PSYC-228: Clinical Psychology

Primary Sources:

These sources present new information and can come in the form of a research paper.

Secondary Sources:

These sources analyze or review information from primary sources. An example would be a literature review or meta analysis.

Tertiary Sources: 

These sources present general information in specific organized ways such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, and diagnostic guides (ex: DSM-V). 

These articles report original research or studies (actual observations or experiments), rather than theoretical developments or methodological approaches. You can identify them in several ways:

• keywords: look for “study,” “empirical,” or mentions of participants, observations, methods/measurements
• structure: usually includes introduction, methods, results, and discussion sections
• publication: should be in an academic or professional journal, rather than in popular magazines or newspapers

PsycINFO is a good first place to check! This database contains scholarly journals that publish empirical research articles.

Methodology filter

On the Advanced Search page, you can scroll down to Methodology and select EMPIRICAL STUDY to narrow your search:

Peer-reviewed articles are:

• written by experts in the field
• assessed for validity and scholarly rigor by other experts in the field (peer review)
• published in scholarly journals