Note: This Sample Assignment is based on the following example: ... would be a
valuable resource to use if I were writing a paper, although I would look for ...
Assignment 3: PsycINFO Searching Sample Assignment Note: This Sample Assignment is based on the following example: Should psychologists be allowed to prescribe drugs? In both the U.S. and Canada, there is hot debate over whether Psychologists should be allowed to prescribe drugs. Find a published resource that discusses the issues surrounding the debate over whether Canadian Psychologists should be allowed to prescribe drugs for their patients. --------------------------------------------------------Name and ID: Super Student 123456 1. Final search expression: prescriptions and psychologists and Canada and debate 2. Briefly describe the steps of your search strategy, including why you believe your final search expression was effective: I first searched for “psychologist” and “prescribe”, and got over 8000 articles. I then added the “debate” keyword and I got another 5000 articles. So, to narrow down both searches I use the “combine” function and combined all three keywords which got the list down to 15 articles. I limited the search even further by restricting the articles to ones in Canada, and I got 5 results in the end, all from a special issue of Canadian Psychology in 1995. My final search expression worked because I used the ‘combine’ function to limit the searches to “psychologist” and “debate” and “prescriptions” and “Canada”. I stopped searching at that point because 5 articles was a small enough list to read. 3. Publication information for one of the first five results: #5 Dozois, D. J. A, Dobson, K. S. (1995). Should Canadian psychologists follow the APA trend and seek prescription privileges? A reexamination of the (r)evolution. Canadian Psychology, 36, 288-304. 4. Briefly describe the article and discuss how it helps to answer the search question: The article is a critical perspective on the prescription privileges debate in Canada, and it seeks to answer whether or not Canadian psychologists should follow the APA’s decision to look into getting prescription privileges. According to the abstract, the authors argue that drug prescription privileges do not enhance the function of psychological practice, so they do not see a value in seeking prescription privileges. Since this article takes a perspective on the drug debate, I think it would be a valuable resource to use if I were writing a paper, although I would look for other papers offering different perspectives on the debate. ---------------------------------------------------------
This assignment would get full (3) marks because the student (a) presented a search expression, (b) detailed a meaningful search strategy, (c) provided complete and accurate publication information, and (d) described a published resource that addressed the search question.
