PGS 468: Psychology and Law
Professor: McQuiston-Surrett
Librarian: Joe Buenker
This page provides information about how to effectively search both "free" and library-licensed web resources. The sample research topic used throughout is how juries reach a verdict and any important variables within that decision making process.
Note: We won't have time to cover how to properly format citatitions for your "References" section, but you can view my Effective Writing and Proper APA Citation Style page to learn about the availability of RefWorks and online overviews of APA-style in-text citation and References.
Google · Google Scholar · Academic Search Premier (EBSCOhost)
PsycINFO: (Basic Keyword · Reviewing Results · Using the Thesaurus · Using Your Search History · Specifiying Limits)
Google: Why Google is Not the Answer
A basic Google keyword search of jury decision making produced 1,300,000 results on January 23, 2007.
Yes, it is true that you can use Google Advanced Search to construct a better search strategy (and I encourage you to do so).
Reduce the number of results by using phrase searching and limiting by language and/or domain type (i.e. don't ".com").
- exact phrase Google search: "jury decision making" = [48,500 results]
- exact phrase Google search: "jury decision making" & limited by language (English) = [48,200 results]
- exact phrase Google search: "jury decision making" & limited by language (English) & domain (not from .com) = [32,900 results]
- exact phrase Google search: "jury decision making" (where terms are occuring in the title of the page) & limited by language (English) & domain (not from .com) = [42 results]
Even with a well-developed search strategy, the majority of the results you retrieve through Google (or any other "free" web search tool) are not likley to be academic/scholarly/peer-reviewed/empirical and therefore will not be appropriate sources for use in support of college-level research.
Google Scholar: Better Quality than Regular Google
A basic Google Scholar keyword search of "jury decision making" produces 25,600 results (remember the regular Google search engine retrieved approximately 1.3 million results).
As with the generarl Google search engine, you can attempt to improve the relevancy of your results from Google Scholar by using the Advanced Scholar Search (and, again, I encourage you to do so).
- exact phrase Google Scholar search: "jury decision making" [1,550 results]
- exact phrase Google Scholar search: "jury decision making" [where terms are occuring in the title of the page [128 results]
Google Scholar can potentially produce some relevant results, but do keep in mind that it is indexing a handful of academic journals, conference proceedings, working papers, organizational reports, theses and other somewhat obscure publications. Also, unlike library databases which always provide a list of journal titles indexed, Google Scholar users are not provided with a list of which journals or journal publishers are being indexed.
No free web search tool indexes as much scholarly literature as do the ASU Libraries' collection of journal article indexes.
The ASU Libraries pay millions of dollars each year to ensure that you have access to the best and most appropriate academic resources.
Academic Search Premier (EbscoHOST): Getting Closer
Why not stick with the library database that you started using as a freshman (or maybe even in high school)?
| Search Type | Search Statement | # of Results |
| "Basic" tab: Keyword |
jury decision making | 30 |
| "Basic" tab: Keyword (with AND between concepts) |
jury and decision making | 179 |
| "Advanced" tab: Combining Subject Terms |
JURY and DECISION MAKING | 42 |
| "Advanced" tab: Combining Subject Terms and Limits |
JURY and DECISION MAKING limited to Peer-Reviewed Journals |
38 |
"Academic Search Premier" is a very good database for college-level research. It can be used to identify research on just about any discipline or topic.
- For extensive literature searching, however, you will need to use a disciplinary or subject-specific database.
- "Academic Search Premier" indexes some key psychology journals, but it is designed to provide coverage of representative journals from all disciplines. It does not provide comprehensive coverage of any single discipline.
- Fortunatly for you, as ASU students, you have access to numerous disciplinary focused journal article indexes/databases.
- For psychology research, the most important database is "PsycINFO."
- "PsycINFO" indexes approximately 2,000 journals and 98% of these titles are peer-reviewed (very high-quality academic/scholarly journals).
