Utilizing Library Resources and Conducting Literature Reviews

Prepared and Written by Monika Sata and Ryan Flinn 4/2/2015

I have a citation already and I want to get the full-text article:

For example, you want to learn about positive psychology and you found this citation:

Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction.

American Psychologist, 55(1), 5-14.

To read and/or download this article in full, you first need to check whether the library has access to this journal (i.e., American Psychologist). To do this,

  1. Go to
  2. Click on the second blue tab – Articles, Journals, + Databases
  3. Enter the title of the journal in which the article you are wanting to access is published in the Search for a journal title (e.g., Journal of Religious Ethics) box and click Search
  4. When entering the citation given above as an example, the search retrieves 1 record that matches the search terms entered. The first entry is the American Psychologist journal and the text below the title of the journal indicates the span of time for which the library has full-text access to articles from the volumes (and individual issues within volumes) of the journal – “from 01/01/1946 to present” – which means you have access to the article you want, as it was published in 2000. The blue link indicates which database the article is stored under – in this case, PsycARTICLES. Click on the link (i.e., PsycARTICLES).
  5. If you are searching from off campus, you may be asked to enter your username (this is the same as the first portion of your email, i.e., flinnre – without the @udmercy.edu portion) and your password (the same password you use to access your email). Enter this information and click Login.
  6. Now you will see the main page for whatever database the library uses to access the journal you searched for by title back in Step 3. In this example, you see the main page for the journal American Psychologist displayed in ProQuest. Scroll down and you’ll see that you can either (a) “search within this publication” [helpful if you wanted, for example, to see every article published by a certain scholar within that specific journal, or every article within that specific journal that relates to a specific topic like “positive psychology”] or (b) go directly to an article you already have a citation for by using the “browse specific issues” function. In this example, we want to use the latter rather than the former, since we know exactly which article we want, and we know when it was published. Since the article was published in 2000, click on the link for “2000-2009”, which allows you to view the individual links for all the years in that range; click on the link for the year 2000, which allows you to view the individual links for all the issues published in that year; finally, click on the link for “Vol. 55 (1)”, since that’s the issue in which the article you want was published.
  7. Now you see individual entries for each of the articles that were published in this issue. The article we wanted, in this example, is listed first. You can now either:
  8. “Preview” the article which opens the abstract in a pop-up window (very helpful when you’re just browsing to see whether something might be relevant to your research question);
  9. See how often, and by whom, the article was cited in subsequent articles (“Cited by”);
  10. View the references cited in the article separately and access these references as full-text articles, when available – or view citations, when not (“References”);
  11. View the citation and abstract in a new window (“Citation/Abtract”); or
  12. Get the “Full text – PDF”, which is what we want, so click on this link.
  13. The article will now appear in the screen. Move your curser within the window toward the bottom right portion of the window and the standard Adobe toolbar will appear. Click on the disk icon (second from the right, next to the print icon) to save the full-text article wherever you’d like.

I don’t have a citation yet but want to search for information on a certain topic (e.g., a clinical population, intervention, or psychological construct).

For example, you don’t have a citation for a certain article yet, but you do know that you want to learn more about the interaction between homelessness, spirituality, and recovery from a substance use disorder.

Pathway A: Search externally:

You might just start by searching externally, by using Google Scholar or some other database, to get an idea of what has been published on this topic.

  1. Go to
  2. Type “homelessness spirituality recovery substance use disorder” into the search box and click the magnifying glass.
  3. You’ll see a variety of articles. Some entries in your search results, like those linking to the National Institutes of Health sites or ResearchGate, might provide you with full-text articles with a simple click. You can discern whether these are immediately and freely available by looking to the right of the title: if it says [HTML] or [PDF], it means that when you click on that link (i.e., nih.gov [HTML] or researchgate.net [PDF]), it will take you to a page where you can download the article or it will automatically start the download to your computer. Even if full-text access isn’t freely available, you now at least have the title of the article, the authors, the name of the journal, and the volume and issue and can go back to the library website at and follow the steps enumerated above (“I have a citation already and I want to get the full-text article”). Also, if you are on campus and/or you have configured Google Scholar correctly, Google Scholar will automatically recognize that you are a UDMercy user and allow you full-text access to articles the library has access to through the Google Scholar portal itself (i.e., without having to go through the process enumerated above).

