Check out this article from the January 2007 issue of gradPSYCH –

“Finding the right tools: Student researchers need to know what to look for in a measurement instrument.”

This article will outline the steps you need to complete when choosing an instrument, including:

• Knowing what you need and what you need to measure.
• Befriending your librarian
• Doing some quality control
• Getting permission

The library has access to all four of the databases mentioned in this article: Mental Measurements Yearbook, Tests in Print, PsycINFO, and Health and Psychosocial Instruments.  You can access these databases from the library’s Articles, Books, and More web page.

For more information on finding tests and measures in the Capella Library, please review  the guide Finding Tests and Survey Instruments on the library’s Guides and Tutorials page (scroll down to Resources for Doctoral Learners).

If you have any questions, please contact us in the library!

~Jennie

At the session we cover the following:

1. Creating a personal account
2. Getting references into RefWorks
3. Organizing with folders
4. Navigating RefWorks
5. Building APA Bibliographies

In the meantime, check out these recommended RefWorks guides:

• RefWorks Basic Features
• Importing from the Library Databases

Questions? Ask a Librarian!

-Sommer

Nearly every guide mentioned at the library’s colloquia sessions are included in a special section of our Guides & Tutorials page. To get to that section, just follow these steps.

1) From the Library Homepage click Guides & Tutorials.

2) There are several bulleted links at the top of the page that link to different sections. Click Resources for Doctoral Learners to jump to the section that includes the guides you heard about at Colloquia.

3) From here you can select a guide that piqued your interest at the colloquium!

Got questions? Ask a Librarian!

-Sommer

If this sounds familiar, check out Capella Library’s Database Research Log and our Scholarly Research Log.  The Database Research Log is a worksheet created to help learners keep track of their database searching by seeing what databases they’ve tried, what keyword combinations they used, and where they might need to go next.   

The Scholarly Research Log is a worksheet best used to keep track of individual books or articles found during the research process.  The Scholarly Research Log allows learners to track the resources they’ve found, if they are peer-reviewed, if they were ordered via Interlibrary Loan, and what theories/methods/findings were discussed in the article.

So next time you’re having trouble keeping your searching and your resources organized, remember these tools are here to help you.

- Jennie

Chapter Two (The Literature Review)  and the Reference List of the dissertation can be invaluable, especially if that dissertation is current and very closely related to your topic.  You may get ideas of  how to structure your review and also possible resources you want to review.  How do you tell if a reference  is in the Capella Library?  Use  the Journal and Book Locator link from the Library Home page.  If it’s not in the Library, you can get it through Interlibrary Loan.

Chapter Three (Methodology) Having  trouble understanding or explaining the methodology you are using for your study? Looking at dissertations that have used that same methodology may help you gain a better understanding of your chosen methodology,  perhaps also  in the context of  your topic.

Chapter Five Having trouble  figuring out your research question? Chapter Five contains the author’s suggestions for future research, its a great place to look  for ideas.

I hope some of these suggestions make using dissertations in your research more manageable, let us know if you have others!

Robin

Science Direct’s cited reference searching works somewhat differently than the other databases, as the “cited by” link is not on the results list but rather a button on the article information page (not the PDF).

So for example when you’re looking at a list of results in Science Direct you would click on the linked Article Title. When you’ve clicked the article title you’ll view a page similar to the below mini screen shot. The Cited By link is to the right of the article title on this page (highlighted in yellow):

Upon clicking on the Cited By link you’ll view the articles in the Science Direct database that cited the original article you were viewing.

We will update the Bibliography Mining & Cited Reference Searching guide to include ProQuest and Science Direct as soon as possible. But for now refer to this blog post and the Cited Reference Searching now in ProQuest Databases! post for guidance. Ask a Librarian if you have questions!

-Sommer

The following ProQuest databases now include this feature:

• ABI/INFORM Global
• Psychology Journals
• ProQuest Education Journals
• ProQuest Medical Library
• Dissertations & Theses Full Text

“Cited reference searching and bibliography mining are advanced research techniques that help you look both backwards and forwards in time to discover how an individual article or book relates to the development of a discipline. It can help you trace ideas back to their source, discover seminal works, complete a literature review, watch concepts mature over time, and analyze the importance of a single article in a discipline.” (Definition from the Bibliography Mining and Cited Reference Searching guide.)

Keep in mind that like other databases that include convenient bibliography mining and cited reference searching links, ProQuest only has links to articles and dissertations that are indexed in the ProQuest databases.

Below is a screen shot showing how the links appear in your results. Be sure to sort your results by Relevance instead of Date, as the more recently published articles are less likely to have been cited by anyone. Writing, research, and waiting for publication takes time!

-Sommer

But before you close your courseroom for the last time, think about the readings and guides that were in your course. If you think they might help you later on, this is the time to save or print hard copies for your personal library.

This is especially important if you are a doctoral learner. Building a collection of important readings now can help you prepare for your comps, and even your dissertation. We often get calls from learners trying to remember a great reading from three or four quarters ago. It’s not so easy to do, and sometimes there just isn’t enough information tucked into the recesses of your memory to refind the exact item you want. It’s much better to have it at your fingertips.

Just printing the Course Materials page from the syllabus can be helpful (all the citations are there, and you can use Journal & Book Locator to find them again). Or you can send the citation information to RefWorks as you do your readings. Then you’ll be ready to add them to a bibliography if you use them later on.

Whatever way you do it, now’s the time to take a moment to collect and organize. Building your personal library often goes hand in hand with building your knowledge in the field.

-Erin

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

What you say, you are having trouble finding resources for your dissertation?  Well take some time and  phone or email a Librarian.  We  can help you get back on track.

Robin