you use a phrase, you are limiting your search to only one way to say the same thing. (I can skin the cat many ways. There are many ways to skin a cat. He found one way out of many to skin a cat.)

Search alternative terms. Sometimes there are multiple keywords that mean very similar things. Use or to link alternative terms in your search box.

• Look at the books and articles you already have to identify other useful keywords.
• Brainstorm broader or narrower keywords. When you want to find effects of the economic recession, you’ll have an easier time if you list out those specific effects as keywords: job loss or unemployment or consumer confidence or foreclosure . . .
  

To succeed at any of these techniques, you have to try to get in the mind of scholarly authors. What might they be saying? What kind of articles are they writing? What terms will they be using?

You may not really be a mind-reader, but trying to imagine what you’re searching for can help you find it.

- Erin

PsycBOOKS added the following titles to its coverage list in January 2009. Of the titles added, 3 were an APA book and 15 were designated classic books.  Classic books are landmark titles in psychology and are selected by APA experts.

APA Books

1.     Gender and occupational outcomes: Longitudinal assessments of individual, social, and cultural influences, © 2008, by Watt, Helen M. G. (Ed); Eccles, Jacquelynne S. (Ed)

2.     Inclusive cultural empathy: Making relationships central in counseling and psychotherapy (1st Ed.), © 2008, by Pedersen, Paul B.; Crethar, Hugh C.; Carlson, Jon  

3.     Sex offending: Causal theories to inform research, prevention, and treatment, © 2008, by Stinson, Jill D.; Sales, Bruce D.; Becker, Judith V.

Classic Books

1.     Elements of intellectual philosophy: Designed for a text-book and private reading, © 1850, by Winslow, Hubbard

2.     Essay on the application of abstract reasoning to the Christian doctrines: Originally published as an introduction to Edwards on the will, © 1832, by Taylor, Isaac

3.     Essays and treatises on several subjects, Vol 2: Containing An enquiry concerning human understanding, A dissertation on the passions, An enquiry concerning the principles of morals, and The natural history of religion, © 1779, by Hume, David

4.     Essays: Moral, political and aesthetic (new and enlarged ed.), © 1878, by Spencer, Herbert

5.     Herbert Spencer on the Americans and the Americans on Herbert Spencer, being a full report of his interview, and of the proceedings at the farewell banquet of Nov 9, 1882, © 1883, by Youmans, Edward Livingston

6.     Manual of elementary logic: Designed especially for the use of teachers and learners, © 1867, by Atwater, Lyman H.

7.     New and extensive analytical examination of the elements of mental science: Containing evidences of difference, distinguishing between elements of mind which lie at the foundation of mental action, and elements of mind which lie at the foundation of moral action (abridged), © 1861, by Smith, Moses

8.     A philosophy of religion, or, The rational grounds of religious belief, © 1876, by Bascom, John

9.     Principles of mental philosophy, with their applications to the training and discipline of the mind, and the study of its morbid conditions, © 1875, by Carpenter, William B.

10.    Psychology; or, a view of the human soul: including anthropology, being the substance of a course of lectures, delivered to the junior class Marshall College, Penn, © 1840, by Rauch, Frederick A.

11.    Psychology; or, A view of the human soul; including anthropology, adapted for the use of colleges (3rd ed., rev. and improved), © 1844, by Rauch, Frederick A.

12.    System of logic and history of logical doctrines, © 1871, by Ueberweg, Friedrich; Lindsay, Thomas M. (Translator)

13.    A theodicy; or, Vindication of the divine glory, as manifested in the constitution and government of the moral world, © 1856, by Bledsoe, Albert Taylor

14.    Transcendentalism, with preludes on current events, © 1878, by Cook, Joseph

15.    Two letters on causation and freedom in willing, addressed to John Stuart Mill, with an appendix, On the existence of matter, and Our notions of infinite space, © 1869, by Hazard, Rowland G

 Note: To read any of these ebook go to the Articles, Books & More page. Scroll down to PsycBOOKS and type in the title.

- Erika