APA Style Guide for Electronic References: Free for Sofia Students, Staff and Faculty

For new and returning students, please take advantage of your access to the most recent APA Style Guide for Electronic Resources. This guide was released last year. This document functions as a helpful supplement and update to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association with regard to various types of e-resources.   We purchased it and placed it on two sites for protected access: Angel and ebrary. This is licensed content that is for your personal use only.

The ebrary copy will function as a reference copy (reading, printing out sections), etc.

The Angel copy will be available for download as a PDF by students, staff, and faculty who have an Angel account. This PDF copy can be kept or printed for personal use. Please contact us at refdesk@sofia.edu if you do not have an Angel account. 

Ebrary

1. Go to http://site.ebrary.com/lib/itp/docDetail.action?docID=80093361&p00=apa
2. If you are off campus, log in using your Library Database Username and Password.

Library Site on Angel (please log in before accessing)

1. Go to  http://itp.angellearning.com/default.asp
2. Log in as usual.
3. Click on the Library link under institutional resources.  Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the APA Guide to Electronic References 6th Ed. document. You will be able to download the pdf document.

Please note that this document only addresses citations for electronic materials. In a rapidly changing world, we hope this will be of use to you.

Let us know if you have any problem accessing this document. 

More Information from the Publisher:

Adapted throughout to meet the latest reference standards from the Sixth Edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association^®, this guide is the go-to source for referencing online and web-based research materials. Available in an easy-to-use PDF format, the APA Style Guide to Electronic References provides an authoritative reference guide to help navigate the ambiguous world of reference sources found online, including:

• The key elements to include when referencing electronic sources, especially those with incomplete or missing information

• Common usage of digital object identifiers (DOIs) in validating reference material

• Reference information for websites, Internet message boards, electronic mailing lists, and social media

• Reference information for data sets, software, and online measurement instruments

• And much more

With a wealth of detailed examples, the APA Style Guide to Electronic References will be an indispensable resource for anyone conducting online research in the social sciences.

All about E-Books: Sofia University Library's E-book Collections Overview

E-books seem to be a hot topic in recent months. The Sofia University Library currently has a number of e-book collections with full text digital books to read and download. All e-book collections are accessible from the Access Databases page.

All e-books can be read online in your favorite browser. With some e-books, you can download and keep chapters. With some you can download and read sections on a short term basis.

PsycBooks: Chapters from 2,000 books published by APA, and other publishers, classic books in psychology, and authored entries from the APA/Oxford University Press Encyclopedia of Psychology. Chapters are downloaded as PDFs to keep. Found in the EbscoHost Database collection.

ebrary: Searchable database of over 80,000 recent full text books in many academic fields. Titles are added monthly. There are several options for reading or using the e-books in ebrary. Read online as long as you have an internet connection. Download or print sections. If you wish to download the entire text, you will need Adobe Digital Editions and the copy you download will expire in 14 days.

Springer E-Books in Behavioral Sciences: Database of over 400 books in behavioral sciences published by Springer from 2005-2013. New titles are added each year. Chapters are downloadable as PDFs to keep.

There are also smaller collections of e-books in other databases:

Counseling & Psychotherapy Transcripts: Database of therapy and counseling session transcripts that includes 40 digital reference works. Sections are printable.

Ebsco e-book Collection: Full text for selected transpersonal books. Small but growing! Found in the EbscoHost Database collection. Read online as long as you have an internet connection.

Questions? Email us your questions or set an appointment.

Renewing Items at Sofia Library

Books, DVDs, and CDs have due dates, so renewing items online helps keep your account in good order. 

Renewal is easy! 

Start by logging in. Go to the library catalog (there is a link to the left on every library website page) and click on My Account in the menu: 

http://librarycat.sofia.edu/I40006Staff/OPAC/MyAccount/MyProfile.asp  

If you are logging in for the first time, log in using your Sofia ID number both as username and password. 

If you have set your own Catalog password in the past, or think you have: 
Username: Sofia ID number 
Password: whatever you selected when you set your password 

We can help you reset your password by emailing us at circdesk@sofia.edu 

Once you are logged in, you can select the My Checkouts link at the left menu. 

Checkmark the items you want to renew. 

Please only renew items that are due in order to get maximum time with that book, DVD or CD.  

Click on the Renew button above the list of checkouts.  

Your items are now renewed! 

If you have questions about this process, please email us at circdesk@sofia.edu

Finding Tests to Use in Your Research

The library offers a number of ways to look for psychological assessments.

Mental Measurements Yearbook with Tests in Print (EbscoHost)

MMY with Tests in Print is great for identifying the test you want to use and finding other information you will need about the test.  

Mental Measurements Yearbook™ (MMY) provides users with a comprehensive guide to over 2,700 contemporary testing instruments. This resource also includes the complete Tests in Print database which serves as a comprehensive bibliography to all known commercially available tests that are currently in print in the English language. TIP provides vital information to users including test purpose, test publisher, in-print status, price, test acronym, intended test population, administration times, publication date(s), and test author(s). A score index permits users to identify what is being measured by each test. - From the site

For test information and sometimes the instrument, the following resources will be useful.

