Writing 101 (Downey)

Both empirical articles (original research) & literature reviews are:

• published in journals
• often peer-reviewed
• written by experts in the field

They are different in one important way:

Empirical articles report the findings of a research study, while review articles assess the findings of a variety of studies on a topic.

Empirical articles are based on an experiment or study.  The authors will report the purpose of the study, the research methodology, and results. This is a familiar structure for empirical articles (IMRAD):

• introduction
• methods
• results
• discussion

In describing the purpose of their study, authors will present a mini literature review to discuss how previous research has led up to their original research project.

Example: The prevalence of sleep disorders in college students: Impact on academic performance

In PsycINFO, use the Methodology limiter to narrow to empirical study (original research).

You may also want to try clinical case study, clinical trial, or treatment outcome depending on your topic.

APA describes the methodology field values found in the PsycInfo and PsycArticles databases.

• In addition to the Empirical Study limiter, there are also limiters for Clinical Case Study and Treatment Outcome/Clinical Trial.

Review articles summarize or synthesize content from earlier published research and are useful for surveying the literature on a specific research area. Review articles can lead you to empirical articles.

There are several types.

• narrative: a literature review that describes and discusses the state of the science of a specific topic or theme.
• systematic: a comprehensive review of all relevant studies on a particular topic/question. The systematic review is created by following an explicit methodology for identifying/selecting the studies to include and evaluating their results.
• meta-analysis: the statistical procedure for combining data from multiple studies. This is usually, but not always, presented with a systematic review.

Example: Let's talk about sleep: a systematic review of psychological interventions to improve sleep in college students

In PsycINFO, use the Methodology limiter to narrow to literature review.

You may also want to try systematic review or meta analysis.

Finding Empirical Studies in PsycInfo

Instructions:

1. Connect to the campus network via the VPN if you are off-campus.  You will need this connection to access one or more library databases while taking the tutorial.

2. Take the short quiz at the end of the tutorial. Enter your email address AND your professor's email address. Afterwards locate the email confirmation. These emails often go to your SPAM folder, so be sure to check there.  It is often easiest to search in your email account for the phrase "Certificate of completion" to find your email confirmation.

3. You are ready! Click on the link below to start the tutorial. Follow the instructions on the left hand of the screen and, as directed, complete activities in the main screen (right).

Finding Empirical Studies in PsycInfo >> https://ucmercedlibrary.libwizard.com/f/empirical-psycinfo