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Psychology 1101 Honors - Niju: Step 3: Choose your sources carefully

Source requirements: Peer review, journal articles, and original research

This assignment requires peer-reviewed journal articles based on original research. Let's break that down:

Peer-review = an editorial practice where an article is sent to other experts in the field for comments before a journal decides to publish that article or not. The reviewers may suggest that the journal accept the article, reject the article, or ask for the authors to make revisions.

Journal = a type of publication where scholars write articles for an audience of other scholars.

Original research= a study that the authors have done

Make your source selection - evaluate your sources

Keep in mind the following considerations when looking for sources to use in your literature review:

  • How relevant is the source to your topic?

For example, if you were looking for an article on apps for mindfulness training, you might find an article that completely focuses on the use of apps for mindfulness training as well as one that only has a sentence or two about apps for mindfulness training. The second one would probably not be very useful to your literature review.

  • Does the source use outside sources and cite them?

It definitely should! There should at least a few scholarly sources, eg. other academic journal articles or academic books.

  • Is the author qualified to write on this subject?

Does the author have the education and experience to discuss this subject?

  • How was the research conducted (methodology)?

All studies are not created equal. If you are using a source with original research, evaluate the strength of its methodology.

  • Does the author demonstrate bias?
    Bias is a preference for a particular way of seeing things, even if the evidence does not support it. For example, a study on the effects of video games on mental health that is funded by a video game company may be biased towards finding a positive relationship.