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Psychology Research Guide

About

This bibliography is a selective guide to scholarly and professional resources in Psychology. This guide assumes that undergraduate students have completed their information competence requirement and therefore have some experience with research in the library. For more information on this requirement, see the Basic Information Competence Requirement page.

Library research begins with your own in-depth analysis of the topic—for example, outlining the component parts of the topic, generating lists of keywords and variations, deciding how current or historical the articles should be, identifying key researchers in the field. For more information on how to successfully research your topic, see the Research Assistance menu. For library research asssistance in Psychology, contact the library specialist:

Citing References

The Library guide to Citing References includes sample citations for citing print and electronic information. When writing a paper, ask your professor which style guide he or she prefers. The most commonly used in Psychology and other social sciences is "APA":

There are also books to help guide

Locating Books & Masters Theses

Use InvestiGator [ http://opac.sfsu.edu/ ], the library's online catalog, to locate books, SF State masters theses, periodicals, and media. InvestiGator will also tell you if a book is checked out or in a special location. For more information, see Find Books Overview. To locate electronic and print materials on reserve for classes, see Find Course Materials & Reserves Overview or use the course/instructor search options on the InvestiGator menu.

You may search InvestiGator by author, title, keyword, subject and other identifiers. You may limit searches by date, language, words, format (such as video), and locations (such as Internet). To locate masters theses, you may

  1. Search using the Theses tab in InvestiGator
  2. Modify any search by the location “Masters Theses Collection” or
  3. Do a Basic Keyword search using the word “theses,” for example: “psychology and theses.”
  4. You can also browse the most recent theses in Psychology.

For more information on finding theses and dissertations from other universities, see Master's Theses & Dissertations .

Selected InvestiGator searches for:

To access the catalogs of other libraries, see Other Libraries . If the book you want isn't here, see Borrowing Items from Other Libraries.

Locating Journals & Articles

Finding Periodicals in the Library: Most journals and other periodicals are shelved in the Periodicals Collection on the 2nd floor, in alphabetical order by title. Current issues are in the Current Periodicals area; back issues may be bound, microfiche or microfilm. Some journals are located in Government Publications on the 5th floor. To find out whether the Library has a particular journal, search InvestiGator by Title.

Selected InvestiGator searches for:

Finding Electronic full-text periodicals: Many online journals are listed in InvestiGator but others are available within an electronic database such as Academic Search Premiere or Lexis Nexis Academic. For more information see Find Articles Overview.

Locating Articles in Journals: Browsing current journals can be a useful strategy but it is best to use indexes, abstracts and electronic databases to search systematically. The Reference Department provides access to hundreds of print and electronic search services; this guide lists a few of those most useful for your discipline. Please ask about other possibilities if these are not retrieving your topic. To see the complete list of available databases, see Find a Database. Most students will need a Library PIN to use these databases from off campus; for more information, see Off-Campus Database Access.

Databases: To see the complete list of available databases for Psychology, connect to the Find a Database page, pull down the “Choose a subject” list to “Psychology” and click “Go."

PsycINFO (database) [ Learn more ]
Content: Indexes 1,300+ journals, book chapters and theses.
Coverage: article indexes 1887- present; book entries 1987- present; updated monthly
Mental Measurements Yearbook (database) [ Learn more ]
Content: “Descriptive information and critical reviews for more than 2,000 commercially available standardized test. Descriptions include publication and price, time requirements, existence of validity and reliability data, scoring descriptions, levels, and intended populations. ”
Coverage: 1989 - present; updated semiannually

Borrowing Items from Other Libraries

If the Library does not own the book or article that you want, you still have several means of getting it. For more information, see Borrowing Items from Other Libraries. Your request may take a few days to a few weeks to fulfill, depending upon the lending source. It is always faster to substitute something else already in our collection that will aid your project. For more information, see Research Assistance.

Guides to the Literature

Michie, Jonathan. Reader’s guide to the social sciences.
Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn 2001.
[ Reference Collection H41 .R417 2001 ]
From Library Journal: [This work] concentrates on economics, political economy, politics, sociology, law, management and business, psychology and organizational psychology, organizational behavior, human geography, international relations, and research and analysis methods in the social sciences."
Li, Tze-chung. Social Science Reference Sources: A Practical Guide. 3rd ed.
New York: Greenwood Press, 2000.
[ Reference Collection Z 7161 A1 L5 2000 ]
Contains about 2,200 entries on the general social sciences and subdisciplines: cultural anthropology, business, economics, education, geography, history, law, political science, psychology and sociology. Includes online databases and CD-ROM sources.
Baxter, Pam M. Psychology: A Guide to Reference & Information Sources.
Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1993.
[ Reference Collection Z 7201 B39 1993 ]
Brings together information on over 500 selected sources in psychology and social sciences including economics, sociology, social work, anthropology, history, political science and criminal justice.

