Psychological Sciences
Library Research Guide
Finding Resources - Articles
Databases:
To get to databases, go to the Libraries’ home page and click on databases under the search box. Databases will find journal/magazine/newspaper articles (and in some cases other materials like book chapters, dissertations, conference presentations, pamphlets, etc.)
Recommended databases for psychology research include:
- PsycInfo (APA)PsycInfo is our main psychology database. It contains articles, dissertations, books, book chapters, and more. It provides a thesaurus of psychological terms and many useful search limits. Note that PsycInfo is not included in the results from the Libraries' Search It box.
- Annual ReviewsPaid for by K-State Libraries
Annual Reviews critically reviews the most significant primary research literature to guide researchers to the principal contributions of their field and help them keep up to date in their area of research. Each article is its own search engine, providing a gateway to the essential primary research literature referenced within each topic.
PsycINFO resources:
- PsycInfo Topic Guides by APA (Provide handy lists of suggested subject terms for topics)
- PsycInfo Quick Reference Guide by APA (two page pdf providing an overview of PsycInfo)
- Overview of the Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms
- Methodologies covered by PsycInfo
Other useful databases:
- Web of Science Core CollectionPublication Dates Covered: Science 1945 - present; Social Sciences 1956 - present; Arts & Humanities 1975 - present; Emerging Sources: 2015 - present Paid for by K-State Libraries
Online version of four Citation Indexes: Science, Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities, and Emerging Sources. Be sure all indexes are selected in the "Editions" pull-down menu above the search boxes. In addition to searching by keyword, subject, author, etc. for articles in over 8,000 journals, one can do a “cited reference” search to see how frequently and where an article has been cited. - ScopusPublication Dates Covered: 1800s - present Paid for by K-State Libraries
Scopus is a good starting point for finding articles on almost any topic. It contains over 47,000,000 records to scholarly publications, trade publications and conference proceedings. Scopus is an excellent database for cited reference searching. It does not contain full text articles, but users can get access to full text by using the Get It button. - ProQuest Dissertations and Theses GlobalPublication Dates Covered: 1861 - present; full text varies by school Paid for by K-State Libraries
Includes full text for many dissertations written after 1996, including some master’s theses. Copies of dissertations not available in full text in this database may be requested via interlibrary loan and/or purchased as microfilm or as unbound copies from UMI. You can limit the search to K-State dissertations only. - K-State Research Exchange (K-REx)Publication Dates Covered: 2004 - present Free Resource
The institutional repository for Kansas State University provides permanent access to scholarly materials created by our faculty and students, including dissertations, theses, and master’s reports. In support of the principles of Open Access, materials in K-REx are freely available to all and comply with publisher agreements and copyright law. - SAGE Research MethodsPaid for by K-State Libraries
SAGE Research Methods helps users create research projects and understand the methods behind them. It includes over 600 books, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and the “Little Green Book” and “Little Blue Book” series. Journal articles and videos are also included.
Medicine and health databases can be used to find information on medical research and other health-related topics.
How to Search
You can search the databases in different ways to find materials that will be relevant for your assignment, including:
- Use the thesaurus to help you find appropriate search terms
- Use "or" between search terms if you want EITHER word, "and" if you want BOTH
- Try truncating keywords using asterisks: ethnograph* to get ethnography or ethnographic.
- Put phrases in quotes: “professional development” “special education”
- To find research articles, try adding the words: “research methods”, data, results, discussion, study (not all of these words will appear in every article, so try using just a few or combining them in different ways.)
- Try adding a keyword for a specific type of methodology -- quantitative, qualitative, ethnography, feminist, "case study", etc…
- PsycInfo allows you to specifically limit to quantitative or qualitative research articles
- Look for a limit for professional journal articles or peer-reviewed articles
Getting the Articles
Many of the articles you find will be available online.
If you don’t see the full text on the database you are searching, use the Get It button to see if the full text of the article is available through another source.
If you find a citation to something that we don’t own, most of the time we can borrow it from another library. Please allow yourself enough time to do this! Interlibrary Loan usually gets materials very quickly, but it can take 1-2 business days for articles and 3-10 business days for books (or longer if you are off campus).
Click on “Not Available? Request from Interlibrary Loan” from the Get It menu or “Interlibrary Loan” on the library home page. For more information, see our Interlibrary Services page.
