The research problem addressed in this paper is to discern what effects dietary provisions have upon individuals prone to stress resulting in depressive mood. I selected this topic because it is my intention academically and professionally to pursue a career combining nutrition and psychology. .
The resources I used to access primary reports and other useful information regarding the topic of my research problem were through the UML library. The orientation held in class introduced methods of conducting computerized searches and instruction on how to efficiently search the available literature. I was able to search through the following databases to obtain the three primary reports that will be used in this research paper: Psychinfo, Medline, Academic Search, Infotrac, CINAHL, Infotrac One File, and the UML E-Journal List.
Strategies used to review the literature included key search words such as diet, nutrition, mood, stress, depression, and diet therapy. I limited the time frame of research literature to the last five years. I was able to obtain at least twenty abstracts through these databases and with the assistance of UML librarians I acquired several primary reports of conducted research in the field of my interest. It was an easy task selecting the three reports I needed because I am specifically interested in the relationship between diet manipulation and serotonin deficiency in the brain that may result in depression. I knew the reports I was examining were primary reports because each had the following subheadings; abstract, introduction, subjects and methods, experimental procedures, measurements, analysis, results, and final discussions. I found that the abstract itself was a telling sign of a primary report. .
B. Summary of Research.
The three reports I have chosen to investigate in this paper share the primary author for each report, C. Rob Markus and subsequent authors; Geert Panhuysen, Adriaan Tuiten, and Hans Koppeschaar.
