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Case Study

Based on the typical components of an academic database record, explain how Jordan should use the record's components to comprehend the article's relevance and describe how Jordan can use the bibliography section to expand their literature search.

Case context: Jordan, an undergraduate psychology student, is conducting a literature search on 'the impact of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance.' While searching an academic database, Jordan finds a record for a highly relevant journal article. Jordan wants to understand the scope and relevance of this article, as well as locate older, foundational research on the topic, without reading the full text immediately.

Question: Based on the typical components of an academic database record, explain how Jordan should use the record's components to comprehend the article's relevance and describe how Jordan can use the bibliography section to expand their literature search.

Sample answer: Jordan can read the abstract or summary in the database record to comprehend the study's main findings and determine if it matches their research topic. Jordan can also review the descriptive keywords and standardized index terms to verify the conceptual scope of the article. To find older, foundational research, Jordan can examine the bibliography section of the record, which lists all the other works cited by the publication, and then search for those referenced articles.

Key points:

  • The abstract/summary is analyzed to quickly evaluate the article's relevance.
  • Keywords and standardized index terms help verify the conceptual alignment with the research topic.
  • The bibliography lists the works cited by the article, which represent the foundational papers.
  • Jordan can search for items in the bibliography to expand the literature review with related prior research.

Rubric: Students must explain that the abstract or keywords/index terms are used to assess the relevance/scope of the publication, and describe that the bibliography is used to identify older, cited references that influenced the study.

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Updated 2026-05-26

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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU

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