Pathway B: Search internally:

You also might use the subject guide constructed and maintained by our department’s librarian to search.

  1. Go to
  2. Click on the third blue tab – Articles, Journals, + Databases
  3. Under the “Find articles in Library databases” header, click on the drop-down menu entitled “Databases by subject…” and scroll down to click on Psychology
  4. Click on the link for Psychology LibGuide
  5. Click on the Finding Articles tab
  6. Click on ProQuest Psychology Databases, which simultaneously searches ProQuest Psychology Journals, PsycARTICLES, and PsycINFOR (each separate databases, accessible in the links below)
  7. In this example, enter “homelessness spirituality recovery substance use disorder” and be sure to check the “full-text” tab (and/or the “peer reviewed” and/or “scholarly journals” tab, if appropriate to your search parameters); then click on the magnifying glass.
  8. You’ll now see a variety of articles to which the library has full-text access (since you indicated, in your search, that you only wanted to retrieve articles of this type). Click on the “Full text – PDF”icon corresponding to the article you want to download to do so. Alternatively, if you wanted to see every article related to your search terms, regardless of whether UDM has full-text access or not, you would leave the “full-text” tab unchecked. (Ditto for peer- or non-peer-reviewed, and scholarly or non-scholarly items).

Browsing the Psychology LibGuide

Follow steps 1-4 enumerated above (“I don’t have a citation yet…”, Pathway B) to view the Psychology LibGuide. There is much helpful information available on this portal, including:

  • The contact information for our department’s librarian, Ms. Julia Eisenstein;
  • Various tabs running across the top of the screen which allows you to access electronic books on psychology, see what print and video resources are housed in the McNichols Campus library, quickly identify recent additions to our resources, and browse items segregated by discipline (e.g., Developmental Psychology, School Psychology, I/O Psychology, etc.);
  • Links to external sources, archives, and professional organizations; and
  • Videos which can guide you through using the portal.

Additionally, you may also access the DSM-5 electronically

I don’t have full-text access to an article I want!

For example, let’s say you want to learn more about the perceptions of people involved in Twelve Step Recovery and you find the perfect article on Google Scholar, like

Sifers, S. K., & Peltz, K. M. (2013). What members of Alcoholics Anonymous really believe.

Mental Health, Religion, & Culture, 16(9), 711-718

and follow the steps enumerated above (“I have a citation already and I want to get the full-text article”) only to find that UDM doesn’t have access to the journal Mental Health, Religion, & Culture. What to do? Request the article through interlibrary loan.

  1. Go to
  2. Scroll down and click on the tab (on the left) entitled Borrowing
  3. In the panel on the left, click Request an Interlibrary Loan; on the first page, enter your personal information, indicate where you’d like to pick up the article, and when you’d like to be contacted about this article (i.e., if you’re requesting more than one article at a time, you might want to only be notified when all of them are available for pick-up), and then click check the “Request an Article” radio button and click the blue Request an Article button
  4. On the next page, enter the citation information for the article you’re requesting into the relevant fields; then, if you’re finished (i.e., you’re only requesting one article), you can click the blue Submit Request(s) button. Alternatively, if you have other articles you’re also requesting, check the “Request an Article” radio button and then the blue Request an Article button, which will pull up a blank version of the current page and allow you to enter in the citation information for the next article you need. (The value of this is that you can skip reentering your personal information on the first page for each individual article when you request all the articles you want in one session).
  5. You’ll receive a confirmation email summarizing your session and will either be emailed a PDF of the article(s) you requested and/or receive an email indicating that a hardcopy of the article(s) you requested have arrived at the library of your choice and you can go pick them up at the front desk.

**Please budget time for your item to be delivered to the library and/or sent to you electronically. It may vary.**

I need a book that the library doesn’t have, either in print or electronically.

For example, you really want to read the translation of Inghilleri’s From Subjective Experience to Cultural Change (1999) but UDM doesn’t have it in print or electronic format. You can request that the book be sent to the McNichols Campus library from another library in Michigan that does have a copy.

