Communications 354

Special Topics in Speech-Language Pathology : Neurological Basis

Professor Jay

Fall 2006

 

Finding Articles

Empirical Research

Writing & Citing help

 

Finding Articles using Library Resources

There are several different database sources that will contain the kinds of articles that you need for your assignment.

Your professor wants you to use articles from some specific journals. The links below are to the electronic database sources with the most recent issues of these journals. Older issues of all of these journals are also available in print on the lower level of the library.

 

Recognizing Empirical Research

You are being asked to locate and use articles that are "empirical research". Empirical research uses data derived from actual observation or experimentation.

To determine if an article is an empirical research article, use these guidelines:

  • What is the name of the journal? Popular magazines like Newsweek or Time don’t publish empirical research articles; publications like the Journal of Educational Research or the Journal of Educational Psychology do.
  • How long is the article? An empirical research article is usually substantial, not 1 or 2 pages.
  • Does the article contain references to other works? Serious researchers always cite their sources.
  • Does the abstract of the article contain variations of the words study, measure, subjects, data, survey, or statistical to describe the empirical research?
    (Finding Empirical Research Articles. University of San Francisco Gleeson Library 11/03 http://www.usfca.edu/library/handouts/researcharticles.pdf Retrieved 8/28/06)

Here are some resources that explain what empirical research is.

Reading Reports of Empirical Studies This site contains a step-by-step look at the parts of an emiprical research article.

Finding Empirical Research Articles This is a handout geared towards USF's resources but has a good definition/checklist of guidelines.

Research Methods: Understanding: Empirical Research This is a tutorial aimed at linguistics majors, but has some useful information on the process of empirical research.

Conquering Empirical Research This is a research guide developed by the University Library at Mississippi State University.

 

Resources for Writing and Citing

Resources for writing abstracts:

Resources for APA (American Psychological Association) Style:

You are being asked to use American Psychological Association style guidelines for your paper and for your bibliography. Here are some online guides for using this method (note that the APA website has updates only--not the actual style guide:

For more help with writing your abstract or bibliography contact the Writing Center at Elmhurst College.

 

Have questions or need help?

If you need any help finding articles or writing, you can also contact the Reference Desk any time the library is open:

Phone: 630-617-3173
Email: ref[at[elmhurst[dot]edu


AIM: elmhrstcollibref |  Yahoo!Messenger: eclibraryreference | MSN Messenger: ref[at]elmhurst.edu

 

This page was created on 14 September, 2006 by Peg Cook, Assistant Reference & Instruction Librarian

A.C. Buehler Library Website