Psychology Research Guide: Journal Articles

Many Psychology assignments require you to find original research studies. You can find original research study articles in library databases like PsycINFO (link below). These types of studies present research based on actual observations or experiments conducted by the author. 

• Check the source: Study articles are usually found in scholarly journals, not magazines or newspapers. 
• Read the abstract (summary): If it mentions any study, questionnaires, participants, or measurements that the author conducted, it is probably a study article.
• Format: Many study articles are broken down into sections, such as "Methodology", "Results", "Discussion," and "Conclusion". Finding these or similar headings in an article is a good indication that it involves a study or experiment.
• Length: Study articles are usually very lengthy, at least 5 pages.
• References: Does the article have references listed at the end? Scholarly researchers have to cite their sources, just like you!