Introducing Dawn Harper

The APA Databases & Electronic Resources Customer Relations team is growing! Dawn Harper, MSLIS, joined the team in April 2016 as the APA Style Documentation and Training Specialist.

Prior to joining APA, she was a Distance and Instruction Librarian at Nova Southeastern University, where she managed online workshops and e-learning for the library. In addition, she worked with the Colleges of Business, Education, and Psychology to provide instruction in information literacy and research using subject-specific resources. In previous positions, Dawn worked with copyright and scholarly communications at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, and provided reference and instructional services at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, Massachusetts.

She has an MS in Library and Information Science from Simmons College and a BA in Media Arts and Design from James Madison University.

Dawn’s role at APA will focus mainly on training for APA Style CENTRAL™, and she will join the other training specialists in providing webinars, print and online training materials, and conducting in-person training sessions. Her experience working with students, faculty, staff, and librarians and APA Style® will ensure training materials are as useful and relevant as possible.

Exhibits Update: Association for Psychological Science

Association for Psychological Science 2016 Convention program coverThe Association for Psychological Science Annual Convention will be held at the Sheraton Grand Chicago, in Chicago, IL, from May 26-29, 2016. Look for representatives from the American Psychological Association in the exhibit hall, at booth 304. Stop by to learn more about APA Style CENTRAL™, an exciting new electronic resource for APA Style that’s launching this summer, and get the latest updates about APA Journals, Books, and Databases.

 

 

American Psychological Association exhibit hours:

  • Thursday, May 26: 8:00 – 9:30 p.m. (Opening Reception)
  • Friday, May 27: 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
  • Saturday, May 28: 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m

How to Access APA Databases After You Graduate

Graduation cap and diplomaAre you a recent graduate, or about to complete your degree? Will you need access to APA PsycInfo® and other APA Databases after you graduate? At many colleges and universities, alumni are not eligible to use the library’s online resources after graduation.

If you intend to continue your research while you look for a job, or prepare to begin a new degree program, you will need to access journal articles and other material directly through the publisher.

The American Psychological Association provides several different database access options for independent researchers and others who are not affiliated with a college or university. Continue reading

PsycINFO Expert Tip: Finding the Tests in PsycINFO

Have you ever needed to find a psychological test? It can be a surprisingly difficult task! Many of the tests you may know by name, such as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale or the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, are commercial tests. This means those who are interested in using them must pay a fee, and may also need to meet other criteria. If you’re a student who needs a test to review for a class, or if you’re researching how to create an effective psychological measure, you’ll need to find non-commercial tests.

You can, of course, find these types of tests in PsycTESTS®, our database of psychological tests and measures. This database contains information about, and excerpts from, more than 34,000 tests in the behavioral sciences. But what if you don’t have access to PsycTESTS?

Try PsycINFO®! You probably know PsycINFO as a database of journal articles from publishers around the world. PsycINFO doesn’t contain any full-text, but each article included is represented by a record, which has been extensively tagged by APA’s indexers. This information allows you to assess how useful the article may be before you try to find the full text. Continue reading

Find the Answers to Your APA Style Questions

As the semester draws to a close, students may begin to find that they have questions about the intricacies of APA Style®. Some can be easily answered by referring to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, or one of our other style guides, but what about the trickier questions?

APA’s Style Experts are here to help! On www.apastyle.org, you can find a variety of resources, including Frequently Asked Questions and a tutorial on The Basics of APA Style.

You can also visit the APA Style Blog, where Style Experts address some of the most common, and most interesting, questions that they receive from students, librarians, and authors.

Screenshot of the APA Style Blog

You’ll find posts covering how to cite the video of a TED Talk, use of “they” as a pronoun, dealing with DOIs, citing online maps, and more. Just use the search box at the top right to see if a Style Expert has already answered your question.

If not, you can submit your question via email to styleexpert@apastyle.org. Please note that if you’re on a tight deadline, they may not be able to get back to you in time. If your question is regarding how to cite something that you can’t find an example of, this post can help!

Style Experts also monitor social media for questions and comments. You can find them online at:

Related Resources:

Learn more about APA Style® CENTRAL, a suite of services and tools designed to ease the pain points encountered by students, instructors and librarians in teaching, learning, and applying APA Style. APA Style CENTRAL will launch this spring. To learn more and sign up for updates, visit www.apastyle.org/asc