Chemeketa Community College

Finding Articles on Topics in Psychology

The most difficult aspect of finding articles on a psychological topic is deciding on a topic and on what search words to use.Some reference books that may help you choose a topic, find key words, or interpret an article are listed below.

Reference Sources in Chemeketa's Library

Online books are linked by title. If you are accessing the page from off campus, you will need your My Chemeketa user name and password

Dictionaries

Dictionary of key words in psychology [R 150.321 B83]
*Dictionary of psychology (Oxford, 2001) [R 150.3 C71]
A good starting place. Also available online.
Dictionary of theories, laws, and concepts in psychology [R 150.3 R62]
Brief explanations of named theories, laws, and ideas.
Encyclopedic dictionary of psychology [R 150.321 En15]
Handbook of psychological terms [R 150.321 H23]
International dictionary of psychology [R 150.3 Su83 1996]

Encyclopedias

Companion encyclopedia of psychology [R 150.3 C73]
A compact, two-volume encyclopedia.
Encyclopedia of Educational Psychology.
A two-volume, specialized encyclopedia.
Corsini encyclopedia of psychology and behavioral science [R 150.3 C81]
A distinguished general encyclopedia of psychology in four volumes.
Encyclopedia of Educational Psychology.
A two-volume, specialized encyclopedia.
Encyclopedia of human emotions [R 152.403 En1]
Articles on subjects relating to emotion.
Encyclopedia of learning and memory [R 153.103 En1]
A specialized encyclopedia.
Encyclopedia of mental health [R 616.89003 En13]
Articles not only about mental disorders and treatments but about topics such as effects of food and drink and of everyday behaviors.
Encyclopedia of Multicultural Psychology
Covers the psychology of racial, ethnic, and minority issues in the United States.
Encyclopedia of psychiatry, psychology, and psychoanalysis [R 616.89003 En1]
Focuses on diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders.
*Encyclopedia of psychology (APA, 2000) [R 150.3 En1]
A goood starting place. A revision of the standard, multivolume encyclopedia.
Encyclopedia of sleep and dreaming [R 154.603 En1]
Articles on physiological as well as psychological aspects of sleep and sleep research.
Encyclopedia of social psychology
A two-volume encylopedia.
Gale encyclopedia of childhood and adolescence [R 305.23103 G13]
Covers development and psychology.
Gale encyclopedia of psychology [R 150.3 G13]
A shorter, more accessible encyclopedia.
Oxford companion to the mind
A concise, one-volume reference with brief articles on all aspects of the mind.
Psychology basics
A two volume, online encyclopedia.
Survey of social science. Psychology series [R 150.3 Su77]
Descriptions of theories and overviews of topics in psychology.

Other Reference Books

Comprehensive handbook of psychological assessment [REF 150.287 C73]
Each volume covers a specific type of assessment, e.g., personality. Topics relating to each type of assessment are covered, as well as specific instruments.
*Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-IV-TR [REF 616.89075 D545]
The official U.S. classification and definition of mental disorders, with diagnostic symptoms.
Oxford handbook of memory [REF 153.12 Ox2]
A comprehensive reference.

Journal Article Indexes

Academic Search Premier

Academic Search Premier, an EBSCOhost database, indexes articles in psychology journals and contains the full text of many. Access is available on the Database Page. If you are accessing the page from off campus, you will need your My Chemeketa user name and password

Additional EBSCOhost databases, such as Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, are available.

You may need to combine multiple search terms to find articles on your topic. The EBSCOhost search screen makes it easy to combine ideas together. Be sure to check off the "Scholarly (Peer Reviewed)" option. Checking off "Chemeketa Periodicals" and "Full text" is helpful, too.

In the example below, we are looking for articles about the phenomenon of having a word "on the tip of your tongue." What can speed up recall? We have combined "tip of the tongue" on the first search line with words suggesting improvement on the second line. Notice that the words to be combined with our main phrase are separated by the word, "OR."

picture of EBSCOhost Search Screen

Tip: When using keywords, try truncating: theor* finds theory, theories, theoretical, etc. (* is the truncation character for EBSCOhost).

If you find an article that meets your needs, look at its description for additional terms you can use to search.

ScienceDirect

Chemeketa subscribes to the ScienceDirect College Edition Health & Life Sciences Collection. Journals and articles that are available in full text are shown with a green icon (picture of subscribed icon). If you are accessing the page from off campus, you will need your My Chemeketa user name and password. This resource includes over 900 journals, including such journals as:

Citing Articles from databases

Instructions for citing electronic articles found in the library's databases using APA format can be found at Citing Articles from Databases Using APA Style.

A good general guide for APA style are available at Guide for Writing Research Papers - APA.

Internet Sites

AlleyDog Glossary - http://www.ku.edu/carrie/docs/amdocs_index.html
A student-friendly dictionary of terms in psychology.
David C. Howell's Glossary of statistics for psychology and behavioral science - http://www.uvm.edu/~dhowell/fundamentals/Glossary/Glossary.html
This site comprises a glossary for Fundamental Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences, 6th edition, and Statistical Methods for Psychology 4th edition, as well as links to other glossaries of statistics terms.

For further help, ask for assistance at the Reference Desk 

Last Update:
Comments: reference@chemeketa.edu or call (503)399-5231.
Address of this page: http://newterra.chemeketa.edu/library/instruction/handouts/PSY201.htm