Psychology

This is a general research guide for the undergraduate and graduate courses in OSU's Psychology program. You'll find suggestions for locating books, articles, topical overviews, research tools, and factual information. If further assistance is needed, please contact the subject librarian for Psychology to arrange an appointment:

Subject Librarian for Psychology:

Valery King

phone 737-7318

email valery.king@oregonstate.edu

 
Quicklinks

  Academic Search Premier | PsycInfo | Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection | ILL

| Off-Campus Access


  
Table of Contents
Finding Books in Online Catalogs       Other Useful Internet Sites
Finding Articles in Journals Other Useful Subject Research Guides
Reference Sources

Dictionaries & thesauri
Encyclopedias
Handbooks & directories
Biographical information
Bibliographies
Yearbooks & literature reviews
Statistics

Tests

 

Finding Books in Online Catalogs

OSU Libraries Online Catalog - All formats of materials owned by OSU libraries are cataloged in this database, including books, government documents, information about journals* to which the library subscribes, etc. You can search the database from any computer with Internet access at: http://oasis.oregonstate.edu/

* Library online catalogs do NOT give you access to the individual articles within the journals the library subscribes to. See Finding articles...

Summit (Orbis): You may also want to search the collective Summit catalog which combines many academic library catalogs in Oregon and Washington. Materials in Summit are available to OSU students, faculty & staff within 3 working days if they aren't checked out. You can extend your search from OSU Libraries Online Catalog to Summit with the click of a button, or connect directly at: http://summit.orbiscascade.org

Searching: Online catalogs can be searched by author, title, subject, etc. The most effective subject searching utilizes the Library of Congress Subject Headings. The complete list of subject headings is located in the library's reference area; ask if you need help. Notice that each record in the online catalog will indicate the subject headings assigned to that item, and these are usually hot links to other materials on similar topics. Some examples of subject headings for psychology are:

Educational psychology Social psychology Developmental psychology
Sports - psychological aspects Personality Loss - psychology

Locating by call number: Like most academic libraries, we also use the Library of Congress Classification system to organize and arrange materials in the library. Many psychology materials fall into the "BF" call number range and are located on the 6th floor of The Valley Library. Other materials may be classified in Psychiatry (RC 435 - 571) found on the 1st floor.

WorldCat: If you don't find enough material in local and regional libraries, you can search for books in WorldCat which is a collective catalog from hundreds of libraries, containing over 60 million records. You can submit interlibrary loan requests directly from this database by clicking on the InterLibrary Loan (ILL) link in the record.

Return to Table of Contents

Finding Articles in Journals

Journal indexes: To find individual articles in journals, you will typically use periodical indexes/databases which can either be in printed form or online (electronic) form. Most such indexes allow you to search by author or title of the article as well as subject or topic. Many online indexes also allow you to search the article citation and abstract with a keyword or free text search.

Locating journals: Some databases will include links to the full-text of journal articles. However, you will still need to locate the print verions of some journals to read articles of interest. You can search OSU Libraries catalog for the Journal Title (name of the journal) to determine if we own the journal in print or electronically.
If not, you can get copies of journal articles through our Interlibrary Loan service at: https://access.library.oregonstate.edu/

Off-campus access:
If you are searching from a computer on campus, you will automatically be recognized as an authorized user from OSU. Off-campus access to online journals and databases is restricted to OSU faculty, staff, and enrolled students. To access these items from off-campus computers, use an OSU Libraries research tool.
More information about off-campus access.

Basic searching

Academic Search Premier This multi-disciplinary database provides full text for nearly 4,500 journals, including full text for more than 3,600 peer-reviewed titles. searchable cited references are provided for 1,000 titles. Academic Search Premier is updated on a daily basis. This is a good starting place to do a basic search because of its multidisciplinary nature. It will pick up items about psychology topics covered in other subject journals such as business, education or the popular press. Abstracts, index and selected full-text: 1975 - present

Subject-specific searching in Psychology

PsycInfo (Psychological Abstracts) is the premier database for Psychology. All areas of psychology are covered. Citations to journal articles, book chapters and dissertations. 97 percent of the journals are peer-reviewed. The database also includes information about the psychological aspects of related fields such as medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education, pharmacology, physiology, linguistics, anthropology, business, law and others. Journal coverage, which spans 1887 to present, includes international material selected from more than 2,100 periodicals in more than 25 languages.

Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection providing nearly 575 full text publications, including 550 peer-reviewed journals. Covers topics such as emotional and behavioral characteristics, psychiatry & psychology, mental processes, anthropology, and observational and experimental methods. 1965- present

Other subject-specific databases

Education Research Complete covers all levels of education from early childhood to higher education, and all educational specialties, such as multilingual education, health education, and testing. Provides indexing and abstracts for more than 1,500 journals, as well as full text for more than 750 journals, and includes full text for more than 100 books and monographs, and for numerous education-related conference papers.

ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) This is the single most extensive education database, combining indexing for both education journals (approximately 1000) and ERIC documents (online and microfiche collection). It covers all areas and levels of education. Includes journal articles, books, theses, curriculi, conference papers, and standards and guidelines. General coverage begins in 1966. Many recent items from the full-text ERIC documents are available online. Older ERIC documents are also available in our microfiche collection on the 3rd floor of the Valley Library. Be sure to note the ED # in the record since these microfiche are arranged numerically.

Sociological Abstracts - Index to articles from journals in sociology and related disciplines in the behavioral and social sciences. Index: 1952-present

For animal studies issues, try the following databases:

  • Biosis - encompasses the entire field of life sciences and provides comprehensive coverage of the world's published biological and biomedical research. More than 6,500 serials are monitored for inclusion. 1990- present
  • Wildlife & Ecology Studies Worldwide - Index to journal articles, books, conference papers, government reports, theses and other literature covering all areas of wildlife research.
    Index only: 1935-present
  • Zoological Record - extensive coverage of the world's zoological and animal science literature, covering all research from biochemistry to veterinary medicine. The database provides references from over 5,000 international serial publications, plus books, meetings, reviews and other literature from over 100 countries.
    Index only: 1993-present

For health related issues, consult these databases:

  • MEDLINE - Index to research articles covering all areas of medicine including clinical and experimental medicine; dentistry; health care administration; microbiology; nursing; paramedical professions; pathology; pharmacology; physiology; reproductive biology; psychiatry; psychology; toxicology; and veterinary medicine. Tutorials are available for the PubMed search site.
  • Health Source - provides access to more than 130 full text, consumer health magazines. Also includes more than 1,000 health-related pamphlets and 130 health reference books. Provides access to 1,300 drug monograph entries and Merriam-Webster's Medical Desk Dictionary.
  • Current Index to Nursing & Allied Health (CINAHL) - provides indexing for over 2,857 journals from the fields of nursing and allied health. 1982- present

For sports related topics, use:

  • SPORT Discus - international coverage of all aspects of sport, fitness, recreation, and related fields. Articles from more than 2,000 sport-related journals, monographs, book analytics, theses, videotapes, audiotapes, book reviews, websites, and CD-ROMs in English, French and 59 other languages are indexed. 1975- present

Comprehensive searching

 

Social Sciences Citation Index (from ISI Web of Science) is useful to trace who cited whom in the literature. A researcher can look for any publication by an author and discover whether other authors cited that publication in their work.

  • Web availability: 1999 - present
  • Electronic (CD) availability (not available from off-campus): 1997-1998
  • Print availability: 1953-1996. Ref H1 .S61

Access to additional electronic databases is available from the library's Research Databases page

Electronic journals

 

This is a subject based organization of journals available online.
These must be searched one journal title at a time, so this is not a very efficient way to search. Unless you are interested in searching one specific electronic journal, it is recommended that you use a periodical index/database to do your searching. This list is subject to change.