  1. Go to
  2. Enter the title of the book you want – for example, From Subjective Experience to Cultural Change
  3. Find the book you want from the results – in this case, it’s the very first one - and click the grey Get this from MeL Cat button next to the item you’re requesting.
  4. This will open up a pop-up window in which you select which “library card/account” you want to use (click and scroll down to select University of Detroit Mercy). Now, look at your UDM Student ID card. Enter your name as it appears on your Student ID (“Type in your name”). Finally, enter your borrower ID number. This is the fourteen-digit sequence of numbers toward the right-hand side of your Student ID card, directly under your picture. (This is also the same borrower ID number you’d use on the UDM Library site to renew items.) Click the submit button.
  5. You won’t get a confirmation email because MelCat is an external service, but you will receive an email from a UDM Librarian when your item is ready for pick-up at the library.

**Please budget time for your item to be delivered to the library. It may vary.**

Using RefWorks for in-text citations and Reference pages

  1. Go to
  2. Click on the third blue tab – Articles, Journals, + Databases
  3. Under the “Find articles in Library databases” header, click on the drop-down menu entitled “Databases by subject…” and scroll down to click on Psychology
  4. Click on the link for Psychology LibGuide
  5. Click on the link APA Style tab
  6. Under the heading Citation Generators, Click on RefWorks
  7. If you have not already created a user account, you will need to do this. Once our account is created, there are many features such as: in-text citations and automatic reference page creation this service provides. If you are using this program off-campus, you may be prompted to enter University of Detroit Mercy as the Institution.

There are a number of options for adding data to the RefWorks Database.

Pathway A: Importing Data Directly:

For example you have the article about positive psychology and you found this citation using the ProQuest database. This needs to be saved in your references under ProQuest.

Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction.

American Psychologist, 55(1), 5-14.

  1. Under the save or export function with the online service (ProQuest or which ever data source you are using), select or click the Save to RefWorks option.
  2. If you have your RefWorks account already open, the import should automatically begin. If not, then you will be prompted to log in to RefWorks; after your login, the import will automatically begin.
  3. Click the View Last Imported Folder to review the imported records.

*** Every reference added to RefWorks (whether imported or entered manually) is given a print or electronic designation called Source Type. This assists in ensuring you have all the relevant data REQUIRED in your bibliography.

Pathway B: Manually Entering References:

  1. Click on the New Reference button
  2. Select the bibliographic output style (e.g., APA, MLA) under View fields used by to enable the AccuCite feature.
  3. Designate the type of reference you are entering (e.g. journal, book or dissertation) under Ref Type. The field names that are associated with the specific output style and reference type you chose will appear, indicating recommended information needed to produce an accurate bibliography. These fields are not required to save the actual reference in RefWorks.
  4. Enter information in the boxes provided and click the appropriate Save button when finished.

Pathway C: Importing from Online Catalog or Database

You can use RefWorks as a search interface for many online resources. It provides access to publically available services as well as university catalogs.

  1. From the search pull-down menu, select online catalog or database.
  2. Select a database from the Search drop- down menu.
  3. Select the Max. Number of References to Download from the drop-down menu.
  4. Enter terms in Quick Search for: or Advanced Search for: box to enter terms.
  5. Click on Search
  6. Your result will be displayed. Select the references you would like to import into your RefWorks account and click Import.

Pathway D: Attaching Files to a Reference:

  1. Select a reference in your database; click on the Edit button
  2. Click on Browse. Select a file to attach. Select Open.
  3. Click on Add attachment.

It is best to organize, edit, find, and view references in the RefWorks Database by putting your references into FOLDERS.

  1. Mark desired references from the search results page, then click the button titled Selected. The selected references feature works on a page-by-page basis; this means you must add the manually selected references to the desired folder, or you can mark ALL or ALL on a PAGE.
  2. Click on the Add To: Folder Icon with plus sign, and select the appropriate folder from the drop-down menu.
  3. References will automatically be added to the folder.

Formatting a Bibliography from a List of References using RefCite

  1. Click on the Create Bibliography button.
  2. Select on an output format
  3. Select what type of file to create
  4. Select to format all of your references or those references from My List/Folder
  5. Click on Create Bibliography
  6. A new window will be opened with your bibliography. Save file to your computer.

Lastly, RefCite has Write-N-Cite Feature. This is an optional plug-in that allows you to create a formatted paper with both in-text citations and footnotes. To use the Write-N-Cite feature, download the utility from the Tools pull-down menu. To utilize the off-line-capabilities, you must first download your database while online.