PsycInfo (ProQuest)

PsycInfo is the leading comprehensive database of psychology literature. Look for the original study to find test information, the instrument, and how to score it. Not all original studies will provide all of the information you will need but it will be a great start.

Books in the Library Collection

Although we encourage you to use the MMY first, we also have a number of books in the Library Reference Collection to help you evaluate tests. The library does not actively collect test manuals, but there are are a few manuals in the collection.

Web

Some test authors promote and encourage use of their tests by putting them on the web. Some make it available for free, some charge a fee. Some test authors make their test available through a test publisher. If there is a publisher, the instrument won't be openly available on the web. You will need to contact the publisher and make arrangements to purchase the instrument and test materials.

We get the following questions from students:

Can I get this test for free?
It depends on the test. If the instrument is found on the Web or from an article/book, you may not be required to pay a fee. If there is a publisher, you will most likely have to pay a discounted student fee and will have to submit proof that your are using this test under supervision of your chair.

Can I get the manual for free?
For tests that require a manual, most manuals are not available in libraries. You may need to purchase your own copy of the manual. We are happy to try to find the manual at another library and try to borrow it.

Do I need to get permission for a test freely available on the Web or otherwise obtained for free?
It is a courtesy gesture to contact the test authors and let them know that you are interested in using their test for your research.

Century of the Self Video Online

Explore the complex history of psychology. The Century of the Self is a documentary about the historic impact of the field of psychology.

The library has a DVD version of it to check out, but it is also available online on Internet Archive.

http://archive.org/details/CenturyOfTheSelf1-4

From the Internet Archive site:

The Century of the Self is an award-winning British television documentary series by Adam Curtis. It focuses on how the work of Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud, and Edward Bernays influenced the way corporations and governments analyzed, dealt with, and controlled people in the 20th century.

Includes all 4 episodes:
1. Happiness Machines (17 March 2002)
2. The Engineering of Consent (24 March 2002)
3. There is a Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed (31 March 2002)
4. Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering (7 April 2002)

Betterpedia

Everyone I know has an opinion about Wikipedia. Some say it is the best resource on the web, a true collaboration of millions of participants around the world. Others say it is chock full of half truths and myths. Some scholars laud its potential, while some comedians make jokes about it.

 When I am searching the web, I play a game called Betterpedia. I don't go to the Wikipedia entry right away. I keep going down the hits to see if there is something better in terms of content and source.

What is a better source? What is better content? It depends on the question at hand.  I look for certain identifying qualities in the search engine snippet. A .gov, .org, or .edu URL that relates directly to the topic at hand. I prefer Pubmed or the Mayo Clinic if it is a health question. I try to avoid .coms if I am looking for scholarly content, but it depends on the rest of the snippet whether this might just be a great source. I ask myself, who would be the expert in this situation? Then I ask, what is better content? Does the description of the page address my question?

Notice that we started out talking about the web at large, not library databases, which are often part of the invisible web.  I may start with a search in Google but end up linking over to library databases as I discover that my answer is better found there.  The research process should always be a both/and: library databases AND the web.  The more complete your literature and media search, the better your understanding of the topic and  your literature review.

I love it when I can play Betterpedia and find the best sources: good content, reliable source. If I do go back to Wikipedia, I don't feel that I have lost. I know that there was a mostly sincere effort behind the creation of the content. I look for my answer on the page then zoom down to the sources of the content. I go to those sources as well to check out and verify that there isn't a bias or misinformation in the content. Because I have seen misinformation before in Wikipedia entries, I know that this process is necessary.

This verification process is important. Whether or not you play Betterpedia,when you search the web you should always be thinking of verification. How can you prove that what you are reading is factual or at least reasonable? Sometimes you can check other sources on the web, other times you can verify using print sources. Although we may tend to think of web sources as current and thorough, many of us have had many experiences of discovering the opposite. Being a great researcher means this verification process is thorough and consistent. Always verify and evaluate your sources.  Please note that library database content are always reliable good content. The content is carefully vetted for research purposes.

Would I cite a Wikipedia entry for a research journal article? I wouldn't cite Wikipedia unless it seemed absolutely necessary. Just as we encourage students to go to the original source, I would go to the originally cited content in the references and use that for my quote or paraphrase.  I think citing Wikipedia sends a message to the reader that I haven't done a thorough literature and media search, that I have just selected the easiest source to find. Others may have other opinions about how Wikipedia entries are perceived.

Playing Betterpedia makes the research process more fun. It challenges me to see what else is out there. I always learn something in the process. I don't hear many people talk about research as fun but it can be!

Using Research Guides

The library recently launched a series of helpful online research guides. Each guide is a website created by a Sofia librarian with direct links and instructions about library resources and web content. There are a few great guides for getting started with library research including the Find What You Need Research Guide.

Program-Centered Guides
Some of the guides have a program focus. These guides allow you to explore the best databases and web resources for your program and field. The program-centered guides include the following:

• Clinical Psychology Research Guide
• Spiritual Guidance Research Guide
• Transpersonal Psychology Research Guide
• Women's Spirituality Research Guide 

More Guides
An Alumni Guide allows alums to access resources and relevant information for their research needs. We will continue to build new guides. Please let us know if you have a suggestion for a guide.  Feedback is always welcome.