PsycINFO: Your Best Bet for Academic Research on Psychology Topics
PsycINFO is the premier index/database for researching psychology. PsycINFO provides citations for published psychology research "and psychological aspects of related disciplines, such as medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education, pharmacology, physiology, linguistics, anthropology, business, and law." The database indexes 2,000 journals.
Beginning the Search Process: A Basic Keyword Search
| Search Type | Search Statement | # of Results |
| "Basic" tab: Keyword |
jury decision making | 392 results |
| "Basic" tab: Keyword (with AND between concepts) |
jury AND decision making | 1,151 results |
Reviewing the Search Results
- PsycINFO will return all records that contain at least one occurence of your keywords (jury, decision, making)
- The results will be displayed in reverse chronological order, meaning that the most recently published items will appear first.
- Review the results - paying particular attention to the title and abstract fields.
- When you identify a record that seems "on-target," pay particular attention to the DE (descriptor) field.
- The descriptor field lists the terminology used by PsycINFO to represent the result's main subject matter.
- Descriptors are the key to constructing effective and efficient search strategies in library journal indexes/databases.
| Concept 1 Descriptors: | Concept 2 Descriptors: |
| Juries | Decision-Making |
| Adjudication | |
| Group Decision Making | |
| Judgment |
Using the "Thesaurus" Tab
After selecting the "Search Tools" tab to locate "PsychINFO's" "Thesaurus." The thesaurus will help you to determine the terminology to use to create a better search strategy.
In the the thesaurus text-box, type in the word juries.
- Juries is listed in the thesaurus browsing results which confirms that the word juries is a descriptor in this database.
- The thesaurus information for juries includes when the database added the term as a descriptor (1985), and provides a brief definition: Bodies of persons sworn to give a verdict in a court of law. Also used for mock and simulated juries.
- When you click on the juries hyperlink, the database informs you that related terms are adjudication, jury selection and legal personnel.
- We can instruct PsycINFO to return all records dealing with JURIES by checkmarking the box to the left of the word juries and pressing the "Search" button.
We have identified the preferred terminology for our first search concept and now will do the same for the second concept - decision making.
- We use the "thesaurs" tab and search for the phrase decision making
- Decision making is listed by the thesaurus and we are presented with a definition - Cognitive process involving evaluation of the incentives, goals, and outcomes of alternative actions. and a list of narrower, broader and related terms.
| Descriptor: JURIES | 1,331 results |
| Descriptor: DECISION-MAKING | 25,286 results |
Using the "Search History" Link
The "History" tab keeps track of all the various search statements we have tried during our PsycINFO search session.
You can use the "Search History" option to direct the database to combine any of your previously executed searches. For example, we can direct PsycINFO to combine our different search concepts - JURIES and DECISION-MAKING. By using the AND search connector, we can require that PsycINFO only return those records that list both Juries and Decision Making in their descriptor (subject) field.
| Combined Descriptors: Juries AND Decision Making |
345 results |
Using "Limits" to Specify What Sort of Information You Want
As the PsycINFO "Database Guide" states, "PsycINFO (R) contains citations and summaries of journal articles, book chapters, books, and technical reports, as well as citations to dissertations..." It also includes information sources written in approximately 25 languages.
- By using the "Advanced Search" tab, we can apply some additional restrictions on our search statement.
- We can use the limit option to eliminate some of our 321 results - based on what sort of publications we wan't.
- For example, we can limit our results by Language (English) and Publiction Type (Peer-Reviewed Journals)
| Limited by Language (English) | 326 results |
| Limited by Language (English) and Document Type (Peer-Reviewed Journal) |
191 results |
| Limited by Language (English), Document Type (Peer-Reviewed Journal) and Date Range (1996-2007) |
115 results |
"PsycINFO" and the other library-licensed journal article indexes allow for numerous sophisticated search strategies. Through practice you can get better at identifying high-quality and relevant information in an efficient manner. Good luck!
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