A student's story and our participation on a general education renewal project prompted us to learn more about writing. In the process, we discovered the writing activities developed by psychologists, the strategies for assessing writing used by colleagues in other disciplines, and the means used by departments and universities to develop effective writing programs. The theme of this article is that learning about writing led us to think more about our teaching and about how our students learn.

Learning about Writing, Thinking about Teaching:

The efficacy of using comprehensive database search strategies in performing a literature retrieval is investigated. The D1.4LOG service was used with DIALINDEX subject category options as the major search vehicle. Databases from the DIALINDEX subject categories PSYCH (which includes PsycINFO) and MEDICINE were accessed with two sample searches. The results indicated that databases other than PsychINFO provided relevant citations. Overlap of citations among databases was negligible. The findings suggest that on-line literature retrieval involving psychological topics should include comprehensive database strategies. Several major commercial services offers such options.

On-line Literature Retrieval: An Alternative Research Strategy.

The proposed guidelines are intended to promote student-oriented bibliographic instruction program on college campuses We hope the guidelines will suggest opportunities for faculty, librarians, and professional associations to collaborate in developing materials and programs that will help students learn to make effective use of library resources We also hope that the proposed guidelines will be further developed by major professional associations We believe that the guidelines, backed by professional associations, will encourage the development of meaningful bibliographic instruction programs in college and research libraries

Library Instruction for Psychology Majors: Minimum Training Guidelines

Because students demonstrate deficient knowledge of basic reference tools in the discipline, there is a need for bibliographic instruction by librarians in the psychology classroom. Such instruction can introduce the types and variety of reference works, present the process of topic definition, and strengthen the role of the librarian in the literature-search process.

The Benefits of In-Class Bibliographic Instruction.

With the invention of the printing press in approximately 1439, the world acquired the first technology for the mass dissemination of information. Todav. the number of , , media-produced words available to Americans doubles roughly every decade (Pool, 1983). Some 60,000 science journals are available now, and according to the National Science Foundation, there are 1,000 key, especially significant articles published daily (Dolnick, 1983). Of course, psychologists have contributed to this information avalanche. According to a 1983 APA report on research activities, 47.5% of all psychologists are involved in research. For psychologists at 4-year colleges and universities, these figures are 59% and 80%, respectively (Nelson & Stapp, 1983). In 1982 alone, 27,125 items were included in Psychological Abstracts. The massive amount of information available constitutes an imperative for change in the way we teach psychology. Because of the limited amount of time available for anv given course. there will alwavs be more information than can be taugh;. Because of limited human capabilities, there will alwavs be more than can be learned or remembered. Now. more than ever before. we must carefullv craft our courses to make them of lasting value. In structuring course:;, we need to pay particular attention to four areas: selective inclusion of material, maximizing student performance, preparation for self-education, and maximizing general skills.

Teaching Psychology in the Information Age.

McGown and Spencer (1980) suggested that constructlon of tests for introductory statistics is facilitated if data sets have means and standard deviations that are integers They presented several sets for samples of n = 5, 6. and 7. It is fairly easy to devise data sets with integer means and standard deviations for larger samples One advantage of data sets wlth larger n's 1s that they look realistic when plotted as histograms or frequency polygons Such frequency distributions are also typical of tabulations where data have been grouped into class intervals for computational purposes. The procedure is to devise several sets with unit variance and zero mean. and then any combination of these also results in another set with unit variance and zero mean. A set with any desired mean (MT) and standard dev~ation(s) can be achieved by employing the transformation T = s(x) + MT; where T represents the reported measures or scores. Table 1

Positive Side Effects of Online Information Retrieval

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Positive Side Effects of Online Information Retrieval