Reference Sources

Dictionaries:
Search InvestiGator for Psychology Dictionaries (Subject)
Campbell, Robert Jean. Psychiatric Dictionary. 7th ed. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1996.
[ Reference Collection RC437 H5 1996 ]
Eysenek, Michael W. ed. Blackwell Dictionary of Cognitive Psychology.
Cambridge, Mass: Blackwell, 1991.
[ Reference Collection BF311 B535 1991 ]
Sauber, Richard. Dictionary of Family Psychology & Family Therapy.
Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1993.
[ Reference Collection RC488.5 D525 1993 ]
Encyclopedias and Handbooks:
Search InvestiGator for Psychology Encyclopedias (Subject)
Weiner, Irving B., ed. Handbook of psychology.
New York: Wiley, c2003. 12 vols.
[ Main Collection BF121 .H1955 2003
, ]
Corsini, Raymond J. ed. Encyclopedia of Psychology.
New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2001. 3rd ed. 4 vols.
[ Reference Collection BF31 E52 2001 ]
Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders : DSM-IV-TR. 4th ed. Rev.
Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Assn., 2000.
[ Reference Collection RC455.2 C4 A48 2000 ]
[ Diagnostic And Statistical Manual Of Mental Disorders (Subject)]
Doctor, Ronald M., Ph.D. and Alan P. Kahn. The Encyclopedia of Phobias, Fears, and Anxieties.
New York: Facts On File, 1989.
[ Reference Collection RC535 D63 1989 ]
Dynes, Wayne R., ed. Encyclopedia of Homosexuality.
New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1990. 2 vols.
[ Reference Collection HQ76.25 E53 1990 ]
Kuper, Adam and Jessica. Social Science Encyclopedia.
London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 2nd ed. 1996.
[ Reference Collection H41 S63 1996 ]
Manstead, Anthony S.R. & Miles Hewstone. Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Psychology.
Cambridge, Mass, 1995.
[ Reference Collection HM251 B476 1995 ]
Survey of Social Science: Psychology Series.
Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 1993. 6 vols.
[ Reference Collection BF31 S79 1993 ]
Tests and Measurements
See the Research Guide: Tests & Measurements.

Directories

American Hospital Association Guide to the Health Care Field.
Chicago: AHA. Annual.
[ Reference Collection RA977.A1 A46 ]
Directory of the American Psychological Association.
Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 2001.
[ Reference Collection BF11 A67 — last paper edition… ]
Graduate Study in Psychology.
Washington, D.C.: American Psychology Association, 1998.
[ Reference Collection BF77 G73 ]

Reviews

Reviews are publications (often issued annually) devoted to specialized subjects, e.g. infancy research, behavior modification, or developmental disabilities. They are collections of scholarly papers reflecting current research and theory in the field. The following list is a sample of reviews.

Internet Resources

SF State Psychology Department Home Page
http://www.sfsu.edu/~psych/
SF State Clinical Psychology Graduate Program Home Page
http://bss.sfsu.edu/clinicalpsych/
Directory of Open Access Journals in Psychology
http://www.doaj.org/ljbs?cpid=128
The aim of the Directory of Open Access Journals is to increase the visibility and ease of use of open access scientific and scholarly journals thereby promoting their increased usage and impact.
Electronic Journals and Periodicals in Psychology and Related Fields
http://psych.hanover.edu/Krantz/journal.html
Most of these journals offer only recent tables of contents and abstracts without a subscription. Some, however, offer full text articles.
American Psychological Association
http://www.apa.org/
“[T]he American Psychological Association (APA) is a scientific and professional organization that represents psychology in the United States. With more than 150,000 members, APA is the largest association of psychologists worldwide.”
Encyclopedia of Psychology
http://www.psychology.org/
A collection of psychology websites compiled by William Palya, Department of Psychology, Jacksonville State University
The Personality Project
http://www.personality-project.org/
“Personality psychology addresses the questions of shared human nature, dimensions of individual differences and unique patterns of individuals. These pages are meant to guide those interested in personality theory and research to the current personality research literature.”
Social Psychology
http://www.socialpsychology.org/
The Social Psychology Network is one of the largest Internet sites devoted to psychological research and teaching. More than 13,000 links related to psychology.
Yahoo! Directory Social Science > Psychology
http://dir.yahoo.com/Social_Science/Psychology/
CM 2/8
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