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PSY 101 - Downtown - Introduction to Psychology: Publication Types

Topic: False Memories

The following articles are all about the topic of False Memory.

What's the difference between these articles?

Scholarly journal--empirical research report
Original, scholarly research--as reported to other specialists. This is "primary literature"
Popular magazine--short article
Reports on research results on this topic for non-specialists. This is "secondary literature"
Reference source--encyclopedia article
Gives an overview of the topic for non-specialists. This is "tertiary literature"

Topic: Borderline Personality Disorder

These three articles have a common topic, but cover it a different levels.

Reference: Encyclopedia article
* Defines the term and brings you up-to-speed on essential facts.
Popular Magazine article
* Written to inform non-experts in an entertaining way. This article cites the findings of a scholarly study.
Scholarly Journal article
* Reports the findings of a scientific study. The study compared subjects with the disorder to healthy control subject.

Gratitude = Happiness? A news report and the original research

Tertiary literature (Encyclopedia overview) : Gratitude
A great place to start. Get definitions, key variables, theories, etc.
Secondary report: A newspaper article
This reports on primary research that was published elsewhere in scholarly journals.
Primary research: Emmons & McCullough (2003)