Return to Table of Contents

Reference Sources

Dictionaries & thesauri

Dictionaries in specialized areas give definitions of terms and phrases used within the field. Thesauri can provide alternative terms, narrower and broader terms, as well as the controlled subject terms used within the field. These can be very useful in crafting the language of your search before you start using the indexes & databases. You can search "psychology and dictionaries" as subject keywords in Oasis to find similar items. Some examples in The Valley Library include:

A student’s dictionary of psychology. 4th ed. Ref BF31.S69 2003
Dictionary of multicultural psychology Ref GN502.H336 2005
APA dictionary of psychology. Ref BF31 .A65 2007
Dictionary of theories, laws and concepts in psychology. Ref BF31.R625 1998
The international dictionary of psychology. Ref BF31.S83 1989
Thesaurus of psychological index terms. Ref BF1 .P71 (located behind the Reference Desk)
Eponyms in psychology: a dictionary and
biographical sourcebook.		 Ref BF31.Z87 1987

Encyclopedias

Oxford companion to the mind Ref BF31.O94 2004
Encyclopedia of cognitive science 4 v. Ref BF311.E53 2003
Encyclopedia of human emotions Ref BF531 .E55 1999
The encyclopedia of mental health 3 v. Ref RA790.E531 1998
Encyclopedia of psychology 8 v. Ref BF31 .E52 2000
The encyclopedia of psychiatry, psychology,
and psychoanalysis		 Ref RC437 .E49 1996
Encyclopedia of stress BF575.S75 M235 1999
Gale encyclopedia of childhood & adolescence HQ772.G27 1998
Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology
Encyclopedia of Psychology (Choice Outstanding Title)

Handbooks & directories

Directory of the American Psychological
Association.		 Ref BF11 .A53 1997
Publication manual of the American
Psychological Association.		 Ref BF76.7 .P83 2001
Handbook of affective sciences BF511.H35 2003
Handbook of child psychology. 4 v. Ref BF721 .H242 1998
Handbook of cognition BF201.H37 2005
Handbook of racial & ethnic minority psychology GN502.H3635 2003
Handbook of research methods in developmental science BF713.5.H36 2005
Handbook of research methods in clinical psychology RC467.8.H36 2003
Sage handbook of methods in social psychology HM1019.S24 2004
Library use: handbook for psychology BF76.8.R43 2003

Biographical information

Biographical dictionary of psychology Ref BF109.A1 B56 1997
Fifty key thinkers in psychology Ref BF109.A1 S49 2004
Portraits of pioneers in psychology. 5v. Ref BF109.A1 P67 1991

Bibliographies

Women in psychology :
a bio-bibliographic sourcebook		 Ref BF109.A1 W65 1990
Psychology of aging: an annotated bibliography BF724.8 .H31 1995
Psychology: a guide to reference and
information sources		 BF121 .B341 1993
American popular psychology:
an interdisciplinary research guide		 BF108 .F71 1994

Yearbooks and literature reviews

 

Annual Review of Psychology BF1.A6
Print 2002-current
Online full-text: 1950 - 2005

Statistics

Statistical Yearbook (UNESCO) - Ref HA40.C8 U4


Statistical Abstract of the United States. (most recent issue at Reference Desk) - HA202
         Earlier editions circulate for one day.
         Available online at: http://www.census.gov/prod/www/statistical-abstract-1995_2000.html

Major U.S. Statistical Series - Ref HA37.U55 S77 1992


LexisNexis Statistical - OSU subscription online database


FedStats - links to over 100 federal agencies with statistics http://www.fedstats.gov/


BLS - Other Statistical Sites - gateway to links for international statistics http://www.bls.gov/bls/other.htm


Child Trends DataBank - Latest national trends and research on over 70 key indicators of child and youth well-being, with new indicators added each month. You can sign up for e-mail updates. http://www.childtrendsdatabank.org/

America's Children in Brief - issues and indicators include demographics; childcare; family, health, and educational experiences; children's behavior; and the child's social environment http://childstats.gov/americaschildren/

See also the Statistical Resources guide

Return to Table of Contents

Other Useful Internet Sites

 

Library Research Tutorial at http://osulibrary.orst.edu/instruction/tutorials/ provides a general introduction or review of the library research process.

Return to Table of Contents

Other Useful Subject Research Guides

Return to Table of Contents

Return to the Alphabetical or Subject index of the Subject Research Guides.