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SPCE 680: Introduction to Persons with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Search advice for assignments requiring research

What you need to do...

The "research" part of this assignment:

Each student will select 3 articles from professional refereed journals.   

The articles must be over 6 pages in length.

The articles cannot be from newsletters, or summaries found on webpages, or electronic journals.  However, journals that are published but then are also available electronically are okay.

They must be data based research articles.  A data based article typically uses participants.  Reviews are not considered data based articles.

"One article must be related to ASD and interventions or innovative accommodations."

Another article must be related to racial or ethnic, or cultural issues in ASD diagnosis and/or interventions/treatment.

The third article must be related to an issue of particular interest to you.    

Choose your database

Using the Libraries' research databases will make it easy to find the type of document you need.  Namely:

  • from a professional refereed journal -- also called "peer-reviewed" journal
    • Look for the "peer-review" limiter.
  • over 6 pages in length
    • All citations in databases include the page range of the article.
  • NOT from a newsletter, or a webpage or electronic journal. 
    • When you use a library database, journals have been carefully selected for inclusion.

Then, when you use appropriate search terms, you'll be able to find articles on the topics you need.

Here's the list of the best databases to focus on.  (These are all available from the Libraries' Databases page.)

Limit to refereed/peer-reviewed journals

As you search in the database, look for the limiter that enables you to specify that you want articles from refereed/peer-reviewed journals.  Here are some examples:

Note that peer-reviewed is another term for refereed, and is the term used more often in our databases.

For PsycINFO, you need to look under "Limit To" on the Search Results page, and click "Show More..."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then choose "Peer Reviewed" on the resulting "Search Options" page.

 

Choose your search terms

As you search for the three different articles, remember that there are numerous ways to describe each topic.  Thinking of synonyms to use as your search terms will help you come up with the best pool of results to choose from.

Suggested method of approaching each search:

  • Type autism or ASD in one box.
  • Type search terms describing your topic, with or in between in another box.

Advanced search in APA PsycINFO with 3 boxes. 1st box: autism or ASD 2nd box: race or racial or ethnic or ethnicity 3rd box: diagnosis

Make sure it's a data-based article

The articles you choose must be based on data.

Signs an article is based on data:

  • it says it uses participants
  • it includes these headings within the article: introduction, literature review, methods, results, and discussion/conclusion.
Ways to limit your search to data-based articles:
  • Using PsycINFO, look for the Methodology limiter under the Advanced Search boxes and choose either EMPIRICAL STUDY or QUANTITATIVE STUDY.

Unfortunately, few other databases allow you to place this kind of "methodology" limiter, so it's on you to look for the signs, mentioned above.  Often just reading the abstract will make it clear that an article is based on data.

Once you've chosen your article

Once you've chosen an article based on its record in the database you're searching, bring up the full text by either clicking on the PDF or HTML full text link, or clicking on Find It @ Ball State button. 

For more information, check out the information at Find the Full Text of an Article.