Skip to Main Content
It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older. This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. If you continue with this browser, you may see unexpected results.

PSYC 001 - Introduction to Experimental Psychology: Facts & context for your topic

Start with your textbook

Psychology : a concise introduction / Richard A Griggs. (4th ed., Worth, 2014.)
On order for Van Pelt - Rosengarten Reserve Desk

The textbook for the course is available for short-term use from Van Pelt Library's Rosengarten Reserve Desk.

Examine your textbook carefully.

Browse the table of contents for chapters that might cover your topic.
Look up your topic in the index at the back of the book.
Griggs will provide within-text bibliographic citations to research experiments, and those citations are fleshed out in the bibiliography at the back of the book.

 

Use the "Using Citations to Find Resources" tools below to locate online fulltext or print based upon the citation in Griggs's bibliography.

Using Citations to Find Resources

You may already have citations of relevance to the text on which you are working. These resources will help you find an online or print version of the cited work.

Reference works: encyclopedias & handbooks

Use dictionaries, encyclopedias, and handbooks to learn quickly about the state of research on your topic. A good encyclopedia article should describe major themes, current research fronts, and controversial areas; it should also provide a brief bibliography of classic, important, or definitive works on your topic. Handbooks generally offer chapters on specific aspects of a topic: together, the handbook's chapters should provide a broad overview of the state of research; individually, chapters may be narrowly focused.

Tips on searching reference works

Where to start?

1. Dictionaries - if you've got a specific term.

2. Corsini, AccessMedicine, DSM-5.

Choose the one most suitable for your topic ... but expect to look at another one, just in case.
Expect brief articles with one or two paragraphs, with citations to the classic experiment or a recent literature review.

3. Handbooks.

Read for a broader context.
Expect long articles, with a historical perspective and lots of citations to important research.

How to search?

Start by searching with the terms you know:

"H.M."
Prosopagnosia
Schachter AND Singer
Lange AND emotion*
(* truncates: "emotions", "emotional")
"classical conditioning" AND phobia*
Then try: conditioning AND phobia*

Try to search "within the work".

Take a moment to look at the search interface and e-book platform.
Look for a link, "Search in this book" or "Search within work".

Ignore search results sorted by "Relevance" ranking or "Sort by 'Best Match'".

You're searching for a phrase or a couple words. How effective can relevance ranking be for that kind of search?
Do your search, look at all likely results. Use your browser's "Find" tool.

Chasing citations

Look for PennText links.

Look for DOI's or URLs in citations.

Consider installing the UPenn Proxy bookmark in your web browser, if you have access problems offcampus or outside PennNet.

Use the PennText Article Finder.