Author: Marta Soto

From the Deck of … MLA ’18 Sunrise Seminar

Posted on by Marta Soto in For Librarians

Welcome to “From the Deck of . . .” an irregular series in which we highlight search demos and other information from the slide decks we create for our live training sessions. You can view and download these materials from the PsycINFO SlideShare account.

At the Medical Library Association Annual Meeting earlier this month, we presented a Sunrise Seminar training session. This session focused on searchable fields in PsycINFO® that are especially relevant to medical & health fields, including:

  • first postings
  • NLM Title abbreviation
  • PMID
  • MeSH
  • grants / sponsorships
  • methodology

We also demonstrated how the APA Style CENTRAL® Writing Center can assist with teaching or writing your own meta-analysis, including:

  • choosing a paper template
  • managing the reference list
  • creating and importing tables


You can review the slides from our MLA 2018 Sunrise Seminar on our SlideShare account.

You can also view just the slides about APA Style CENTRAL.

 

Related Resources:

Blog post – Online First Publications
Blog post – What’s a PMID?
Blog post – Grants & Sponsorships
Tutorial – The Meta-Analysis Template

Interactive Site for New APA Style Journal Article Reporting Standards

Posted on by Marta Soto in For Faculty, For Individual Subscribers, For Librarians

The APA Style Journal Article Reporting Standards (APA Style JARS) provide researchers in psychology with a structured guide to communicate important aspects of their research. Created by psychologists, the standards aim to enhance the quality of published research by promoting transparency and facilitating the assessment of rigor.

In January 2018, APA released an update to the standards, which now include guidance on reporting qualitative and mixed methods research as well as revised guidelines for quantitative research.

In early May, APA launched a brand-new companion website for APA Style JARS that provides tools for students, authors, reviewers, and editors, including:

  • the latest news and frequently asked questions
  • checklists to facilitate the reporting process
  • an informational video
  • training and tutorials

This companion site will help students, researchers, and educators throughout the research process, enabling authors to more thoroughly and accurately communicate their research, increasing opportunities for funding, collaboration, and replication. In addition, the website should make it easier for researchers to publish in APA journals, which in turn provides readers with information that is more accessible and easily understood.

 

Related Resources:

APA Press Release – the New JARS

APA Press Release – New Website Guides Users of JARS

APA Style Blog – The Updated APA Style JARS

Webinar Alert: PsycINFO Sessions for Students & Faculty – May 2-4, 2018

Posted on by Marta Soto in For Librarians

Our next series of PsycINFO® webinars for students and faculty will run on May 2, 3, 4 from 11 – 11:30 a.m. EST. The sessions may be attended separately, but we encourage those who are interested to take all three, so we offer them on consecutive days:

We will provide information relevant to all search platforms including APA PsycNET®, EBSCOhost, Ovid, and ProQuest. The platform demonstrated will be based on the needs of the attendees of each session. For more information on this series, including full descriptions, please visit our databases webinar training for students and faculty web page.

These webinars are an ideal way for students to get a refresher on PsycINFO if they have had a previous training session. Please help us spread the word to interested students and faculty!

APA training events at MLA 2018

Posted on by Marta Soto in For Librarians

Will you be at the Medical Library Association Meeting in Atlanta this May? We hope to see you at our Sunrise Seminar!

 

 

American Psychological Association Sunrise Seminar @ MLA

Monday, May 21, 7:00 AM – 8:45 AM

RSVP link

 

This year’s session will offer a look at online first publications, grants, and other fields in the PsycINFO record that are useful for medical research.

We’ll also demonstrate APA Style CENTRAL’s Writing center, including the meta-analysis template, tables, and the research lab book.

Be sure to RSVP if you plan to attend. Walk-ins are always welcome, but priority will be given to participants who register in advance. Please note that we will be unable to admit family members or others who are traveling with you.

If you can’t attend the session, please stop by Booth 257 in the Hall of Exhibits for a demo and updates from Saturday, May 19 – Monday, May 21, 2018.

APA Style CENTRAL® Expert Tip: Citing Personal Communication

Posted on by Marta Soto in For Librarians, For Students

The purpose of a reference list in APA Style® is to acknowledge the work of previous scholars and provide a reliable way to locate that work.

What if you want to acknowledge a source that can’t be retrieved, such as a conversation, live lecture, or private letter?

This information should be treated as a personal communication, which is cited in the body of the paper but not included in the reference list.

You can cite a personal communication in your APA Style CENTRAL® paper by clicking the Personal Communication button in the editor menu or selecting from the Insert menu.

 

 

 

Once you provide the information needed—the individual’s name and the date of communication—the citation will appear in the paper body, including the words personal communication.

 

Because personal communications can’t be retrieved by a reader, they are not included in the reference listIn APA Style CENTRAL, you can edit personal communication in the body of your paper, as you would any other text.

 

Please note:

  • Research interviews with participants are NOT considered personal communication; they are qualitative data and should be reported in a way that respects confidentiality. For more, see this post on the APA Style blog.
  • If the communication was shared with you personally but is now retrievable—the conversation is on a discussion board, the lecture can be found on YouTube or a podcast, or the letter is published in a periodical or book—you can treat it as any other reference (i.e., create a reference to that retrievable source).

 

For more information, see the APA Style CENTRAL quick guide “Personal Communications.”

Related Resources

APA Style Blog: What Belongs in the Reference List?

APA Style Blog: How to Cite a Class in APA Style

APA Style Blog: Let’s Talk About Research Participants